Dave Metcalf

Dave Metcalf is a highly accomplished writer and Executive Creative Director known for creating transformative, award-winning campaigns that resonate deeply with audiences. With a career spanning iconic brands and groundbreaking work—including Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty, Jimmy Dean's 50th Anniversary Hijacking, and Sargento's World's Slowest Pizza Delivery—he has been instrumental in shaping the advertising landscape, earning billions of earned media impressions and recognition from top industry platforms like Cannes Lions, One Show, and Effies. His work has been featured on major media outlets, from Good Morning America to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and he is celebrated for his ability to craft big, emotionally resonant ideas that rise above the noise in a crowded marketplace. As one of the original copywriters behind Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty at Ogilvy—voted the #1 Ad Campaign of the 21st Century—Dave has demonstrated a rare ability to find the human truth at the center of a brand and amplify it into a cultural phenomenon. His creative philosophy is built around what he calls "Thinking Biggerer": a relentless rejection of safe, forgettable ideas in favor of bold, headline-grabbing concepts that make audiences feel something real. He has won every major advertising award multiple times over, including Cannes Gold Lions, One Show Pencils, Communication Arts Awards, and Effies. At Ad Legends Academy, Dave brings his decades of hard-won creative wisdom directly to marketing professionals who want to break through the noise. His teaching style is rooted in storytelling and real-world case studies, drawing on campaigns that succeeded—and the many ideas that were rejected along the way. Students can expect a no-nonsense, energizing experience that challenges them to push past the obvious and discover the unexpected idea hiding inside every brief. Dave believes that as technology and data evolve faster than ever, the power of big, human-centric ideas—ones that make you actually feel something—will remain the most valuable asset in advertising. His mantra is simple: if an idea sounds even vaguely familiar, reject it and keep going.