CreativityWork Life

Kind. Creative. Funny. Unforgettable. A tribute to Jason Kronewitter.

We recently shared that we lost one of our own. Jason Kronewitter, an associate creative director and senior-most writer, died of COVID-19 on April 8, 2021. We posted to our home page a few of his own words on many of the things he was passionate about. His thoughts influenced us in pivotal and practical ways. He always made this influence seem effortless, though he worked tirelessly to make that so.

In today’s business culture, there are a couple fundamental things that we as organizations don’t always do well. One, which you read a lot about, and every organization tries to do better and better at, is recognition. Recognizing the imprint people have through their work and their connection to others, and the impact that has on success and work life. The second thing we don’t always know how to deal with, and is not written about nearly enough, is loss. This has become all too real, though, for many organizations during this pandemic. As an agency that is now facing it firsthand, we have been thinking about how vital Jason is to our company, our creativity, our work and our lives, and we are resolved to remember. By the way, the “is” in that last sentence was not a typo. This is the thing about people’s imprint and impact: they never die. He made us better, and the ways he did still do and always will.


“Be Better.”

He rarely said these words, but wore a bracelet engraved with them because he saw this as a standard in all things.

Passion. Pushing creative standards. Setting teammates up to discover more in their own ideas. These were not just traits he brought to the job. To him, this was the job, and it’s why he loved it as much as he did. He brought his entire self to every project and every client relationship. It’s how he did great work time and again. He valued the craft and stood up for the work teams put in, something his teammates always counted on and appreciated him for.He brought endless and seemingly effortless energy to the work he did. This can be a feat with client relationships that span a decade or more. He began working on Allstate his first day at Simple Truth in 2011, and was instrumental in keeping the work we did for them year over year fresh, fun and, when necessary, fearless. This was one of the longest-running client relationships of his career, and he pushed the product Simple Truth put out to be not just portfolio-grade, but career-worthy.“Be better” was a challenge — to trim, tweak, build on or punch up ideas, down to the word, to get to the most unexpected, most extendable, most memorable execution. The delicacy of this dance was something he truly loved and enthusiastically shared with others. If his idea took the thing to the next level, he would celebrate it — regaling everyone with the tale of how it happened as if it were legend. And if it was a teammate’s, he would carry the torch for them the same way because he believed there was power in the grace of good ideas done well. Once in a rare while, during his play-by-play (again) of a brainstorm where a great idea was born, your eye roll might strike through his childlike exuberance and he would pause, look you straight in the eye and say with a grin, “This is why we do this.” For Jason, this was not a grind. He was thrilled that he got to do something for a living that he lived for.

Jason’s talent and creativity were wide-ranging. In 2017, we did brand strategy work for the disruptive, off-campus student housing leader The Scion Group. Jason helped lead our creative team, charged with bringing that strategy to life for a family of four brands designed to connect with a diverse set of prospective students. Each of these audiences wanted their own kind of lifestyle and each has a different outlook on the college experience. This took inhabiting multiple voices. While he owned two of the four brands (as well as the Scion parent brand), Jason was instrumental in setting a bar for the entire team, across all the brands. One of his favorite pieces — which has also become a favorite among student residents — is the Redpoint anthem.

We have two guiding principles at Simple Truth, by which we measure everything we do. A huge fan of both of them, Jason was also a master at them. They are, “Is it simple?” and “Is it true?” Is it managing complexity or condensing a huge promise into something easy to connect with, and is it authentic? The current campaign for Chicago real estate icon Baird & Warner stands as a perfect example. But more than what this campaign demonstrates in terms of his creative craft, is how he got it there. A master at making sure teammates were included and heard, rather than splitting into separate teams to create competitive ideas, he and the team decided to collaborate all as one.

Jason helped navigate a collection of concepts into being that all got rave client reviews. But needing to be relevant to the times in a way that was optimistic and real, the “Home+” concept won out because of how powerfully it embraces what people are rediscovering and reconnecting with about home — and how we’re realizing every aspect of it has become even more essential. Jason pushed for the concept to be relevant but not reactive to the pandemic. He believed in the larger optimism of revealing the power of home, through new ways we’re living.


“Creating culture can’t be something you find time for. You have to find ways to do it all the time.”

This was something he worked really hard to make look effortless.

A Cubs rug on the floor. Stickers and knickknacks. Ribbons and medals. Snacks (both healthy and not). The quirky word calendar. Stacks of notebooks. Stacks of to-be-used Bald Guy greeting cards. Inspirational quotes. Novelty business cards with only the words “Nobody cares” on them, for giving people the business. A theater-grade costume drawer. And bobbleheads. So many bobbleheads. Alongside merch from brands he worked on, a never-ending collection of random, seemingly frivolous junk eclipsed his desk. But every purchase he made had a purpose: to sound the call, “Be childlike. Stay curious. Support the things you care about and are passionate about and that bring you joy. And share it.”

This, along with the scooter (with tassels and a drink holder) parked on the bike rack at the office entrance, was part of his ongoing effort to make a more spontaneous, fun and creative environment. It was all his way of affirming Yes. This, too, is professional. 

There are those people to whom others gravitate. Those who seem to get along with everyone. Those who genuinely care about what anyone they run into is like, and always find a way to connect. They are the centers, engines, lifeblood of culture. And for them, it all just comes naturally (so it seems). But the reality is that these traits are all choices, and they take work and dedication to make happen. Jason was one of these people. He was pivotal to the culture of Simple Truth.

His skill as a creative writer could have taken him anywhere he wanted to go, but he found a place he loved, with people he loved, and chose to help build something. He always joked that Simple Truth feels like a cult, but it’s not. Because it was proof to him of something important. It shows that we were close, that we know and care for one another not just as creatives or coworkers, but as people. It means that we all feel part of the whole. The shy ones. The wry ones. The big-picture ones. The tenders-of-detail. The youths. The bold ones. And the old ones (sorry…senior level ones…is that better?).

His signature style was a combination of lifting you up and bringing you down to earth. In one internal campaign concept presentation where multiple teams pitched their ideas, another writer took his turn at bat, and reception started (and pretty much ended) with the head creative director asking what the concept meant, and precisely how it was intended to resonate with the target audience. The discussion that ensued slowly unthreaded everything on the wall. It happens to the best of us. But after the meeting, Jason famously went to the kitchen, got the first aid kit out of the cabinet and took it to the writer’s desk. Smirked, and walked away.

At the same time, he was energizing as a collaborator, challenging fellow creatives to think and work in new ways and turning fledgling ideas into full-on fires. Amazingly, without drawing attention away from the teammate who spurred the idea. He and another writer at Simple Truth honed a way of volleying in real time in a Google doc, to generate and push ideas on the fly — from headlines to cowriting entire blog posts. We asked that writer to recount creating one of Simple Truth’s most engaged-with posts — copywriters critiquing NFL logos — in a style that became signature to them.

As modest, funny and fun-loving as he was, he was also deeply sensitive. His creative and conscientious sides came together in the work he did outside of work, with EPIC. An organization that brings creative thinking to Chicago nonprofits in need, who would otherwise not have access to such resources. He was humbled and hugely proud to have had the chance through EPIC to work with The Dovetail Project to create their website. After that experience, he joined the board to help keep EPIC thriving.

The stories are endless. They are the lasting impressions he left behind. Those of us who knew Jason wish everyone had gotten the chance to know him. We are the ones he is survived by, and we are grateful for the gift of knowing him. If your agency or organization was hit personally by this pandemic, we want you to know — he would want you to know — you’re not alone. Be kind and honor each other. Put your heart into the work you do. And try to live your best day, every day (it won’t always work, but that’s not really what matters).