The Kyle Thiermann Show #407 Running a Big Creative Agency In a Small Town - David Littlejohn
10 snips
Feb 9, 2026 David Littlejohn, founder of Humanaut and magician-turned-creative, builds memorable brands from Chattanooga. He talks sleight-of-hand inspiring surprise in ads. He explains systematizing creativity, choosing better-for-you brands, and launching Mouthfire, a spicy nonalcoholic project that funds artists. Short, playful, and full of creative experiment vibes.
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Camp Shaped His Creative Drive
- David Littlejohn grew up attending month-long all-boys summer camp every year from age seven into late teens.
- That experience framed life as adventure, taught competition, mastery, and that you work harder when you're having fun.
Creativity Is Useful Collision
- David defines creativity as collisions of two different things and studies how ideas form like a scientist of his own mind.
- He calls great ideas "useful collisions" and trains himself to spot them repeatedly.
Train Taste By Curating Daily
- David built a daily habit (a blog) of curating the best ads and explaining why they worked to train his taste and judgment.
- Do a daily creative audit to become the "creative director of the world's advertising" for your own education.
