Joe Ashley, Writer

Whether it’s developing an advertising campaign concept, scripting a long-format video, writing a presentation for a business executive or penning the lyric to a jingle or song, Joe Ashley brings 40 years of experience in various phases of communications to the projects he works on.

Joe began his career in the 1960s as a radio and television news reporter. He worked as a public information officer for the Columbus schools and the Ohio prison system in the 1970s, then spent nearly 20 years as an advertising copywriter and creative director in the Columbus market. He also spent four years as a freelance writer whose client list included a number of the market’s top ad agencies, design houses and production companies. Most recently he was a writer/creative director with Mills/James Productions in Columbus from 1995 to May 2003, when he began working as an independent contractor.

Joe has developed materials for a wide variety of businesses and industries, including food, financial, healthcare, pharmaceutical, educational, retail, automotive, utility, architectural, insurance, entertainment, communications and business services. He has experience with virtually all communications media, having created concepts and written scripts for long-format video programs and radio and television commercials, as well as print ads and brochures. His work has won numerous awards in various advertising and creative competitions.

With over 25 years of experience as a commercial music lyricist, Joe has written the lyrics for dozens of advertising jingles, corporate anthems, musical tributes and theme songs for political candidates, special productions and live events.

In 2000 and 2001, Joe was commissioned by NASCAR to write the lyric for a song honoring the winner of the NASCAR Winston Cup. He wrote the lyric for a song titled “You Mean The World To Us,” which was performed by the late John Denver at the first-ever United Nations Environmental Awards in 1991 in New York City. The script and lyrics he conceived and wrote for a mini-musical based on a fictional moment in the early lives of the Wright Brothers was a finalist in the category of live event scripting in the prestigious 1999 New York Festival Awards.