Over the years, I’ve had the tremendous good fortune to work with many of the “masters”of modern advertising. Good for name-dropping purposes, but even better for providing a vantage point from which to observe and study how extraordinary advertising comes about.
Starting in Portland, Oregon, I worked with Dan Wieden and Dave Kennedy on some of the earliest Nike advertising (where Susan Hoffman was my first art director partner) and then with Bill Borders of Columbia Sportswear fame.
From there I went to New York where I worked on BMW, Club Med and UPS under the tyrannical, but instructive supervision of Martin Puris and Ralph Ammirati. This was followed by a stint under Hall of Fame art directors Amil Gargano and Mike Tesch. Another round with Tom Thomas (who was my direct boss at Ammirati). And then the opportunity to take over the writing duties on the Perdue Farms business from Ed McCabe and Bob Levenson, both Hall of Fame copywriters.
In fact, all told I’ve worked with a dozen or so Hall of Fame inductees (while never coming remotely close to gaining admittance myself). But what I did gain was a profound understanding of what it takes to identify and nurture advertising that goes far beyond the ordinary. Along with an uncanny knack for explaining it to businesspeople in terms they can relate to and appreciate.