I had a chance to talk with Creative Director and Copywriter Mike Allen about his career in Advertising and get some of his thoughts on branding and creativity.  Here are 10 minutes from that discussion.

As this embedded spot for American Airlines demonstrates, Mike gives voice to a brand’s essence.  This spot and two others in the campaign ran shortly after the 9/11 tragedy.  Worried that the country didn’t need a reminder of plane flight or the of who’s company mark was stenciled to the side of the terrorist weapon, American Airlines was on the verge of canceling all Advertising for 6 months.

The alternative was to show the emotion of what plane flight means to those who chose to travel; don’t show planes, show what planes can do besides fly into buildings. It’s easy to see how the “We know why you fly” campaign was born from these early spots written by Mike.

Additional 30 sec. spots in the Campaign from American Airlines 2001:
“Friends”
“Family”

Summery of Mike Allen’s Advertising History:

His 24-year advertising career includes creating brand-building work for American Airlines, Bank of America, Nortel Networks, Subaru of America, the U.S. Air Force, Bell Helicopter, Terminix and Bennigan’s while at Temerlin McClain in Dallas, TX.

From 2003-2009, He was ACD, then VP/Managing Creative Director at Rockett, Burkhead & Winslow (RBW) in Raleigh, NC, overseeing work and writing for BB&T, Biscuitville, Wavecom, Queens University of Charlotte, CORT Furniture and Old Dominion Freight Line across all media channels.

Meet Adam. He’s determined to unite talent – his own. A first-class writer and a first-rate illustrator equals a great cartoonist. A great cartoonist makes an exceptional ad man, screen writer and film director.

Here’s an example when livelihood obligates creative talent to flow. Resembling a creative anthropologist, skills are exhumed with the unrelenting exploration, tweaking and deadlines. There is nothing like the demands of a professional creative career; this is no do it when you feel like it hobby.

The fortunate survive the first third, navigate the second third and finish a maturing prodigy with an inspiring future. Talent is a given – find it or go home – nevertheless wisdom keeps talent relevant.

Biography via Capstrat.com

Some of Americas best known brands gained advantage from Adam’s multipurpose communications talent. An art director, illustrator, writer and strategic thinker, Adam is an advertising quadruple threat.

With nearly 20 years in advertising and now a V.P. Creative Director at Capstrat in N.C., Adam has a national reputation that’s prized locally. Distill, his North Carolina creative ad boutique, boasted a roster of Clients including Kingsdown Mattresses, IntraHealth International, Dey Pharmaceuticals and Mother Earth Brewing.

Before launching Distill, Adam devoted valuable message shaping years to San Francisco agency Ketchum Advertising for Bank of America, Hunt-Wesson Foods (Orville Redenbacher, Knott’s Berry Farm, Peter Pan), Pacific Bell and Novartis Crop Protection.

Prior to relocating North Carolina’s Triangle, Adam freelanced with nearly all major Bay Area agencies: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners; Foote, Cone & Belding; TBWA\Chiat\Day; McCann-Erickson; Butler, Shine & Stern. His work included advertising and strategic planning for among many: Charles Schwab, Microsoft, Levi’s, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Apple and the San Francisco Giants.

So as not to be accused of creative slacking, Adam’s daily comic strip, “Herschel,” was chosen for syndication by Creators Syndicate. He co-created a Cartoon Network animated pilot called “Major Flake” and his short film, “Love Scene,” won Best Narrative Short at the Ohio Independent Film Festival.

Some awards needing persistent dusting came from The New York Art Directors Show, The Clios, Graphis, Creativity Magazine, The San Francisco Show, PRINT, The AIGA Boom! Awards and ADDYS.

Adam earned a Bachelor’s degree from UNC-Chapel Hill in interdisciplinary studies with concentrations in art and speech communication from, and an MFA in illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

I met Scott in 1995 at an awards show. One of the many things I enjoy about being “a creative” in advertising is that you become a collector of interesting intelligent imaginative just plain nice folks who do cool stuff; Scott is one of those. – Bruce DeBoer

Scott Ballew Senior Vice President and Creative Director

Biography [via - Captrat.com ] :

Scott offers our clients a deep understanding of consumer advertising and national accounts from his experience with high-profile clients such as Kimberly-Clark, TGI Friday’s, Thorlo and Pier 1 Imports. He also brings special expertise in health care and technology, thanks to his work for Ciba-Geigy (now Novartis), the Texas Department of Health and SAS Software. Here at Capstrat, Scott contributes to creative strategy and supervision for a range of accounts and oversees our design staff.

While Scott believes his first priority is aligning creative concepts with strategic goals, his creative executions capture the heart and mind — and every conceivable prize. His award shelf includes honors from Communication Arts, New York Art Directors Annual, The One Show, London International Awards, Clios, national Addys. Archive and Graphis.

Previously Scott served as associate creative director at Howard, Merrell & Partners in Raleigh. He also served as senior art director at West & Vaughan in Durham and as art director for The Richards Group in Dallas. He started his career in the design department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A Texan by birth, Scott graduated with honors from the School of Visual Arts in New York where he earned his bachelor of fine arts degree in advertising.

Contact Scott Ballew through Capstrat.com

It’s “challenging to figure out how to be as creative as possible while wearing both hats” … one as creative director and another as agency owner.

In this video interview listen to Domenick Rella, partner at advertising agency RellaCowan,  talk about his background, the business of advertising and his agency’s approach.

Through years of working in marketing and advertising, Domenick has honed a creative philosophy that has led to innumerable successful projects for clients and, not incidentally, won many awards. Prior to founding Rella:Cowan, he was art director for several agencies in the Southeast, and more recently, serving as associate creative director and creative director. His wide-ranging background includes print (direct and publication), broadcast and interactive advertising for clients in technology, research, finance, manufacturing and retail. Domenick also worked for Qualex, Kodak’s photo finishing division, where he was creative team leader in charge of national branding for Target Film Developing. (via RellaCowan.com) Oddity: Derives life lessons from “The Big Lebowski” Contact Domenick Rella