Doe Anderson - Building Brand Enthusiasts

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David Bonner - Chief Creative Officer

Brand Experience:

  • Ad Council
  • American Signature
  • Apple
  • Bayer
  • Bell Canada
  • Campbell's Soups
  • Chapter's Bookstore
  • Chrysler
  • CHS Hospitals
  • Copenhagen
  • Covad DSL
  • Globe and Mail Newspaper
  • Illinois Tourism
  • Inniskillin
  • Insurance Brokers of Canada
  • Jackson-Triggs
  • Kraft Foods
  • Lexmark
  • Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO)
  • Mars
  • Miracle Whip
  • Molson
  • Murray
  • Northwestern Mutual
  • Ontario Lottery Corp.
  • Ontario Small Business
  • Ontario Toyota Dealers
  • Oscar Mayer
  • Pepsi
  • Polaroid
  • RadioShack Canada
  • Sagicor Caribbean Bank
  • Scotiabank
  • Second City
  • Shoney's
  • Sick Kids' Hospital
  • Skoal
  • TD Bank
  • Western Union


Questions & Answers:

Where did you work prior to Doe-Anderson?
I spent a few years as a Navy Intel officer, then NCIS agent. After turning in the gun and badge, BBDO Toronto, GJP Toronto, and JWT Chicago. Alphabet soup.

Why are you excited about Doe?
We have one of the best brand-building programs in the world, bar none.

Favorite movie of all time?
Whether it's movies or music or art, I'm clinically eclectic. Picking one is impossible.

Have you won any advertising awards?
Most of them, but no Oscar yet. Initially, awards are important for self-validation. After that, they're a constant reminder to keep your pencil sharp. Everybody needs critical outside review. Graded work is better than non-graded work.

How does advertising compare to the Navy?
Whether it's the deck of an aircraft carrier, or the floors of a creative department, you have to orchestrate chaos to achieve a single mission.

One minute you're guarding the president, the next you're writing headlines for Apple. What influenced you to switch to advertising?
A career self-analysis book titled, "What Color is Your Parachute?" Everything directed me to be an "advertising copywriter". At the time, I didn't even know what that meant.

What makes a great brand?
One large beef patty of personality, hold the schizophrenia.

What's the biggest satisfaction you get from your job?
Helping people tell their story.

What can't you live without?
The big F's: faith, family, friends and freedom.

You're staring at a blank page. What do you do?
Befriend and interrogate.

There's a saying, "Mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow."

In 1915 in Louisville, Kentucky, Mr. Doe and Mr. Anderson believed the same could be said for growing mighty brands. And one simple typographer's symbol later, the acorn starting revealing a wealth of insights we've never forgotten.

First, there are no shortcuts in growing a brand. Cracking open an acorn doesn't give you an oak tree. And cracking one clever ad campaign doesn't make a strong brand. It takes seasons of growth.

You can't grow a tree from the top down, nor a brand. Only by starting at the grass roots can real growth begin. That's why having a word-of-mouth marketing program is so important, and so effective.

Environment is critical. If you create an inviting experience where customers feel at home, they'll not only put down deep roots, they'll invite their friends to join them, and grow your brand exponentially.

Life is a never-ending cycle. Only repeating growth ensures survival. By continually planting new seeds of opportunity, a brand is able to grow in a predictable way. Fortunately, it offers both quick, green growth, and a long-term system for more.

And since 1915, the acorn has done exactly what it is designed to do -- grow.