McCann
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Search complete. 26 mentions across 11 episodes found for "McCann".
Oct 3, 2026
speaker_1SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
That's the real way.
Terry O'ReillyHOST
The idea for the commercial came from Bill Backer, who was the creative director at an advertising agency called McCann Erickson.
Terry O'ReillyHOST
[instrumental music plays] As we've mentioned before, Backer had been on a flight to England, but the plane was forced to land in Ireland due to fog.
Terry O'ReillyHOST
Passengers were unhappy and grumpy, but when the airline served everyone Coca-Colas, Backer watched as people began to relax and start chatting with their fellow passengers.
5 MINS LATER
Terry O'ReillyHOST
It was a series of commercials for Miller Lite, and it was also done by Bill Backer's ad agency.
Terry O'ReillyHOST
We've mentioned this story before, but allow us to refresh your drink.
Terry O'ReillyHOST
[bottle opening] As mentioned earlier, Bill Backer was the creative director at the McCann Erickson advertising agency, and along with Coke, it also had the Miller beer account.
Terry O'ReillyHOST
Miller had just purchased a small Chicago brewery called Meister Brau.
Russell HowcroftGUEST
In fact, it was Chisholm at the time, but Monash University doing a Bachelor of Business in Marketing course.
Russell HowcroftGUEST
And he rang up one of his ad mates and said, could Russ have a week's work experience? And that was at McCann Erickson, 1987, Bob.
Russell HowcroftGUEST
And at the end of the week, they said, we'd like you to stay.
Russell HowcroftGUEST
So I was very fortunate in that I actually didn't ever have to search for a job.
Russell HowcroftGUEST
I've never been able to confirm with my father, did he just simply get me a week's work experience or did he think that I'd be good at it and enjoy it? I suspect the latter.
Russell HowcroftGUEST
Unfortunately, I haven't asked him because my father has passed away about, gosh, 27 years ago.
Russell HowcroftGUEST
So I haven't been able to actually ask him what led to him ringing up McCann Erickson.
Russell HowcroftGUEST
Anyway, it was my good fortune.
Alan SchulmanGUEST
So the first half of my career, I always say in the 20th century, I spent the first 20 years of my career making ads, making advertising.
Alan SchulmanGUEST
That was primarily on the agency side for a number of very, very fine agencies, including Leo Burnett Company, including FCB, Footcone and Belding, and then later with McCann Ericsson Worldwide in New York.
Alan SchulmanGUEST
So a lot of very large global agency brands I started as a copywriter.
Alan SchulmanGUEST
I went to two journalism schools out of college, both here in the United States, the most notable of which was the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where I'm currently an adjunct professor and teaching in their integrated marketing communications program.
Shmuel HerschbergHOST
Yeah, I was going to ask you, was that an intentional move into the digital space? And at what point in time was this?
Alan SchulmanGUEST
Yeah, so I had my own agency, which was founded in the early 2000s.
Alan SchulmanGUEST
I had left McCann Erickson.
Alan SchulmanGUEST
I was the first digital creative head.
Matt BrittonHOST
So would love to, as we wrap up here, talk a little bit about your career journey.
Matt BrittonHOST
At the beginning of your career, you worked at sort of like a who's who of big advertising agencies from Ogilvy to Goodby to McCann to Saatchi.
Matt BrittonHOST
Incredible firms, obviously, and one benefit as someone who has spent a lot of time in the ad industry myself is that you get to work across multiple categories.
Matt BrittonHOST
which I think is really interesting versus just being kind of tunnel vision.
Libby MorganGUEST
But I do appreciate the operational efficiency that AI brings, right? I love technology and platforms.
Libby MorganGUEST
One of my most recent hires is our CTO, who, Olivier Pepin, who I worked with for years at McCann Worldgroup, he's one of the best architects in the world, and his skills are transferable here because it is still about how do we connect the data and the platforms together so that we have operational efficiency, so that the human beings, the people, can take their vertical expertise, their industry expertise, their strategic thinking, their creative leadership, their innovation, and apply that to our work.
Libby MorganGUEST
That's not something that AI in any form, walled gu- garden or otherwise, can do just yet.
Libby MorganGUEST
So we don't want the inmates, you know, to run the asylum just, just yet.
Jon MarchantGUEST
You know, I was, uh...
Jon MarchantGUEST
At the time, I was running McCann Birmingham, which is, if you don't know, it's a, it's, it's an incredible agency.
Jon MarchantGUEST
But it's on an industrial estate in Shirley, uh, just outside of Solihull.
Jon MarchantGUEST
Um, like all Brits, and probably 50% of those Brits were Brummies at the time, and then you kind of parachuted into a, an international agency.
Jon MarchantGUEST
At the time it was FP7 McCann.
Jon MarchantGUEST
Um, 100 talents, and probably within that 27 different nationalities, and honestly, it was quite daunting.
Jon MarchantGUEST
I remember doing the sort of first agency address going, "Ooh, what have I done?" [laughs] Um, but what, what you find quickly is that, you know, for all these wonderfully different cultures and nationalities, everybody in Dubai shares a, shares a common goal, and that goal is, um, ambition.
Jon MarchantGUEST
... and the, you know, the, the, uh, surfer ad for Guinness? The, the ad- adverts like that were, that were around at the time I was just massively into, and I was kind of...
PhilipUNKNOWN
Yeah.
PhilipUNKNOWN
Uh, so since the, uh, K Road, um, is now an option, uh, I work just off K Road, um, in McCann Advertising, so, um, you know, pretty proud Aucklander, and I want to use the new infrastructure, so yeah, pretty happy.
Dave LeteleGUEST
Oh, oh, oh, mate, that's a good throw to your... a good, good, uh, throw to your workplace.
PhilipUNKNOWN
Yeah.
Odochi IbeHOST
Who co-wrote and produced the music for Coca-Cola's famous 1971 Hilltop commercial, I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke? Is it A, Barry Gordy Jr.
Odochi IbeHOST
as a favor to McMahon Erickson's ad team? B, Raquel Billy Davis, the Black Motown era songwriter and McCain Erickson music director? Or C, Quincy Jones, who scored it? who scored it between film projects.
Maurice LicorishHOST
I wanna, I wanna say it was C Quincy just because like he had his hands in so many pies at any, at like any point in his, in his history that like, it feels like it tracks that it would just, it would be Quincy, but I'm going, you know what? I'm going with C.
Odochi IbeHOST
All right,
Odochi IbeHOST
Okay.
Odochi IbeHOST
The answer is B. Roquel, Billy Davis.
Odochi IbeHOST
He was McCain Erickson's music director on the Coke account and co-wrote and produced the song with Adman, Bill Backer, and British songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenway.
Odochi IbeHOST
Davis had already made a name Made his name co-writing hits like Lonely Teardrops and Hilltop, which is now archived in the Library of Congress for its cultural significance.
Brett PostenGUEST
We, we sometimes say we're ad agency escapees.
Brett PostenGUEST
Um, I started my career at McCann Erickson in New York.
Brett PostenGUEST
She started her career at, uh, VML here in Kansas City, which is now, I think, the world's largest ad agency, which is funny 'cause you don't even think of Kansas City that way.
Brett PostenGUEST
Um, and we really kind of loved the business of branding, marketing, advertising, communications, design, all of that.
18 MINS LATER
Brett PostenGUEST
So, um, I think we know who we are, and that's been a ...
Brett PostenGUEST
You know, that g- helps us serve our clients better.
Ricky PottsHOST
Well, you mentioned that before launching Highline, you spent some time at McCann Erickson in New York.
Ricky PottsHOST
What did that experience teach you and, and how did that shape you to the leader that you are today?
1 more episode mentions McCann.
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