Ari Merkin
In just 16 years, Ari Merkin has become one of the most awarded creatives in advertising history.
His work has received not only hundreds of accolades for creativity and effectiveness, but also best of show honors at virtually every major advertising award competition. This includes the prestigious One Show, where in 2003, Ari became the only creative to ever take home 13 Pencils in a single evening.
He is a recognized industry leader who has been featured in almost every publication that follows the advertising industry. In 2006, Advertising Age named Ari among its ‘40 under 40.’ He currently serves as a member of the One Club Board of Directors and in November of 2009, Ari was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Achievement.
Ari’s success stems from his early career at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, where his work on the BMW MINI helped the campaign become one of the most successful U.S. car launches in history. His “Body Bag” campaign for ‘Truth’, the anti-smoking effort for the American Legacy Foundation, is still considered one of the most effective public service efforts of all time. As writer of the IKEA “Lamp” spot, Ari earned a Grand Prix at Cannes, as well as the Grand Clio. The spot still appears among listings of “top 10” commercials.
At just 33 years old, Ari left Crispin Porter + Bogusky to take over as Executive Creative Director of Fallon New York. Within just two years, he turned a fledgling outpost into one of the top 10 most-awarded agencies in the world – all while creating record-breaking sales for its largest clients.
In 2005 Ari co-founded an agency of his own. Toy New York is an agency that has been profitable since day one, and it has attracted an impressive roster of blue chip clients, including Amazon, Macy’s, Disney, Google, Virgin Mobile, Activision, American Eagle, OfficeMax, BusinessWeek and Extended Stay Hotels.
Among the agency’s most noteworthy work is the “Elf Yourself” viral phenomenon for OfficeMax, which attracted 200 million visits in less than six weeks. Elf Yourself is still on the record books as one of the greatest viral successes ever.
Ari sees advertising as a business of understanding human beings. In fact, he and his wife, Roneet, have produced four of their own. He’s proud to say it’s his best work to date.
Anne Bologna
In a former life, Anne was head of strategic planning at Fallon Minneapolis. She oversaw strategy for some pretty cool brands. People give her credit for having built the most admired planning department in the country.
Anne pioneered new thinking on brands like Starbucks. In 1998, she created the Starbucks brand bible, which gave a whole lot of focus to one enormous company. She was a huge part in creating the global brand strategy for Citibank. In fact, that overly-developed strategic brain of hers inspired “Live Richly,” an award-winning effort considered the most successful in Citibank's history. Anne also oversaw strategic development of BMW films, one of the most innovative and awarded campaigns in history.
Then, she brought her A-game to Fallon New York. It showed. During her term as president of the New York office, the shop’s largest clients experienced record sales years.
Anne’s focus on strategy, ideas, and business results earns trust and respect with clients. Probably because she spends the vast majority of her time working directly with clients.
Anne has been featured in Fast Company, co-hosted “AdFight,” a reality show pilot for the Oxygen Network, and in 2008, was named a “Woman to Watch” by Ad Age. She is a guest lecturer at Columbia University and one of an elite group of 22 industry leaders who co-authored the book “The 22 Immutable Laws of Advertising and How to Break Them.” In 2009, Anne received Adweek and AWNY’s “Changing the Game Award,” honoring women who have reinvented their businesses to meet today’s challenges.
If you want to make her uncomfortable, be sure to ask her about her brief stint as a television news reporter and anchor.
Anne is married to a superhero named Peter, and she has a very cool son named Rich, a sound designer in Brooklyn. When not working, Anne is usually found reading or sleeping. Often both.
David Dabill
David is a native New Yorker accidentally born in Fargo, North Dakota. His journey back was a long one, with stops in Minneapolis, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and a few stints in London. Along the way he picked up a finance degree and a law degree, practiced as an international tax consultant, and held plum jobs at two of the world's great agencies, Leo Burnett and Fallon.
Somewhere in there he managed to squeeze in a sabbatical that let him dabble in furniture design, film studies, improv, and yoga. Nobody ever accused David of taking a traditional career path.
After law school, David was a tax consultant for five years with Arthur Andersen. He specialized in work with closely held companies and international tax issues, spending a year in the firm's International Tax Specialty practice in Washington, D.C. His largest client was the then privately-held Leo Burnett Company.
When Burnett asked him to come on board with them in London, David jumped at the chance. He spent 10 years at Burnett as International Finance Director, Global Finance Director and, ultimately, SVP/Director for Corporate Financial Strategy.
His experience convinced him that private ownership was an important key to success for any creative company.
In 2001, David joined Fallon where he met Anne. As COO, David helped Fallon grow into a multi-hub international network.
But like a lot of the folks he was working with, David had an entrepreneurial itch. So when Anne and Ari decided to get scratching, he really had no choice. Toy was his chance to help build something great - a company and a culture focused on creativity.