It was his willingness to take these risks that got him the job. McKee said that his boss later told him they had been considering people with more experience but took a chance on him because he had guts.
Now, more than 20 years later, McKee is the president of his own advertising agency, McKee Wallwork Cleveland, which has been recognized by the American Marketing Association with two EFFIE Awards for excellence in marketing communications. Based in Albuquerque, NM, the agency serves clients such as Blake's Lotaburger, Glass Doctor, Presbyterian Healthcare Services, and Mr. Rooter.
"Our newest assignment is for the Natural Stone Council, which is a new cooperative marketing organization like the Milk Board or the Beef Council but for stone," McKee said. "We developed a branding campaign from the ground up, creating a 'Genuine Stone' trademark and a comprehensive plan to roll it out first to architects and designers and then to consumers nationwide. It's a long-term program that's incorporated everything I've learned about branding over the past 20 years."
McKee feels advertising is an interesting business because it allows people to "cross-pollinate ideas across a variety of companies in a variety of industries." Assignments have their similarities but are also wildly different.
"It provides an interesting perspective on the world and no shortage of topics to discuss at cocktail parties. I know a little about a whole lot of things," McKee said.
McKee said that, thanks to the Internet and TiVo, advertising has become dichotomous—it is both changing and unchanging.
"Everything is changing. From a media perspective, the rapid proliferation in our industry is good because the more complexity it brings to the decision process, the more companies will need the advice of professionals like us. It's incumbent upon us to stay up to speed on changing technology, but that's what we do. New media options open up the creative possibilities exponentially. There's nothing to fear there," said McKee.
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"At the same time, nothing is changing," he added. "As humans, we will always respond to storytelling, which in a nutshell is what we in the advertising business do. People like advertising. Oh, they hate bad advertising, and they hate when it intrudes on their world, but they like advertising that entertains or otherwise touches them, and they value the fact that it pays for things that they enjoy for free. And in some ways, the dizzying array of new media options makes genuine creativity an even greater value. If what Steven Spielberg did was easy, everyone would be doing it."
McKee has four pieces of advice for those interested in working in the advertising industry:
- First, read. Everything you can. Read fiction, read nonfiction, read newspapers, and read magazines. Reading makes you smart. It keeps you plugged into the culture, and we're a culture-driven business.
- Second, learn how to write. If you can express your ideas in writing, you can do anything. Everybody thinks they're a good writer, but very few people really are. Your high school English teacher was right. Get a copy of The Elements of Style and internalize it.
- Third, get into advertising before you land a job. I always ask applicants what ads they like and why they like them. I also ask them what advertisers are blowing it and why. In our business, unlike other professions, our work is on display for all to see. If you're not already studying and critiquing and developing opinions about advertising, you're probably not all that interested in the business. If you can't talk about it intelligently at the drop of a hat, that's a red flag.
- Fourth, apply what you know to yourself. You are the product, and the agency is your target market. What can you learn about the target? How can you position the product? What communication vehicles will be most effective? If you can't develop a smart plan to sell yourself to an agency, why would they believe you can develop a smart plan to sell their clients' products and services? On the other hand, if you execute a well-conceived, custom, and differentiated plan to sell yourself, an agency would be crazy not to hire you.
