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Carl AllyCreator of the advertising agency Carl Ally Inc.
Date of Birth: 31.03.1924
Country:  USA |
Biography of Carl Ally
Early Life and Military Service
Carl Joseph Ally was born on March 31, 1924, in Detroit, Michigan. His father, also named Carl, was a Turkish immigrant who changed his surname from Ali to Ally upon moving to the United States. His mother was the product of a marriage between an American man and an Italian woman. Carl grew up in a small emerald-colored house in Detroit, just like most of the city's residents at the time. His father worked as a ship loader on the Great Lakes and later as a mechanic at the Briggs automobile company. During World War II and the Korean War, young Carl served in the United States Air Force. He reached the rank of captain during his first service from 1942 to 1945 and earned the Medal of Honor with three oak leaf clusters during his second term from 1950 to 1952. In between wars, Ally obtained a marketing degree from the University of Michigan and an MBA in advertising from Harvard University. He worked in the advertising department of General Electric from 1949 to 1950.
Career in Advertising
After his military service in Korea, Ally briefly worked at a small advertising agency in Detroit. In 1955, he joined Campbell-Ewald Co as an account manager. His superiors at Campbell-Ewald Co were so impressed by his determination that they offered him the position of heading the agency's New York office in 1959. However, Ally held this position for only eight months before being fired due to conflicts with management. In the 1960s, a creative revolution took place in the United States, which later led historians to refer to this decade as the "golden age of American advertising." The strongest agency during this time was Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB). Three former employees of DDB founded the agency Papert, Koenig & Lois in 1960 and sought clients who were willing to take risks. According to the founders, their agency "could go further than the infamous DDB." Carl Ally joined the agency shortly after its founding. George Lois, co-founder of Papert, Koenig & Lois, said, "At that time, you knew for sure that here and now you could change the world. Creators had real power in advertising. When Ally joined Papert, Koenig & Lois, we felt that an account manager could also be a real force."
Founding Carl Ally Inc.
In 1962, Ally left Papert, Koenig & Lois to work with the Volvo account, which was then an unknown European car manufacturer. The brand manager for Peugeot, who later joined Volvo, offered Ally the opportunity to work on the Volvo account. With a budget of $1 million, Ally decided to leave Papert, Koenig & Lois and start his own agency. Together with art director Amil Gargano and copywriter Jim Durfee from Campbell-Ewald Co, Ally founded Carl Ally Inc. The agency's only client was Volvo. The agency embraced a utopian perspective on life. Carl Ally said, "We didn't need to 'court' clients. We wanted to do our work well." Amil Gargano added, "Carl Ally was a hell full of energy, commitment, and enthusiasm. We had a sharp sense of purpose and a maniacal desire to do what we believed was right. We were alone against everyone." The trio of co-founders believed that advertising was a product, not a service. If a client did not like Carl Ally's work, they were encouraged to find another agency.
Success and Challenges
Ally openly despised "boring advertising" made by "old-school" agencies with hierarchical structures. He believed that Carl Ally existed to create major brands out of nothing. When Ed Butler, who had previously worked at DDB before joining Carl Ally, presented his first television commercial to Ally, the latter criticized the ad, saying, "It's cute. You probably came from a DDB-type agency where they fool the consumer. Here, we grab them by the throat." Within three years of its founding, Carl Ally Inc.'s philosophy had attracted dozens of clients. However, clients often came and went quickly. Ally's explosive nature, in which he spoke his mind without reservations, cost the agency accounts such as Fiat, Pan American, and IBM. It is not surprising that Carl Ally, the son of an auto mechanic and a war pilot, had a fondness for cars and planes. Most of the memorable work done by the agency in the 1960s and 1970s was for the automotive and aviation industries, including Volvo, Fiat, Saab, Pan American, Federal Express, Piper Aircraft, Hertz, and Scandinavian Airlines.
Legacy and Later Years
Ally is credited with positioning Volvo as a reliable and safe car brand. One of the agency's early commercials showcased Volvo's excellent braking system. Other commercials highlighted that in Sweden, where most roads were poorly maintained at the time, the average lifespan of a Volvo was 11 years. Interestingly, Ally's most successful work often came from clients who were direct competitors of companies served by DDB. For example, Volkswagen (DDB) was a competitor of Fiat (Carl Ally). Another client of Carl Ally, Hertz, competed with Avis for the American market. After DDB launched a powerful campaign for Avis with the slogan "We're number two, so we try harder," Ally's work for Hertz countered with the statement, "Our competitor says they're number two. Hard to argue with that." And to Avis's claim of trying harder, the response was, "Maybe because they have nothing else to say."
In 1974, Federal Express (FedEx) chose Carl Ally Inc. as its first advertising agency. The budget for FedEx was $150,000 per year. After a test campaign in New York and Los Angeles, FedEx sales in these cities increased by 87% and 59% respectively. Carl Ally Inc.'s strategy for FedEx consisted of several phases. In the first stage, when brand awareness needed to be established, the advertising messages stated, "America, there's a new airline!" Then came the attack on the consumer with slogans such as "Why wait when you don't have to?" and "When absolutely, positively has to be there overnight." The logic of the latter slogan was so clear that FedEx still occasionally uses it to this day. Experts believe that advertising played a significant role in transforming Federal Express into a leader with sales reaching $400 million by 1981.
Ally's advertising for Federal Express was filled with subtle humor. Patrick Kelly, a copywriter at Carl Ally, who worked with Federal Express, said, "Shipping is not the funniest thing in the world. We decided to add humor to bring it to life. Humor is the fastest way to reach people's hearts." Ally's controversial and outspoken nature brought him many clients but also led to the loss of some. These results had an impact on the agency. Even Volvo made the bold decision to leave and joined Scali, McCabe & Sloves, an agency founded by former employees of Carl Ally Inc.
In 1976, the agency went through a restructuring. Ally's name was included in the agency's new name, Ally & Gargano, along with creative director Amil Gargano. Ally became the chairman of the board, while Gargano took on the roles of president and CEO. In 1979, Ally sold his shares to Gargano and left the agency. June 1984 marked another turning point for the agency, as Gargano fired Edward Gallagher, causing a rift between the co-founders. The agency underwent further reorganization, but these measures only provided a temporary solution.
Ally officially resigned from Ally & Gargano on January 1, 1985. Rather than leaving the company, it can be said that he left the advertising industry as a whole. The agency had just secured accounts with Ciba Pharmaceutical, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Polaroid. Carl Ally said, "I've been in advertising for too long. It's time to leave and enjoy myself."
In June 1986, Marketing Corporation of America (MCA) acquired Ally & Gargano for $26.6 million. MCA was a conglomerate that owned restaurant chains, an internal airline, and MCA Advertising, which primarily conducted marketing research for companies such as Lorillard Inc. and H. J. Heinz Company. MCA merged MCA Advertising with Ally & Gargano.
Facing a completely different approach, Federal Express immediately left the agency. Employees of Ally & Gargano also began to leave. However, the biggest blow came when Saab, a major client of the agency for nine years, decided to leave. Saab had been bringing in $30 million in annual revenue for the agency. It is worth noting that MCA acquired Ally & Gargano due to the presence of Federal Express, Saab, and another major client of the agency, Dunkin' Donuts.
In December 1988, MCA sold a controlling stake in Ally & Gargano to Wesray Capital Corporation for $30 million. In 1991, following the expiration of his contract, Amil Gargano left the agency. He then opened his own agency, Amil Gargano & Partners, on a lower floor of the same building. After Gargano's departure, Ally & Gargano closed its doors. Carl Ally passed away on February 17, 1999, due to a heart attack in his New Jersey home.
Ally referred to himself as a "crusader throwing grenades for truth in advertising." Jim Durfee, one of the co-founders of Carl Ally Inc., said, "He was true to the truth. The problem is that the advertising industry cannot handle a large amount of truth. The client doesn't want that."
Martin Puris, co-founder of Ammirati Puris Lintas, said, "I don't think he would have survived in the advertising business nowadays. Actually, I don't think he would have wanted to survive. People have become afraid. In the end, the client dictates how the advertising industry should be structured. De facto."
Jerry Della Femina, CEO of Della Femina/Jeary & Partners and a friend of Carl Ally, said, "When Carl died, it was an unreal death because there was so much of what he created that was still alive and breathing."
