Photo illustration by Ashley Epping
On Jan. 1, Glenn Dady took the reins of The Richards Group in Dallas, assuming the day-to-day duties of managing the agency from founder Stan Richards.
Dady joined Richards in 1980 after graduating first in his class from ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. Instrumental in the creation of campaigns for hundreds of brands in the four decades since, Dady's creative imprint can also be found on work for current agency clients Go RVing, Biltmore Estate, NatureSweet Tomatoes, Sub-Zero, Wolf, Jeep, Ram and Alfa Romeo.
We spent two minutes with Dady to learn more about his background, his creative inspirations, and recent work he's admired.
Glenn, tell us...
The town where you were born.
Monte Vista, Colorado.
What you wanted to be when you grew up.
An artist. All I wanted to do was draw.
How you discovered you were creative.
I'm not sure I have.
A person you idolized creatively growing up.
Walt Disney.
A moment from high school or college that changed your life.
Finding an ArtCenter catalog in a Denver public library and opening it to the student work. I had just finished four years in undergrad majoring in biology and chemistry, thinking I was going to be a dentist. The world stopped. I can do THAT, and make a living? My wife and I rented a U-Haul and took off for Los Angeles and ArtCenter.
The first concert you saw, and your favorite band or musician today.
First concert: Led Zeppelin, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Favorite musician: Jimi Hendrix. Favorite band: The Beatles. My music knowledge pretty much ends in 1974.
Your favorite artist.
Edgar Degas. The dude could draw.
Your favorite hero or heroine in fiction.
Ha! Jack Reacher. He leads a simple life (or attempts to) and makes the world a better place (kind of).
The best book you've read lately.
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. I spent fifth through 12th grades in Tulsa and never learned that part of Oklahoma history.
Your favorite movie.
Impossible to narrow to one. How about two, from the same director, Ridley Scott: Alien and Blade Runner.
Your favorite Instagram follow.
@dana_tanamachi (lettering artist) and @charliemackesy (illustrator).
Your favorite creative project you've ever worked on, and why.
The yearly Super Bowl assignment for Bridgestone was always a favorite assignment. Open to The Richard Group's entire 100-person creative department (and beyond it—we always welcomed submissions from everyone from our mail room to our accounting team), it was a fun, amazing, competitive gauntlet to see which ideas survived from one internal to the next, ultimately rose to the top, and ended up on the world's biggest advertising stage. Some of the spots that still make me laugh include "Scream," "Taters," "Hot Item" and "Reply All."
Your favorite creative project from the past year, and why.
A simple spot for Alfa Romeo titled "Love Story." In truth, it was a story of unrequited love for us, as the idea sat in our client's desk drawer for nearly two years after we presented it. And re-presented it. To get the greenlight was a total surprise in the end, and proof, as my partner says, that true love never dies.
Someone else's creative project that inspired you years ago.
Had to be Apple's "1984." Blew me away. Of course, it was Ridley Scott.
Someone else's creative project that you've been envious of lately.
The Dior exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Your main strength as a creative person.
Picky. Picky. Picky.
Your weakness or blind spot.
Picky. Picky. Picky.
One thing that always makes you happy.
Family.
One thing that always makes you sad.
Hate.
What you'd be doing if you weren't in advertising.
Drawing caricatures at Disneyland.
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