Carl Warner On The Spot

Carl Warner helped launch seven Ford models in 28 months as creative director at JWT Detroit, including a 2005 Super Bowl spot for the Mustang convertible that depicted a driver frozen at the wheel from putting the top down in the winter. The 43-year-old art director moved to Atlanta in March to help lead JWT there with Tony Accurso as co-president and executive creative director. During his 20-year career, Warner has worked at The Richards Group in Dallas, DDB in Dallas and Chicago, and at Team One in El Segundo, Calif., on brands such as American Airlines, Bud Light and Lexus. Q: What inspired you to get into advertising?

A: In high school, I figured out that I was too short to play in the NBA, so I needed a backup plan. I knew advertising was an opportunity for a creative outlet and I liked art, but knew I wasn't good enough to be an illustrator. I loved the idea of being creative. The rest of my family is accountants or has accounting degrees. That was the one class in college I had to drop because I just couldn't handle it.



Who has most influenced you creatively?

I've had some amazing partners. Court Crandall [a writer at Team One in L.A. and founder of Ground Zero in L.A.], Harold Einstein [a writer at DDB in Chicago, now with TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York] and Ed Cole [a senior partner and co-creative director on Ford at JWT in Detroit]. … My wife and kids have been an inspiration to work hard and work well and be a better person. I'm influenced and inspired by lots of people—artists, authors, musicians and directors.



You helped launch seven new models for Ford during the past two years. What's it like to focus all your time on cars?

I've worked on two car accounts: Lexus at the beginning, then Ford 15 years later. I was a little concerned about going to an agency and working on one account, because it got a little old with Lexus. At Ford, each of the cars had its own personality. It didn't get old. It was as if each one was a different account.



Is it harder working on a car account than other types of advertising?

I'm not a car guy. I wasn't a car guy when I worked on Lexus and Ford. I was an idea guy, an advertising person who happened to work on cars. There are some really good people in Detroit who are labeled and probably can't get out of that. I was fortunate that nobody labeled me a car guy. I can use it to my advantage.



What was the last ad that made you think, "I wish I had done that"?

The new Jetta campaign [from Crispin Porter + Bogusky]. I admire the fact they were able to get it out. It is pretty bold.



What's the most overrated campaign right now?

As much as I admire Crispin Porter, I don't think the Burger King stuff with the smiling King works. Somebody has to tell the emperor that he's naked. We love it because it is Crispin Porter. If it were anybody else, I'm not sure everybody would think so much of it.



What is the smartest business decision you've ever made?

Teaming with my wife, Jackie. She's a stay-at-home mom. She's really my business partner and has been throughout 20 years of advertising.



What is the dumbest business decision?

I stayed too long at a Dallas agency with a president and managers who were running it into the ground. I stayed simply because I liked living in Dallas.



Besides your own shop, what's your vote for the best agency out there?

I admire several agencies. Fallon, Wieden + Kennedy, Goodby, Crispin. I'd be hard-pressed to say which is the best. It's not just the ideas that come up. I admire the work they sell.



How do you get past a creative block?

I literally try to sleep on it. Go home and let information from a brief or a problem gestate. Then, come into work early when I do my best thinking, well-rested and confident that my partner is going to have an idea, too.



What is your dream assignment?

I'd love to work with Major League Baseball. But rather than a dream assignment, I have a dream situation, one in which the CEO has empowered the marketing director with entrepreneurial decisiveness. I also think it would be interesting, hypothetically, to work on the United States of America account. I mean, by trying to sell what America is to the rest of the world because, right now, it would be a tough sell.



Name one person you're dying to work with.

If he were still alive, I'd say Charles Schulz. I've always been a big Peanuts fan, and I think he was brilliant.



What is your biggest pet peeve?

A client who has been empowered to say no to an idea but doesn't have the authority to say yes.



Give me three words to describe yourself.

Laid-hyphen-back. That's three words if you spell out the hyphen.



How about three words that describe how others perceive you?

Short, bald, laid-back.



What is your biggest fear in life?

That every idea might be my last.