Mitch Alison
Encyclopedia
Mitch Alison is an award-winning integrated writer, creative director and strategist from South Africa
(now an Australian citizen living in Sydney
).
on 9 May 1974 to South African parents. His father was a typesetter and production manager and his mother owns and manages a travel agency. The family spoke English
at home, but Alison also learned to speak Afrikaans and a smattering of Zulu. The family were descended from early Dutch and English settlers dating to the 17th century.
Alison can trace his roots to Andries Pretorius
, one of the leaders of the Great Trek
, and who the capital Pretoria was named after.
Alison spent most of his early life in Johannesburg
. He attended Jeppe High School for Boys
in the Johannesburg suburb of Kensington, a famous rugby school where the 2007 Rugby World Cup winning coach Jake White
taught.
He later studied Copywriting
and Strategic Planning
at the AAA School of Advertising, receiving his diploma
with specialisation in copywriting in 1994. He wrote his thesis on the Internet and its implications for advertising. At the time, there were only two internet access points in the entire country, so no one knew what he was talking about.
. Alison spent 3 years at The Jupiter Drawing Room, honing his writing skills and winning awards.
In 1997, Alison moved down to Cape Town
, where he joined Ogilvy & Mather
RSTM, another famous South African ad agency.
After a short stint in Cape Town, he was offered a Creative Director gig at D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles
. Having never been to Europe
, he jumped at the chance.
Alison returned to South Africa and after a stint at Saatchi & Saatchi
where he helped launch Guinness across Africa, he eventually landed up at the legendary TBWA
Hunt Lascaris. Under Tony Granger
, he worked on some of South Africa's premier brands, including BMW
and Nando's
. At the time, the agency was ranked 8th best in the world by Ad Age and 3rd at Cannes Lions.
In 2000, Alison was selected to represent South Africa at the Cannes Lions Young Creatives competition. At the competition he met the Australian young creative representative, Anna Coxhead. Alison fell madly in love, and moved to Australia
shortly afterwards.
His first job was at BWM Sydney, and then he was headhunted down to D'arcy Melbourne to head up the creative dept. Unfortunately, DMB&B collapsed worldwide, so Alison moved on to George Patts where he worked on
After the bike trip, Alison worked as creative director in various places around the world, including Dubai
, Nairobi
and KL
.
In 2006 he returned to Sydney where he was creative director at Finlay Preece, working primarily on Subaru
Retail.
Realising that digital was the future, he took a job at Mark, the integrated division of M&C Saatchi. He now works on projects with an integrated/digital angle.
In 2003, Alison planned and executed a mammoth, 30,000-kilometre, off-road motorcycle trip, up through the middle and all the way round Australia. The trip took approximately six months, and covered every state with the exception of Tasmania.
He completed the trip on a heavily modified BMW R1100GS
. Unlike Ewan Macgregor and Charlie Boorman from Long Way Down fame, Alison had no assistance at all.
.
List of Awards (International, Australian and South African)
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
(now an Australian citizen living in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
).
Early life and education
Alison was born in JHB, South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
on 9 May 1974 to South African parents. His father was a typesetter and production manager and his mother owns and manages a travel agency. The family spoke English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
at home, but Alison also learned to speak Afrikaans and a smattering of Zulu. The family were descended from early Dutch and English settlers dating to the 17th century.
Alison can trace his roots to Andries Pretorius
Andries Pretorius
Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus Pretorius was a leader of the Boers who was instrumental in the creation of the Transvaal Republic, as well as the earlier but short-lived Natalia Republic, in present-day South Africa....
, one of the leaders of the Great Trek
Great Trek
The Great Trek was an eastward and north-eastward migration away from British control in the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s by Boers . The migrants were descended from settlers from western mainland Europe, most notably from the Netherlands, northwest Germany and French Huguenots...
, and who the capital Pretoria was named after.
Alison spent most of his early life in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
. He attended Jeppe High School for Boys
Jeppe High School for Boys
Jeppe High School for Boys is a public secondary school is located in Kensington, a suburb of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, one of the 23 Milner Schools....
in the Johannesburg suburb of Kensington, a famous rugby school where the 2007 Rugby World Cup winning coach Jake White
Jake White
Jake White is a rugby union coach and former coach of the South Africa national rugby union team, the Springboks. His most notable achievements as coach include leading the Springboks to victory in 2007 Rugby World Cup and the 2004 Tri Nations title...
taught.
He later studied Copywriting
Copywriting
Copywriting is the use of words and ideas to promote a person, business, opinion or idea. Although the word copy may be applied to any content intended for printing , the term copywriter is generally limited to promotional situations, regardless of the medium...
and Strategic Planning
Strategic planning
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. In order to determine the direction of the organization, it is necessary to understand its current position and the possible avenues...
at the AAA School of Advertising, receiving his diploma
Diploma
A diploma is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study or confers an academic degree. In countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, the word diploma refers to...
with specialisation in copywriting in 1994. He wrote his thesis on the Internet and its implications for advertising. At the time, there were only two internet access points in the entire country, so no one knew what he was talking about.
Career
in 1994, Alison got his first job at The Jupiter Drawing Room in Johannesburg. This was a tumultuous time in South African history. Apartheid was coming to an end, and the country's first democratic elections were about to be held. The country was in upheaval and his Mother was stockpiling cans of tomato soup. One of his first briefs was to promote the Democratic Party (South Africa)Democratic Party (South Africa)
The Democratic Party was the name of the South African political party now called the Democratic Alliance . Although the Democratic Party name dates from 1989, the party existed under other labels throughout the Apartheid years, when it was the Parliamentary opposition to the ruling National...
. Alison spent 3 years at The Jupiter Drawing Room, honing his writing skills and winning awards.
In 1997, Alison moved down to Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, where he joined Ogilvy & Mather
Ogilvy & Mather
Ogilvy & Mather is an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency based in Manhattan and owned by the WPP Group. The company operates 497 offices in 125 countries with approximately 16,000 employees.-History:...
RSTM, another famous South African ad agency.
After a short stint in Cape Town, he was offered a Creative Director gig at D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles
D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles
D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles was an advertising agency in the United States with worldwide subsidiaries.DMB&B was established in November 1985 by the merger of the Benton & Bowles and D'Arcy-MacManus Masius advertising agencies...
. Having never been to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, he jumped at the chance.
Alison returned to South Africa and after a stint at Saatchi & Saatchi
Saatchi & Saatchi
Saatchi & Saatchi is a global advertising agency network with 140 offices in 80 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in London in 1970 but now headquartered in New York. The parent company of the agency group was known as Saatchi & Saatchi PLC from 1976 to 1994, was listed on the London...
where he helped launch Guinness across Africa, he eventually landed up at the legendary TBWA
TBWA
TBWA Worldwide is an international advertising agency whose headquarters are in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. The Agency is a unit of Omnicom Group, the world's largest advertising agency holding company. It was founded in 1970 in Paris, France, by William G...
Hunt Lascaris. Under Tony Granger
Tony Granger
Tony Granger is the Global Chief Creative Officer of New York-based global advertising agency Young & Rubicam.-Career:Granger’s career began in his native South Africa in 1991 at advertising agency Grey where he worked as an assistant art director...
, he worked on some of South Africa's premier brands, including BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
and Nando's
Nando's
Nando's is a casual dining restaurant group originating from South Africa with a Portuguese/Mozambican theme. Founded in 1987, Nando's operates in thirty countries on five continents....
. At the time, the agency was ranked 8th best in the world by Ad Age and 3rd at Cannes Lions.
In 2000, Alison was selected to represent South Africa at the Cannes Lions Young Creatives competition. At the competition he met the Australian young creative representative, Anna Coxhead. Alison fell madly in love, and moved to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
shortly afterwards.
His first job was at BWM Sydney, and then he was headhunted down to D'arcy Melbourne to head up the creative dept. Unfortunately, DMB&B collapsed worldwide, so Alison moved on to George Patts where he worked on
After the bike trip, Alison worked as creative director in various places around the world, including Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
, Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
and KL
KL
- Abbreviation :KL is a two letter initialism that may stand for:* Kalaallisut language , a language of the Inuit of Greenland* Kenny Loggins, a soft rock music singer* Kiloliter, a type of unit measurement for volume...
.
In 2006 he returned to Sydney where he was creative director at Finlay Preece, working primarily on Subaru
Subaru
; is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries .Subaru is internationally known for their use of the boxer engine layout popularized in cars by the Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911, in most of their vehicles above 1500 cc as well as...
Retail.
Realising that digital was the future, he took a job at Mark, the integrated division of M&C Saatchi. He now works on projects with an integrated/digital angle.
Sabbatical
.In 2003, Alison planned and executed a mammoth, 30,000-kilometre, off-road motorcycle trip, up through the middle and all the way round Australia. The trip took approximately six months, and covered every state with the exception of Tasmania.
He completed the trip on a heavily modified BMW R1100GS
BMW R1100GS
The BMW R1100GS is a dual-sport motorcycle that was manufactured from 1993 to 1999 by BMW Motorrad in Berlin, Germany.The bike has a 1,085 cc flat-twin engine, first seen in the R1100RS which was launched the year before in 1992,...
. Unlike Ewan Macgregor and Charlie Boorman from Long Way Down fame, Alison had no assistance at all.
Achievements and awards
Alison has gained many awards throughout his career, most notably at Cannes Lions and D&ADD&AD
Design and Art Direction is a British educational charity which exists to promote excellence in design and advertising...
.
List of Awards (International, Australian and South African)
ADMA
- RSPCA 2007 Gold Effectiveness Pup vs Taxman
- SDCH 2008 Bronze Ambient Take Me Home
- Optus 2009 Bronze Website/Microsite Whale Song
- Optus 2009 Bronze Telecomms Timeless
AWARD
- Spastic Centre 2001 Silver Interactive Spas
- Spastic Centre 2002 Entry TV Charity Lousy
- Spastic Centre 2002 Entry TV Campaign Lousy
- Optus 2009 In book Website/Microsite Whale Song
- OPtus 2009 In Book Integrated Whale Song
Cannes Lions
- Zoo Lake 1996 Gold Print-Newspaper Amazing
- Zoo Lake 1996 Shortlist Print-Public Awareness Amazing
- Yellow Pages 1997 Shortlist Print-Comm Pub Service Mouse
- Yellow Pages 1997 Shortlist Print-Comm Pub Service Dinosaur
- Yellow Pages 1997 Shortlist Print-Comm Pub Service Anteater
- Nashua 2001 Shortlist Special outdoor Car
- Nashua 2001 Shortlist Special outdoor Escalator
- Nashua 2001 Shortlist Special outdoor Shower
- Spastic Centre 2002 Shortlist Public Awareness Lousy
- Cannes Media Lions
- Nashua 2001 Shortlist Office machinery Copy
Caples
- SDCH 2009 Bronze Out of home Take me Home
- SDCH 2009 Finalist Ambient Take me Home
- SDCH 2009 Finalist Collateral Take me Home
- Optus 2010 Silver Website Whale Song
Eagle Awards
- (Judged by Hegarty, Marcantonio in 1996 and Neil French & Adrian Holmes 1997)
- Yellow Pages 1997 Gold Corporate Origami campaign
- Zoo Lake 1996 Silver Corporate Isn’t it Amazing
Loerie Awards
- Zoo Lake 1996 Finalist Public Service Amazing
- Beacon Nosh 1996 Finalist TV Confectionery Nuts
- MPA 1996 Finalist Newspaper-Media Promo Lemon
- 5fm 1997 Finalist TV-Media Promo Hair
- 5fm 1997 Finalist Cinema-Promo Biker
- 5fm 1997 Finalist TV Campaign Hair, Biker,
- Yellow Pages 1997 Finalist Newspaper-Corp Mouse
- Yellow Pages 1997 Finalist Newspaper-Corp Dinosaur
- Yellow Pages 1997 Finalist Newspaper-Corp Anteater
- Yellow Pages 1997 Finalist Outdoor Campaign
- Nashua 2001 Silver Ambient Shower
London International Advertising Awards
- Zoo Lake 1997 Statue Print Amazing
- Denel Corp 1995 Finalist Print-Ind Rambo
- Denel Corp 1995 Finalist Print-Ind Salman Rushdi
- Denel Corp 1995 Finalist Print-Ind David Copperfield
- Denel Corp 1995 Finalist Print-Trade Campaign
- TSW 1996 Finalist Auto Products OJ Walks
- TSW 1996 Finalist Auto Products Dog
- Heineken 1996 Finalist Outdoor Egyptian
- Heineken 1996 Finalist Outdoor Japanese
- Heineken 1996 Finalist Posters Campaign
- Zoo Lake 1997 Finalist Public Service Isn’t it Amazing
New York festivals
- 5fm 1997 Gold TV-Cinema Campaign Hair, Biker
- Yellow Pages 1997 Gold Print Mouse
- Yellow Pages 1997 Silver Print Dinosaur
- Yellow Pages 1997 Bronze Print Anteater
- 5m 1997 Finalist Media Promo Hair
- 5fm 1997 Finalist Best Editing Hair
- 5fm 1997 Finalist Cinema Campaign Hair. Biker, Girl
- Zoo Lake 1997 Finalist Under half page Amazing