Board Members

ibanks@radio-one.com

Attended: Brown University, BA Psychology

Word which should be banned from all advertising: “Added value”

Attended: Baldwin-Wallace College | Boston University, MBA – Marketing

City of Residence: Carmel

Who is your mentor and what’s something they taught you? Jim Harvey. He was Vice President of Public Relations at my undergraduate school. He taught me how to write copy for business – notComposition 101. He also taught me how to effectively interact with everyone in a business, from the receptionist to the president.

What is your greatest business accomplishment? Wolff-Benedict Marketing was named the National Promotional Products Distributor of the Year by the Advertising Specialty Institute.

Married: Yes (Jan Wolff Benedict)

Number of grandchildren: Eleven

Place where you come up with your best ideas: My back deck, early in the morning

Favorite thing in your office: A picture of Team Menard after winning the 1995 Indianapolis 500 Pole wearing “Pole Winner” caps designed and produced by Wolff-Benedict Marketing.

Favorite vacation spot:New Orleans

Attended: Indiana University | University of Texas

City of Residence: Indianapolis

Who is your mentor and what’s something they taught you?Ed Harding, Design Professor: “Don’t fall in love with your work… remember that’s for fine artists… you sell yourself.” Hilariously true.

What do you love about advertising? The fact that I’ve been doing this for 31 years. How can you not love that?

What’s your passion? Personally: Mentoring Latino youth and pointing them toward success through higher education. Professionally: Blending the purpose of profession with community and witnessing how they both can work as a win-win.

What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received? “Listen. Listen. Listen to people. And then after that, listen a little more. That’s what creatives don’t normally know what to do. After you listen, then you start thinking….thinking…thinking….”

Favorite movie: Vertigo

Best advertising movie: Crazy People

Favorite book: The Old Man and the Sea

Best advertising Book: Ogilvy on Advertising

Favorite thing in your office: My sketchbook

Place where you come up with your best ideas: Looking at the sky

Favorite vacation spot: Mackinaw Island

Favorite restaurant in Indianapolis: Burrito Joint

Best advertising campaign ever: Apple’s iMac launch

Favorite buzzword: “Stakeholder”

One word which best describes you: Generous

College/University Attended: Michigan State University

Degree:Bachelor of Art in Organizational Communication

City of Residence:Indianapolis

Who is your mentor & what’s something they taught you?
Professionally I owe
many thanks to Shawnessy Osborn, my Senior Traffic Manager at
Publicis-Indianapolis. She taught me the fundamentals of process
and illustrated the importance of a positive attitude and smile.
This industry and these timelines can be stressful and daunting;
showing confidence, commitment and support to your team is the one
true way to come out ahead.

What do you love about Advertising? The synergy of the creative and account
service teams and the wonderful work that comes from
it.

Married: Yes!

Favorite movie: The Spitfire Grill

Favorite book: A Girl of the
Limberlost, by Gene Stratton-Porter

Place where you come up with your best ideas: Running the streets
of Indianapolis, while listening to my iPod.

Current favorite advertising campaign: The Pure Michigan
campaign, McCann Erikson, Birmingham MI. I am from Michigan, what else can I say.

Favorite buzz-word: White Paper

Attended:Butler University , BA Communication Studies

City of Residence: Carmel

What do you love about advertising? I love the process of giving
life to an idea and watching it grow from concept to finished art.

What’s your passion? I’m passionate about connecting people in
ways that benefit both parties. It’s at the core of who I am and it
shows up both personally and professionally.

Favorite television show: The Big Bang Theory

Place where you come up with your best ideas: Driving

Favorite vacation spot: A beach with good company, delicious food,
warm sun, and a slight breeze. I enjoy finding new representations
of the theme.

Favorite restaurant in Indianapolis:
Mama Carrolla’s

Current favorite advertising campaign: Google’s “Dear
Sophie” spot

taulbee@raidious.com

Who is your mentor & what’s something they taught you?
I have many mentors (whether they know it or not), and they have
taught me everything I know about marketing and advertising. A few
who really made an impact: Wally Leavitt, Harry Maginity, Jeff
Smulyan, Mary Young, Roger Ingram, Rene Longoria, Donna Pitz, Bob
Meyer , Tim Wallis, Bob Bourgeois, Craig Gagnon, Tom Hirons,
Christine Duncan, Kim Moore, and I’m sure several others I am
leaving out unintentionally. I am a total marketing nerd because of
these people.

What do you love about Advertising? I
love being able to see well-planned and well-executed campaigns
exceed people’s expectations. It always seems to surprise people
for some reason when a great plan and an amazing execution blows
the doors off of a business . . . experiencing massive success
because of great marketing changes the way people and companies
think about advertising and marketing.

What’s your passion? Owned media, content strategy, and all of the
incredible opportunities that today’s media environment affords
brands. I like helping enlighten people to new approaches and
possibilities.

What’s the best career advice you’ve ever
received? You’re only worth what the market tells you
you’re worth.

What’s one thing you would say to someone just entering our field
Learn all you can about information architecture. Great IA makes up the fundamentals
behind every successful online strategy.

Married: Yes

Number of Children: Three

Favorite movie: Kill Bill (I & II)

Best advertising movie: Helvetica (documentary about the ubiquitous typeface)

Favorite book: Atlas Shrugged

Best Advertising Book: Truth, Lies and Advertising: The Art of
Account Planning (Jon Steele)

Favorite TV show: Tosh.0

Favorite thing in your office: My team

Place where you come up with your best ideas: My commute

Favorite vacation spot: I don’t really take vacations, but I do
turn off my phone occasionally

Favorite restaurant in Indianapolis: Siam Square in Fountain
Square (Thai)

Current favorite advertising campaign: Audi’s recent TV work is
stellar.

Best advertising campaign ever: Got Milk?(you should read the
case study, holy cow)

Favorite buzz-word: “Leverage”

One word which best describes you: Sponge.

Who is your mentor & what’s something they taught you?
I have had the good fortune of having many mentors throughout my
life, including both my parents. But one Creative Director
specifically, stands out, a gentleman by the name of Joe Churchio.
He taught me the meaning and the importance of simplicity in
Advertising. “Focus your attention on what you are selling, when
creating advertising. Anything else is superfluous.”

What’s your passion? I am passionate about creativity in all
forms. At one time in my life, I was very close to a career in the
fine arts as a painter. I have never let go of that passion, and
have applied it to all my endeavors within the advertising world. I
still paint, and have shown my work across the country, and will
continue to do so.

What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
One of my very first Creative Director’s
said to me once, “Pat, you do a lot of things well, but what are
you great at? Find that thing and pursue it with unobstructed
passion.” “Unobstructed passion?” I never forgot that line and have
carried it with me to this day.

What’s one thing you would say to someone just entering our field?
“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” For those of us who have been doing this
as long as I have, it is standard for us to help young, aspiring
talent to better understand Advertising as a whole—and the
commitment it takes to truly succeed in the business. If you love
to draw pretty pictures, rise at the crack of nine-ish, work a
standard 7–8 hour day, advertising may not be for you.

What is your greatest accomplishment? Marrying my wife, and
raising our two daughters.

Married: YES

Number of Children: 2

Best Advertising Book: Confessions of an Advertising Man by David
Ogilvy, and The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier.

Favorite TV show: Obviously “Mad Men.”

Favorite thing in your office: A copy of my daughter’s first
written Haiku on her favorite subject, me. At least that is what she has told me.

Place where you come up with your best ideas:
Anywhere that is dark and uninhabited by other human forms beyond
my own.

Favorite vacation spot: Trinidad & Tobago

Favorite restaurant in Indianapolis: Still trying to find one.

Favorite buzz-word: “Jerk”

Word, which should be banned from all advertising:
There are several, “Cutting edge”, “Plus this”, “Get outside the
box”, “Integrate”, and in more general terms, any one word or one
adjective headline. We have a rule here at MB: as a writer, you get
one, “one word headline” pass per year.

One word, which best describes you: Well, according to my latest
personality profile, I am categorized as a “Trailblazer.”

Attended: Butler University

City of Residence: Indianapolis

Who is your mentor and what’s something they
taught you? Donna Gray, advertising professor. She taught
me that you only succeed through sacrifice, the determination to
learn for yourself, and the willingness to share your knowledge
with others.

What do you love about advertising?
The opportunity to educate people and inspire them to improve their
quality of life through products, services, information, or
philanthrophy.

What’s your passion? Personally:
Music; particularly songwriting [piano and vocals] Professionally:
Helping small businesses reach new audiences and succeed through
new media marketing and great design!

Favorite movie(s): Closer, Chicago, and American Beauty

Favorite thing in your office: My notepad [life]
where I outline list after list to keep myself in check.

Place where you come up with your best ideas: Dreams

Favorite vacation spot: Praia Grande, Brasil

Favorite restaurant in Indianapolis: Chatham Tap

Favorite advertising campaign: The original Altoids campaigns
really piqued my interest in advertising.

Most hated buzzword: “Leverage” used as a verb

One word which best describes you: Observant