Ordinary Advertising

For Cindy, Jamey, Rose and Bridget without whose love and encouragement I'd have never survived this business let alone had the chance to write about it.

Mark Silveira has had the good fortune to work with many of the "modern masters" of contemporary advertising.

Starting as a copywriter in Portland, Oregon, he came under the wings of Dan Wieden and David Kennedy and worked on some of the earliest Nike advertising.

He then joined the fabled New York agency, Ammirati & Puris, where he eventually became a lead writer on BMW and BMW motorcyles. He was also responsible for some acclaimed advertising for Club Med and part of the team that established UPS as a genuine rival to FedEx in the overnight delivery business.

From there he moved on to Ally & Gargano working under the Hall of Fame creative director Amil Gargano on Saab and then to Scali, McCabe, Sloves where he took over the creative duties on Perdue Farms, trading places with Ed McCabe and Bob Levenson, both Hall of Fame copywriters. In fact, he has followed in the footsteps of no fewer than ten members of The One Club Hall of Fame (while never gaining admittance himself he's quick to add).

However, what he did gain was a deep understanding of what it takes to identify and nurture extraordinary advertising. And an uncanny knack for explaining it to businesspeople. Based in Chicago, he is now a consultant to advertisers and agencies as well as an author and speaker.