Larry Frey
1953.I was born in a small town east of Seattle.It was a sleepy,slow moving place then.My
brother raised pigs for 4H.Friends rode horses to school.Of course,some years later,Bill Gates
would move his company there and change all that.But I left Redmond long before that,traveling
between Alaska and Seattle for about 6 years and working my way through school as a salmon can-
nery machinist and a ski instructor.My sheet metal work is available on request.
1977.There ’s a wonderful little university just south of the Canadian border in Washington State
called Western Washington University.Very agro.I left there with a degree in Art Education and
badly in need of a hair cut.Which entitled me to teach Junior High School at the time.Don ’t get
me started on the plight of America ’s educational system.One night while grading papers,a friend
called me and described in excrusciating detail the job he ’d just gotten at MGM studios LA.Do you
know it ’s possible to drive from Seattle to LA in just under 18 hours?
1980.After working as a studio grip,special effects designer and magazine photographer for a
couple of years,I went back for more education as a graphic designer at the Art Center College of
Design in Pasadena.All students are required to take a class in advertising.I owe them one.
1981 to 1988.I moved to Chicago in August,1981 and went to work for NW Ayer.I soon real-
ized that my wife (I was married to very transient flight attendant at the time)had lied to me about
two things;the weather and any hope for the Cubs.This depressing news aside,I stayed long
enough to work as an Art Director for Ogilvy as well as Ayer.But I ’ll always appreciate the experi-
ence of working on accounts like Sears,NutraSweet,Illinois Bell,Cessna,MicroSwitch and John
Deere.That notwithstanding,I do not miss Chicago winters.
1988 to 1993.As an avid windsurfer,I was keenly aware that the best conditions in the conti-
nental U.S.are in Oregon.And coincidentally,I ’d also heard of a new agency there called Wieden &
Kennedy.My priorities straight,I moved.W&K didn ’t have any openings at the time so I went into
a nice holding pattern at Borders,Perrin and Norrander in Portland.But eventually,I landed at
W&K in March of 1988 as employee #51.Contrary to popular belief it ’s not all Nike at W&K and
for years I worked on Kink FM,Black Star Beer,Paramount Pictures,Pepe,Miller Beer and Oregon
Tourism as well as the Swoosh.Did I mention the windsurfing?
1994 to 1995.W&K elected to send me to Philadelphia to help run the office there.In the name
of Subaru.The long,tortuous take on this experience has been detailed in "Where the Suckers
Moon"by Randel Rothenberg.But here ’s the short version if you don ’t want to read the book:
Agency gets car account.Agency learns Subaru is not Nike.Agency loses car account.The upside of
closing the Philly office and heading back to Oregon was bringing the ESPN account back with me.
1995 to 1998.ESPN and Nike.How much fun can you have in advertising?A lot.As a Creative
Director,I oversaw the production of over 350 ESPN spots.I think maybe all but 3 of them were
good.And Nike?They were the best clients in the world.I don ’t know,maybe they still are.
1998 to 1999.During my tenure at W&K the agency expanded to 4 offices.One was set up in
Tokyo,primarily to handle the Nike business there (2nd biggest market).They said,“We need
someone to run W&K Tokyo.”I told them,“I don ’t speak Japanese ”.They said,"You ’ll learn."
1999 to 2000.I left W&K Tokyo because I was simply done.Spent.And ready to try something
new.Please.I considered directing but heard of an opportunity to start a new agency in
Amsterdam,potentially jump started with a piece of the International adidas business.And so we
came to pitch adidas as the wild-card-non-agency-but-might-start-one.And we won.And I started
180 in August 1998 with 3 partners.Since then it ’s grown like a weed and the last time I looked at
the phone list,180 had over 45 employees.The 180 roster came to include MTV,Infogrames,KPN,
Swatch and a lot of European companies whose names you couldn ’t pronounce.And then I quit.
2000.I try to change jobs every millennium.Creating 180 may have been the proudest moment of
my advertising career but I can ’t sit still for very long.I ’m always interested in what ’s next.For
years,something I ’ve always enjoyed doing part time was directing TV commercials and short
films.A short time ago I decided it was time to do it full time.The only comment I have after join-
ing Radical Media as a director in New York is “Why did I wait so long?”
Awards.My favorite award is the one I received at the D&AD show in London.It ’s a fat,short
black wooden pencil.And it ’s actually made out of wood so it gets kind of chipped and beat up
after awhile.I don ’t like the metal ones as much but I ’ve got some of them too including New York
Art Directors Club,One Show,Emmy ’s,Cannes Film Festival,Clios and Epicas..
Personal.Single.No kids.Dumped the skiis for a snowboard,still windsurf.
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