User:Farance/Fly

=About Fly=

Fly Communications is an integrated advertising agency and digital marketer in New York City with approximately 70 employees as of 2007. The agency was originally called Rowen/Warren and was incorporated in October of 2001. As the agency grew, the two founders, Larry Rowen and David Warren decided to rename the agency "Fly" to reflect the growing influence of critical employees, not just its founders.

=A Unique Combination of Ideas: The Theory of Branding and Direct Marketing=

Fly Communications distinguishes itself by focusing on the combination of branding and direct marketing.

Larry Rowen and Dave Warren had met at ESPN's sportscapsule.com, a site that was dedicated to high school sports and sports highlights. After September 11, 2001, ESPN closed down sportscapsule.com and Rowen and Warren decided to start their firm. Rowen, a direct marketer had spent most of his career in the Consumer Marketing Division of Time Inc. He had spearheaded many well known Direct Marketing initiatives at Time, including the Sports Illustrated Championship package, now ubiquitous on TV after the winner of every major team sporting event emerges. After Time, Rowen ran the New Media department at Scholastic. Warren took a more traditional route to the advertising world. As a copywriter, he rose through the ranks of many of Madison Avenue's most well respected shops including Doyle Dane Bernbach and TBWA. He is best known for his work on the Absolut Vodka account where he created over 50 ads in the now famous Swedish vodka campaign.

Rowen and Warren created a firm based around the notion that effective direct marketing and powerful branding could be combined within the same message. While the economy just after 9/11 was challenging, the theory of combining DM with branding proved very effective. Advertisers quickly discovered this and the firm grew quickly. Today, Fly still combines both DM and branding for many of it's clients, but it has also carved out a path as a top brander and web shop. Warren inherited a team from a previous job as Creative Director in the New York office of giant Web Integrator, iXL. That team, lead by Chief Engineer Michael Daly, combined with Rowen's experience as head of New Media at Scholastic, helped the shop establish quickly that it had the skills to build sites of great complexity.

After several years, a number of notable new employees helped the shop grow steadily. May Lee, former founder of Marketboy.com and a Goldman Sachs alum helped transform the start-up into a respectable business entitiy with a highly skilled executive team. Ben Cruz, Fly's Chief Creative Officer, also brought his experience in the online world to bear on the shop's considerable digital offerings.

=From A Food Court to A National Presence=

The agency was originally started in the food court at Grand Central Station in New York City. The first three employees, Rowen (from Time Inc.), Warren (teacher at Parsons School of Design for 20 years), and Hanna Han (Parsons School of Design graduate), gathered together at a table that had conveniently been placed directly over the one of the food court's only electrical outlets. The agency moved several times, including at the Parsons School of Design. Today the firm is located in New York City (40 West 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, USA) and in Los Angeles (10585 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 200 Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA) with national clients, such as Pernod Ricard, Amazon, Endless.com, and the NFL

=Abbreviated Client List=

Pernod Ricard, Amazon, French Culinary Institute, Endless.com, Marks Paneth & Shron, and the NFL

=External Links=


 * Article explaining Direct Marketing vs. Branding: http://www.nucifora.com/art_291.html
 * Article on direct marketing approach towards attacking irresponsible drinking: http://www.dmnews.com/Pernod-Ricard-to-tackle-the-whys-of-irresponsible-drinking/article/98418/
 * The Absolut Vodka story: http://books.google.com/books?id=azfmi128c4kC&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dq=dave+warren+absolut&source=web&ots=l_uvAd-o98&sig=_niTyFZ0Apoxoe3h-JMtiz81HZc&hl=en#PPP1,M1
 * Business Wire article on Fly: http://eon.businesswire.com/releases/amazon/endless/prweb540373.htm
 * PR Newswire article on Fly (formerly Rowen/Warren) and the 2004 John Edwards campaign: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/4/prweb122573.htm