User:JSFarman/sandbox/David Placek

UCLA poly sci 1970-1974 george washington university graduate program international affairs 1975 1976 SU grad school advanced management program

in the United States dedicated solely to the practice.

Placek grew up in Santa Rosa, California, where his father was a flooring contractor and his mother a homemaker. After graduating from U.C.L.A. with a political-science degree, he worked for the Senate Commerce Committee, researching solar energy. He liked Washington, but the job often involved little more than pouring water for senators. In 1976, he went to Missouri to become the press secretary for Governor Warren Hearnes in his run for the U.S. Senate. During the campaign, Placek said, he began to understand how words could make ideas salable—especially when those ideas were compressed into a brief, memorable phrase. “I learned the beauty of a well-written headline,” he said, “and began to think that this was something I could do.”

After starting his career in politics in Missouri as a speechwriter, Placek moved to the West Coast to work for advertising firm FCB, where he mostly handled the Levis’ account. “I worked there for six years and got to see how brands can influence the market,” he recalls.

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/david-placek-is-the-secret-genius-behind-our-favourite-brand-names/news-story/1f03d1b8c4f639edba35d602d18d2ad4