Professional Pilot, March 2018
First 2 ads created by Sullivan Higdon Sink in 1987 which earned them the Cessna business in a relationship that spanned the next 20 years Ad for Caravan on left suggests thinking of the model as an inexpensive fast and spacious freight hauler Citation III ad matches it against its nearest competitor the slower BAe 800 PROFESSIONAL PILOT March 2018 71 left by resigning the Learjet business But then lightning struck In 1987 I got a call from Phil Michel head of marketing for Cessna Phil is a guy I met and worked with on the GAMA public affairs committee I knew him to be extremely smart and a sound strategic thinker who was always a voice of reason in those committee meetings Id like to come talk to you about our Caravan business Phil told me Come by he did and a few days later on a Saturday morning Joe Norris our truly brilliant creative director and I were in front of not only Phil but Cessna CEO Russ Meyer and Brian Barents Cessnas sales chief We presented 2 ads for the Caravan created by Joe and Jeff Filby 1 of Sullivan Higdon Sinks bright young art directors Those ads won us the Caravan business Within a year we were given a shot at expanding our Cessna relationship to embrace the Citation line as well After presenting 2 ad concepts for the Citation II and III created again by Joe Norris and this time Sullivan Higdon Sink Executive Art Director Jim Kandt we were awarded agency of record for Cessnas jet business This was a major coup for us supplanting the former Learjet work many times over Between 1971 when we opened the agency and 1996 when I retired from Sullivan Higdon Sink at 60 we served 15 clients in aviation These covered quite a range including airframe manufacturers avionics producers a fixed base network an aviation finance company a flight training organization an aviation credit card provider an aviation software firm and an aviation fuel additive In the 21 years Ive been gone the agency has established relationships with many other fine aviation and aerospace companies including Pratt Whitney Canada But the standard for me in client agency relationships across our spectrum of clients has always been the 1 Sullivan Higdon Sink enjoyed for so many years with Cessna Al Higdon spent 12 years as a public relations executive with Beech and Learjet before co founding an advertising pr firm that represented more than a dozen clients in aviation including Learjet and Cessna over a 25 year period before his retirement at 60 in 1996
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