The Art of the Campaign (Glen Dickson

The Art of the Campaign

For more than 20 years, Glen Dickson (1990) has worked in the advertising industry, crafting marketing campaigns for some of the country’s leading brands.

At the College, he enjoyed the Humanities, especially Art, English and History. Outside of class, he played tennis and cricket, although he admits it was with more enthusiasm than success.

After graduating from De La Salle College, he studied Art and Design for a year at TAFE. He then switched to a Bachelor of Arts at Monash University, majoring in English. A skill that would serve him well for a career in advertising. “A good grasp of communication (both written and visual) is a prerequisite for working in the creative department of an advertising agency. You also need a broader interest in modern culture, music, film, books, whatever it is that’s lighting up the internet today.” “My first job was a graduate traineeship at advertising agency DDB. I then moved into a role as a copywriter in the creative department and continued from there,” he said.

After 12 years at DDB Melbourne as a Creative Group Head and finally a Creative Director, Dickson moved to the CHEP Network as a Group Creative Director in 2017.

“I’m currently the Deputy Chief Creative Officer at CHEP. My role is to help our teams across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane create ideas and campaigns for our partner brands,” he said.

“The right ideas can help brands become positive forces for change in the world. Using creativity to imagine those ideas makes what I do endlessly interesting and challenging.” “I enjoy the day to day dynamics of working at an advertising agency. Solving business problems or brand challenges while working with a team of talented, creative people gives me an outlet for the kinds of things I’ve always enjoyed.” Dickson says a recent highlight was the 2021 campaign, ‘Give a Fly Buys’, which rebranded FlyBuys Australia. “The project was headlined by a two minute music video that was then cut down and edited to target specific consumers across all media from cinema and TV, all the way through to digital and social,” he said. “One of the key challenges facing the advertising industry today is to continue to find meaningful ways to connect brands to consumers in what has become a fractured, hectic media environment.” “We’re always challenging ourselves to do one of two things for people, be entertaining or be useful. Whenever we interrupt someone’s life, we need to be certain that we’re doing a brilliant job of one of them.” Outside of work, Dickson is kept busy raising two teenage children, who he says take up the lion’s share of his time, as well as supporting his AFL team, Hawthorn.

“I enjoyed my time at the College. I still catch up regularly with a group of guys from school. I think De La Salle gave me a well-rounded, grounded start in life.”

Glen Dickson

By Kerry Martin