All Star Direct & Personal
By Billy Sharma

Allison Taylor
Like Father, Like Daughter

Just like an apple that doesn’t fall far from the tree, Alison Taylor is a second-generation direct marketer who is carrying on the tradition started by her famous late father David Taylor. In fact she is carrying on her dad’s direct marketing and promotion agency TCP Direct as president, the agency that he started many years ago

As she told me, “If it wasn’t for my dad, I wouldn’t be in this business.  Even though he’s been gone for almost six years, I still strive to be more like him.”

I met her renowned father years ago when I first got into business for myself, after I left Ogilvy & Mather. I was very impressed by Dave Taylor when he spoke so passionately and respectfully about direct marketing, that I too was hooked on this great way of marketing. I found him to be witty, amiable and very friendly.

A few years ago when I met his daughter Allison for the first time, I was struck by some remarkable similarities. They are both tall, witty, amiable, very friendly and ardent about direct marketing.

What continues to make her agency TCP Direct successful today? Allison expressed it beautifully as she said, “I think one of my greatest accomplishments is finding the right people to surround myself with — staff, friends and clients.”

When it comes to staff, many of the people she works with are ones who had been with her dad when he started the agency. Others are ones that joined her when she took over the company.
Her colleagues at work include: Aris Gouvis, vice president of the agency and in charge of client services and production; John Kulchisky who inherited the role of strategic and creative planning from Dave Taylor; and Rob Teatro who is now the Art Director of the agency.

Another person who was always close to her Dad and who is still available to Allison for consult is Tony Keenan. He has been a great help to her since her father passed away.

The second ingredient that has made TCP Direct successful is what Allison describes as friends and clients. In reality, the reason for the agency’s success is that most of their clients are just like friends - clients like Hydro One Networks, Deeley Harley-Davidson, Foresters and Woodbine Entertainment Group to name just a few.

Add to this the fact that most of the work the agency does is in the field of business-to-business, which is perhaps the hardest of all, and yet they have achieved great results for many of the jobs they have done on behalf of their clients.

“I love sitting down with our clients to find the best solutions to their marketing and communication problems, from uncovering consumer insights to developing strategies that shape and frame our thinking, right down to what tactics to use, what offers to develop and which lists to mail. Getting my clients involved and finding the best solutions all adds up to being the best part of my job,” said Allison.

THE START OF ALLISON’S CAREER WAS AN INITIATION BY FIRE

“Dad got me started in the business when he recommended me to some of his industry friends. My first job in the direct marketing field was as a Philipsburg 6-station operator for Jones Direct Mail. What’s still memorable about this job was getting my hand caught in the machine. Although my fingers got mangled, it was not too serious an injury but my fingers did stay painfully bent for days. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Allison moved next into the world of publishing and although she has worked a couple of summers at some of the many agencies her father initiated, going back to the earliest one called Taylor-Tarpay, she confesses she had no agency experience at all. After her Dad left Taylor-Tarpay, which was taken over by Saatchi & Saatchi, and formed TCP Direct in 1993, he asked Allison to come on board. For the first two years it was just the two of them and she learned a lot from him in the process, including that doing a great job for clients is rule one.

“There are times in this business, in any business or job for that matter, when things can get a little stressful. And sometimes that can be draining, but only if you let it. I’ve found that the greater the challenge, the greater the feeling of pride and accomplishment when you and your client succeed. And nothing evaporates stress like a job well done.”

Another way she relieves stress is by sitting on her dock reading a good book and watching the ducks and wild life flourish in her new neighbourhood.

Allison has just bought a new house outside the city.

“I bought a new place last summer in a little, tiny town called Udora and my friends joke with me that I’ve moved north of the tree-line.  The Pefferlaw River runs through my backyard, which is great for canoeing and there’s a 50-acre conservation area just a short, 2-minute walk from my front door.  I’ve always loved the outdoors and my new location gives me ample subject matter for my two hobbies - photography and outdoors pursuits like hiking with my dog, camera in hand,” she said.

Yes, Allison has a cat called Dave, named after her father, and a dog called Bob. I can well understand the cat being named Dave, but when I asked her why she called her dog Bob:

“After I picked up the dog from the Humane Society, he sat silently beside me in the passenger seat not looking at me. So I tried blurting out different names to get him to respond including all the traditional ones like Spot, Sparky and Lucky but he failed to respond. After a while I switched to human names and when I yelled out Bob he picked up his ears and finally looked at me, so I knew that was the name he preferred and the name Bob has stuck to this day.”

The other new person in her life is her close friend and live-in, Roy, who she mentioned is “Thank God, not in our business.”

ALLISON, LIKE HER DAD, ALSO HAS A GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR

Allison is a great sport and is quick to laugh at her self.

She told me that yes, there are times when she misses her dad, but she did something about it recently, which was most fitting for what Dave Taylor loved and was famous for. She convinced the originators of the National Association of Major Mail Users (NAMMU) to name an Award after her father. It’s called The Dave Taylor Copywriting Award.

The second time she was asked to come on stage to present the award, she asked Tony Keenan to be the co-presenter. Tony was a great presenter for the CMA Awards for years and he took the opportunity to talk a bit about Allison.

Tony started by mentioning that he had known Allison since she was this high, indicating her height by stretching out his hand below his shoulders. Eager to oblige and make the point more dramatic, Allison smiled and bowed down to the point where Tony had indicated her size.

As, she continued bending forward, it suddenly dawned on Allison that perhaps she was showing a bit too much cleavage to the audience and so she tried adjusting herself by bending backwards while still hunched over and in the process fell over on the stage.

Amidst the audience’s gasps, she calmly got up, brushed herself off and readied herself to present the award. That inherited sense of humor carried her through.

Allison has grown up to be tall in size, unflappable, funny, creative and with dedication to quality work.

Which bring me back to the first thing she told me, “If it wasn’t for my dad, I wouldn’t be in this business.  Even though he’s been gone for almost six years, I still strive to be more like him.”

So here's my advice to Allison - you can rest easy in your success – you are very much like the man I came to know and admire.

designersinc@sympatico.ca

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