Goodby, Silverstein & Partners Executive Creative Director Margaret Johnson has achieved some impressive ad-world feats. She's the Omnicom Group agency's first-ever female partner and has led some of its most memorable work during her sixteen-year tenure. That includes the award-winning "HD Loves Honeybees" effort, Yahoo!'s interactive "Bus Stop Derby" and the hilarious Logitech "Ivan Cobenk" spot, starring Kevin Bacon as a guy who's in love with...Kevin Bacon.
But her colorful character extends way beyond the job, as you'll see in the intriguing bits of intel we've gathered below.
This is the latest in Creativity's series about things you might not know about adland's creative leaders.
1. She was once a druggie-of sorts. While a student at UNC, she played an addict on "General College," a nationally televised, student-run soap opera, co-starring Billy Crudup. Over the course of the show, she was shot, busted for cocaine position and she stole her dealer's boyfriend.
2. She cocks her head to the right when she's looking at artwork or deep in thought. So when she was in Bali, she bought a painting of a woman with her head cocked to the right. But the woman had a bird on her head. Ms. Johnson doesn't usually wear a bird on her head.
3. When she first decided she wanted to go into advertising, she ripped out the advertising section of the NYC Yellow pages and cold called about 40 agencies and asked for "someone in the creative department." Surprisingly, all of them took her call and she asked everyone where she should go to put together her portfolio. Most recommended Portfolio Center in Atlanta, so she enrolled the following year.
4. She just started a blog about things she sees from her car called"Out the Window." Her first entry is about a woman she saw driving on Highway 101 wearing yellow and green oven mitts.
5. She probably would have annoyed you in high school and was the kind of overachiever who likely monopolized pages in the yearbook. She was president of the student body, captain of the cheerleading squad -- and dated the quarterback of the football team.
6. She's in the process of writing a book with her husband. It's called "Don't Kid Yourself" and is about not losing touch with the cool, dynamic person you were before you had kids. They started the project before they had their children -- who are now four and six years old.
