5 Minutes with... Ashley Davis Marshall

Adobe Firefly is a proud supporter of LBB. As part of their sponsorship of the ‘5 Minutes with…’ channel, we spend time with some of the most innovative and creative minds in the industry.

Today, that’s Ashley Davis Marshall, executive creative director at The Martin Agency. After getting her start as a copywriter, working on Skittles, Starburst and NASCAR at TBWA\Chiat\Day, Ashley’s career has taken her through the doors of industry powerhouses Saatchi & Saatchi, GSD&M, BBDO and Wieden + Kennedy.

Speaking with LBB, she reflects on 15 years of leadership as a creative director, working on the brand that inspired her career, GEICO, and how she developed an appreciation for ‘perfectionism’ observing Amy Ferguson, Gerry Graf and more.

LBB> You’re coming up on five years at The Martin Agency — what do you think have been the biggest learning moments for you in that time? Have any challenges or projects shaped you and your approach to creative leadership?

Ashley> I started out remote, during the pandemic, for the first two years. That was a crucial time for me. I knew I needed to get in and get to know the culture but was also acutely aware of how hard that is when you’re not with the people, so I spent the first few weeks just setting up open office hours with the whole creative department. I put together a list of questions that would quickly give me a little window into what people liked and wanted to share about themselves.

It’s so important to know what makes everyone in an agency special, so when you need to sprinkle a very specific flavour of special onto the work, you know where to turn.

LBB> You’ve previously credited the GEICO Caveman ads for getting you interested in advertising — how has it been to get to work on that brand and create new iterations of that very platform?

Ashley> Iconic. It’s been so special to get a front row seat to some of the industry’s most classically funny campaigns.

LBB> What else inspired you to get into copywriting? Were there any inklings from a young age that you might end up writing, or in a creative field?

Ashley> My mother knew I needed to be in advertising when I was eight or nine years old! She was really clever and intuitive. Plus, in the ’80s and ’90s, advertising was made to be this awesome job. You saw it in movies and shows, and in 1988, they even televised the Clios on Fox.

My mother was my biggest fan, so she saw this thing that felt so right for me. I actually tried to push against it for a few years in college, but then, when I finally took a course and got an A, I thought maybe Mom was right.

LBB> You got your start at TBWA\Chiat\Day — what lessons from those early days do you still hold on to and apply today?

Ashley> The talent at Chiat was off the charts. We were all so ambitious and competitive, while still being best friends. There was an understanding that we all wanted to succeed, and we all were going to work hard to sell work. If you saw Amy Ferguson [now Special US CCO] still at the office working on the same brief you were on, you would stay at the office. We all respected the hell out of each other, and we pushed each other.

[Former TBWA\Chiat\Day colleague and current Pablo CCO] Scott Vitrone, [former Wieden + Kennedy ECD] Ian Reichenthal and [former TBWA\Chiat\Day CCO] Gerry Graf all had extraordinarily high standards. There were no favourites. They just wanted great ideas and did not care who they came from. So, we all would churn out hundreds and hundreds of great ideas to get to the very best one. The level of perfectionism in those days was truly wild. You were never done making the work better; you always had to keep going.

LBB> Is there a project that you consider a turning point for you and your career? One that helped you find your confidence, or that changed your outlook on the craft?

Ashley> [CALLEN founder] Craig Allen and I worked on Nextel NASCAR in our earliest days. I think because we were both from Texas there was a sense that we knew NASCAR. We did not know NASCAR. But we were quite determined to learn.

We went to all these races and got to meet all these drivers and fans. We immersed ourselves so deeply in the culture that we started to sell a few ideas for scripts. Once we started getting our feet wet in production, we got a few more choice briefs. We had a few funny scripts on Skittles, and Gerry, Scott and Ian put us on a Starburst brief.

The first spot we sold was ‘Art Center’ and it was super dark and twisted. I think that’s when I really understood the bar for comedy was high. And to be considered funny it needed to feel unique and leave the industry asking: ‘How the hell did you sell that?’.

LBB> What is some recent work from The Martin Agency that you’re proudest of?

Ashley> Speaking of stuff that’s a little twisted, the most recent Cinnamon Toast Crunch work we made is something I’m very proud of. The craft and attention to detail in that campaign are top tier, and it was a total labour of love. It reminds me of those heydays of when I was younger. I don’t think creatives get to enjoy that level of neurotic focus on the work as much anymore, so it was refreshing to get that again.

Optimistically, I believe we might be on the edge of getting more of that back. I see there being a tipping point with AI-manufactured wallpaper out in the world. I predict (hope) that humans revolt a bit and demand that human touch.

LBB> Where do you look for creative inspiration right now? Are the algorithms of TikTok and the like an effective tool for creatives, or are curated resources like Lürzer’s Archive more valuable than ever?

Ashley> It feels a bit cliché to say, but everything is inspiration. You really just have to stay open to receiving it. I wholeheartedly love the algorithm too. I’m constantly adding new resources to my follows. I enjoy seeing variety in my feed, whether it’s a director I love, a publication I respect, a content creator who keeps things weird and unexpected, a news source that keeps me informed, or a thought leader I think always gives the best hot takes. I make sure to keep that feed curated with what inspires me the most. I’m not much of a mindless scroller. I mostly use social as a tool.

LBB> You’ve now been a creative leader for 15 years — how has your leadership style evolved over time?

Ashley> I stress less than I used to. I’ve been through the creative process enough times now that I know the idea always presents itself. Worrying an idea into existence doesn’t work. I know my job is to help the idea show itself and to keep teams comfortable and talking so that the best idea rises into existence. I know everyone I work with has something brilliant inside them and one day we will look up and it’s there.

I no longer need to see myself in every finished idea or claim any one idea as my own. It’s really freeing to get to a place where you don’t have something to prove. Now I can finally just trust the process, and by the time we get to the end, we see where it got us.

LBB> What’s exciting you in adland today? Where are the most interesting opportunities for creativity?

Ashley> I’m excited by what a lot of fashion brands are doing on social. They seem to be making a lot of cool content that embraces the more entertaining and creative aspects of what we do. I think social is going to continue to open us up to possibilities.

I started out in a time when TV commercials were where you could really pay attention to craft, detail and storytelling. I think social is where that opportunity has shifted, but I think we’re still figuring it out. We may never figure it out. But it’s fun trying!