So read the sign that hung in Carl Ally's office. Ally, a brash, heavy-hitting advertising man lived by those words. Through 27 years, his agency, Carl Ally Inc., later named Ally & Gargano, transformed corporate underdogs Federal Express and MCI, as well as foreign firms like Volvo, Saab and Scandinavian Airline Systems into American household names.

Ally approached the ad industry in a way most unusual from other admen of his time, producing advertising that was just as unusual. His volatile personality reflected in his volatile career in which he surprised, enchanted, convinced, frightened and alienated clients, employees and even his own partners. While he gained great stature and acceptance by others on Madison Avenue, his story is that of an outsider whose greatest strength and greatest weakness was never getting too deep into what he saw as the advertising industry's mindset.

Ally's Early Life