My Creative Career: Rapp’s Al Mackie has made a vocation of being mischievous and hustling

Even throughout early education everything that Mackie turned his hand to was primed to be a commentary on the world and to evoke an opinion from the viewer, he says. It was a precursor to his advertising career.

After school, he “bottled” going to Glasgow School of Art to study sculpture as the thought of becoming a teacher or an artist wasn’t too appealing. After doing a foundation course he chose to go to Bournemouth University and study advertising.

There Mackie teamed up with his creative partner Mike Poole and after graduating they both decided to “aggressively” go after some of the best ad agencies. Those early years were characterized by a “hustle culture” where creatives worked for minimal pay, often juggling multiple gigs. “We just worked like idiots for a couple of years,” Mackie recalls. Despite the hardships, he describes these times as a “fun” period of learning and growth.

His first big gig came in 2000 as a junior art director at The Good Agency, before stints at the likes of BMP, Lida, Harrison Troughton Wunderman and Rapier followed.

“You had to really want it,” he explains. “We didn't have parents that were funding us. We were hustling and we were just hungry to work at these agencies.”

This proactive approach led him to work on the first radio ad for Harvey Nichols. This project was especially significant as it marked one of the earliest pieces of work that would establish the ‘Fashion Victim’ tagline. “No one wanted to do radio," said Mackie, but he and Poole saw an opportunity to infuse the medium with creativity. Collaborating closely with Paul Burke, a key figure in radio advertising, they looked to craft ads that captured the store’s brand ethos.

The duo wanted to continue to work alongside people they could learn a lot from and one of those was revered adman Steve Harrison who gave them a job at Harrison Troughton Wunderman. Harrison has won more Cannes Lions awards than any other creative director and the agency worked on campaigns for the likes of Xerox, IBM, Microsoft, Vodafone, and Rolls-Royce.

A couple of years later Mackie landed a gig at Lida / M&C Saatchi Group where he worked on one of his favourite campaigns to date. It was for Virgin Holidays and highlighted the brand’s support for the legalization of same-sex marriage in the UK back in 2014.

‘The Same Sex Honeymoon’ campaign, which featured a competition for couples to win a dream honeymoon, sought to position Virgin Holidays as an inclusive and progressive brand. The promotion was supported by a series of videos showcasing the diversity of LGBTQ+ couples and furthered the conversation around same-sex marriage and inclusivity.

It culminated in a heartfelt telegram from Richard Branson himself to the winning couple. “That was a campaign I'm really proud to have worked on,” says Mackie. “And a lot of the look and feel is still kind of going now.”

Sent this telegram to congratulate @DMVirginswAtt on their marriage. Does it beat a tweet? http://t.co/7RNPVBQDZ0 pic.twitter.com/5W4MdQRTlH

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) August 11, 2014

Breaking very different ground, Mackie was part of the original Meerkat Movies campaign, which offered two-for-one cinema tickets, for Compare the Market when it launched in 2015. He worked alongside ad agency VCCP on the campaign and enjoyed pushing the boundaries with the mascots. “That's sort of the way Mike and I worked through our career. It was just a bit mischievous and hustling.”

In April 2018 Mackie had become Rapp chief creative officer. To date, some of his standout work there has been with the likes of Samsung, Virgin Media and Laithwaite's Wine.

Last year the agency put out ‘Pure Evil’ for Samsung, a collaboration with graffiti artist Charlie Uzzell Edwards aka Pure Evil. Set within Hackney’s Mile End Skatepark, the ad appears to skate alongside Pure Evil, documenting him and the process of creating his art while demonstrating the best camera angle for a great photo or video.

Of the project, Mackie says: “It’s a very Steve Harrison way of working. His advertising approach is to start where your audience is, it’s a very customer-centric approach, and he'll find a way to demonstrate the benefits.”

Mackie's career has been defined by his drive and openness to learning from those around him. His approach of seeking out talented mentors and finding ways to contribute to his teams has played a key role in his success. When it comes to his creative philosophy, it stems back to his early childhood exposure to making art. “How do I make this person do something?" he explains, highlighting that every campaign must provoke a reaction.

“I’ve gone where I think there are brilliant people,” he reflects on his journey. “I love being around people who are asking questions and exploring new things.”