When Matthew Doud, president of Baltimore ad firm Planit, and his business partner, Ed Callahan, the agency?s creative director, decided to start their own agency in 1994, they wanted to come up with an original name. They didn?t want to use their own names, as in Doud Callahan.
Instead, they decided on Planit.
The “i” and the “t” make it personal, Doud says. “They say ?ideas transform.? What we mean by that is, ?Ideas motivate people to act and to perform.? ”
Doud says the most difficult business decision he and Callahan made was to head off on their own and do things their way. “The world today offers a great deal of clutter, mall music, the Internet, iPods, TV. What we want to do is rise above the clutter,” he says.
Planit offers an animation division, which is unusual for an ad agency. “Animation is a sophisticated tool, and it can tell a complicated story simply,” Doud says. “Our biotech clients are very interested in it.”
Planit?s first client was Commercial Credit, now known as CitiFinancial, which is still with the agency after 12 years. Other clients include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore and New York City?s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
About Matthew Doud
» Age: 38
» Family: Wife, Sylvia, and two sons, Henry, 4, and Charlie, 2 1/2
» Education: B.A. in writing and marketing from Wheeling Jesuit University
» Most Recent Book: Ad guy Donny Deutsch?s autobiography, “Often Wrong, Never In Doubt.”
» Sports: “Golf, and I have season tickets to the Ravens and the Orioles.”
» Most influential person: “My father, Thom Doud, and his constant support.”
