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The energy that powers Kay Allison is the electricity
of consumer insight igniting the explosive power
of innovation.
Kay’s early career at two top-tier advertising
agencies honed her skills at engaging consumers
and identifying their oftentimes hidden motivations.
Not only was she adept at achieving understanding
when others gave up in frustration, Kay always made
it look so effortless. Where some researchers built
castles of complexity, Kay insisted on referring
to her work simply as “conversations.”
Yet whenever agency creative directors were presented
with particularly vexing and complex consumer issues,
they often sang a common refrain: “Can we get
Kay involved?”
In 1999, Kay’s pursuit of consumer insight
and innovation went entrepreneurial: She founded
The Energy Infuser located in a significantly renovated
loft—dubbed The Energy Annex—on Chicago’s
near-west side. Her vision was to assemble a team
of experienced marketing-idea people who shared
her zeal and her consumer sensitivities; create
an innovative physical environment that would contribute
to the quality of focused consumer conversations;
bring clients into the ideation process as co-collaborators;
and as a consequence of all this, to build a business
whose twin products would be privileged consumer
insight and innovative marketing ideas arising from
it.
Today, The Energy Infuser is a highly successful,
bustling, insight-and-idea enterprise with a feel
and provenance all its own. Kay—in person and
in spirit—is part of every single project.
Collaboration and bonhomie pervade the workspace.
Walls and doors are few; laughter and excited idea-chatter
are common. In room settings as comfortable as one’s
own home, consumers may be drawing cartoons about
their secret food appetites… or creating iPod
playlists for competing energy drinks… or matching
liquor brands to different guests at a party. Marketing
people from major consumer-product and service companies
are routinely part of this scene, and very much
part of the action. And from all this energy erupt
the innovative ideas that have helped generate hundreds
of millions of dollars in sales for those clients.
Whenever Kay is complimented about building The
Energy Infuser into a resource unique in the marketing-services
world, she always responds the same way.
“Conversations with consumers,” she says
with a smile, “can be very rewarding.”
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Few can rival Holly’s ability to draw thoughtful
dialogue from consumers on even the most sensitive
or emotional subject matter. She has the ability
to draw upon her passion for talking with others
to bring out the stories and connections that help
clients create relevant brand experiences. It’s
no surprise then that at The Energy Infuser she
has led positioning, consumer insight and new product
exploration over the past two years. She is fearless
when it comes to tackling major marketing challenges
or new frontiers in qualitative research. She has
a proven ability to develop innovative strategies
and lead teams from teams including PepsiCo, Unilever,
Kraft Foods and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.
As an account planner at Foote, Cone & Belding,
and later as Vice President, Account Planning Director
at Element79 Partners, Holly Blankstein was well
known as a source for inspiration to entire agency
account teams. Major consumer brands, including
Gatorade, Propel, Shout, Tropicana, Cap’n Crunch,
Skintimate, and Aveeno, were beneficiaries of Holly’s
clever, inquisitive mind and approachable style.
She draws from her creative approach in her personal
pursuits as well, with a particular love for cooking
and experimenting in the kitchen. Holly and her
husband also recharge their energy through their
yoga practice, fitness pursuits, exploration of
restaurants and travel.
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A twenty-year veteran of advertising agency, J.
Walter Thompson, where he served most recently as
Director of Strategic Planning, Malachy Walsh is
well versed in consumer product and service categories.
As he says only partly in jest, “From cheese
to beer, automobiles to insurance, I’ve seen
it all.” His joyful manner and gentlemanly
demeanor endear him both to consumers and clients.
But like many a Shakespearian figure—some of
whom he has actually played on stage—Malachy’s
mind is a deep river of inquiry, understanding and
creativity. He is a lover of life, books, movies,
philosophy and good conversation.
Maybe most of all, Mal is fascinated by the stories
we tell about ourselves. He gets excited about people’s
everyday small triumphs, and they in turn appreciate
his unfeigned enthusiasm. Nothing about Malachy
is artifice.
Mal holds a B.A. in Economics and Philosophy from
Georgetown, and an M.A. in Literature from DePaul.
He is currently a doctoral candidate in Literature
at the University of Chicago. He and his wife Karen
live in Chicago and have a daughter, Emma who is
in college.
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Over his thirty-year career at Foote, Cone &
Belding, Dan led dozens of teams of advertising
folks creating ideas for some of the best-known
consumer brands in America. Kleenex®, Raid,
Shout, Quaker State, No Nonsense, Hampton Inns,
and Sara Lee among them. For a remarkable fifteen
years, he directed all the agency’s efforts
on behalf of Coors. As the sole writer for the Pete
Coors advertising campaign, Dan was perhaps the
only executive vice president account person actually
creating television commercials.
Dan is an old-school advertising guy from before
the time specialized departments kept an agency’s
resources compartmentalized. As he told the many
young people who asked for career advice: “Create
ideas that grow your client’s business. Yes,
that’s what the whole agency’s supposed
to do, but it’s also your personal job #1.”
One of those young people was Kay Allison.
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Underpinning all the consumer insights at The Energy
Infuser is a highly detailed and carefully structured
expertise in the mechanics of consumer research.
Her name is Pat Gorrell.
Pat got her start at Leo Burnett’s focus facility
where she quickly rose to Supervisor of Interviewing
Services. Thereafter, she joined The Cambridge Group
as Qualitative Research Manager. Bitten by the entrepreneurial
bug, Pat ultimately opened PGH Research Services,
which she ran successfully for five years before
choosing to spend more time with her home and children.
Pat brings more than twenty years of experience
in qualitative research to her position at The Energy
Infuser. She ensures that every project design addresses
all the right questions to yield reliable and insightful
results. And she manages to do all this with grace,
composure and remarkable good humor.
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Martha’s outstanding organizational skills
and marketing research know-how are grounded in
her degree in Commerce and Marketing from DePaul
University. But her superb sense of timing may come
from her experience as a professional dancer with
Midwest Dance Collection and Chicago Dance Medium.
Martha regularly displays an almost uncanny ability
to anticipate. As a direct result, Energy Infuser
projects come together without a hitch, and move
forward on schedule, perfectly choreographed. (We
call it “the Martha effect.”)
As a RIVA-trained professional moderator, Martha
has also conducted lively Teen Panels and “shop-a-longs,”
as well as structured in-depth ideation programs
for major clients.
At work or away from it, Martha and choreography
just go together. She is a certified Pilates instructor
and teaches classes throughout the Chicago area
in her free time. Martha also serves on the board
of Chicago Dance Medium.
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