properties

name: dean mckenzie
symbol: Dm
classification: executive director, creative services
state: conduit

Originally hailing from Winnipeg, MB., Dean migrated to Calgary in the early 1970s with little more than his imagination and dreams of a career in Architecture. The Alberta College of Art’s Visual Communications program seemed like a good place to start and, upon graduation, Dean entered the rough-and-tumble world of Calgary’s advertising community. With several agency stints under his belt, Dean set out (as so many in this business do) to ‘build a better mousetrap – or at least a better agency’ along with long-time friend and business partner Barry Anderson.

In 1981, the doors of The Image Brokers (later Creative Intelligence Agency and, later still, Creative Intelligence) opened and the rest, as they say, is history. And in Mr. McKenzie’s case, there’s well over a quarter-century of it. A span of time which has seen the  agency grow steadily in both client roster and stature, garnering dozens of awards and impressive ‘mouse that roared’ account wins along the way.

To Dean’s credit – along with his considerable talents in the areas of strategic brand development, account planning, business ‘visioning’ and  marketing advice for the likes of The Calgary Herald, SAIT Polytechnic, Calaway Park and Superior Propane – he remains the good-natured, wide-eyed ‘kid from Winnipeg’. The architect of many monumental ideas and enduring client relationships.