Duncan Gray, Proximity London executive creative director, was awarded the Andi Emerson Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service to the Direct Marketing Creative Community at the 30th annual John Caples International Awards Show.
Gary is Proximity London Executive creative director and Proximity Worldwide board member. His responsibilities include providing creative inspiration and keeping the Proximity network at the forefront of creative excellence.
After six years above-the-line, Gary began his career in direct marketing with DDM Advertising, where he rose to joint creative director. In 1991 he left to become a founding partner of Barraclough Hall Woolston Gray, a UK DM agency which was one of the founding members of the Proximity agency network.
Besides his creative and management leader responsibilities in London, Gary maintains his role as a hands-on Art Director on key agency business. Gary regularly judges, and when not judging often wins, many domestic, European and international awards. He has been involved with the John Caples International Awards for many years, is a member of their board and is the chief European judge.
Before her death, Andi Emerson, Caples' founder Andi Emerson saluted “for being the most enthusiastically voted Emerson award recipient in the history of Caples! God knows you more than deserve this one. Not only have you lectured, written about and been published on DM all over the world, judged just about every ad contest on the entire globe, won every award available but…[w]e have been immeasurably enhanced by the interest you've taken in our contest. I, for just one, am blinking back tears of gratitude as I write this. Thank you, so much!”
The Andi Emerson Award is presented by the Caples Board to an individual(s) who has contributed outstanding service to the direct marketing creative community. Previous winners have included Nancy Harhut, Thomas L. Collins, Alan Rosenspan and John Roska.
