Ilan’s career spans four decades and four continents, beginning in the early 1970s and including the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America. He joined Ogilvy & Mather in the 1980s as Design Head and Creative Director in Johannesburg, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and later held senior creative positions with Leo Burnett, Frankel & Co., Kragie Newell, Des Moines, and Gage Marketing, Minneapolis.
He has developed and created corporate identities, advertising campaigns, in-store displays, packaging, direct response, sales promotion, websites, and every imaginable strategic visual solution for many of the world’s largest corporations, as well as for numerous smaller enterprises. His work has won over 100 creative awards around the world including Clio, ADDYs, Tellys, Caples, Echos, and many others, for advertising, TV, direct marketing, and graphic design.
His clients over the years have included Unitied Airlines, Korean Air, Alitalia, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Visa Ford Trucks, Chicago Tribune, Nissan, Nestle, American Express, Unilever, Lenscrafters, VW-Audi, Kodak, Hewlett Packard, Seagram, Shell, Sears, Citibank, Firestone Farm Tires, and many more.
Ilan has a BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. He also graduated from Damelin College of Marketing in Johannesburg with a diploma in Marketing Management. Additionally, he studied Video Painting and Drawing at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Most recently, he has earned his Masters degree from DePaul University.
He has taught integrated marketing communications, interactive advertising and international advertising at Columbia College, and currently teaches branding at the Graham School of General Studies, The University of Chicago, and Packaging Design at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago.
Ilan judges some of the most prestigious industry award competitions in the US and abroad. He conducts seminars and training sessions on branding and other advertising issues for advertising agencies, industry associations and clubs.