Religious beliefs power ad thrust of Disciple Design

Newsmaker
By Laurel Campbell, The Commercial Appeal

Wednesday, February 13, 1991

Disciple Design is an award-winning advertising firm with no paying clients. Yet.

Craig Thompson and Collins Dillard established Disciple Design about two months ago. The aim of the freelance design studio is to work for Christian businesses and organizations, a reflection of its founders’ beliefs.

Last Saturday night, Disciple Design captured four Addys and two top special honors at the 1991 Addy Awards, the annual showcase of the Memphis area’s best advertising work sponsored by the Memphis Advertising Federation.

The resulting attention, Thompson said Tuesday, is bringing in some potential paid work. So the partners figure it’s about time to get a business license and set up their partnership.

Thompson, 29, and Dillard, 27, can afford to be casual about their new business. Thompson’s full-time job is senior art director at Weinstock White & Associates, which picked up six Addy Awards. Dillard woks as a freelance graphic designer.

“Our goal with Disciple Design is to do work to glorify God,” Thompson said. “If we can do that and make a living, great. If not, we’ll continue to do it on nights and weekends. It’s up to God.”

Thompson has been doing projects on his own since his tenure at John Malmo Advertising, where he worked as senior art director on the ConAgra poultry account, doing ads for Country Pride chicken and turkey products.

After 4 ½ years with Malmo, Thompson moved to Weinstock White in June 1989 as senior art director. The ad agency has 27 employees at its Germantown office and does $15 million in annual billings.

Perkins Family Restaurants is Weinstock White’s largest account, and Thompson worked on his own projects, sometimes for printing companies, sometimes for churches, but always for free. His pay, he said, was creative freedom.

“I have always done stuff for my church (Bartlett Methodist). It’s part of my tithe,” Thompson said. “Then I started winning some awards for it. That gets the gospel message out to people in the advertising industry who might not normally hear it. I was competing with secular work and winning.

“A lot of Christian work doesn’t get done well, usually because there’s such a small budget involved. But you can get around that,” Thompson said. “Collins and I think there’s a market there. Whether we make any money at it is beside the point. We’re just trying to upgrade the work.”

Thompson previously won Addy Awards for a logo and brochure cover for Bartlett Methodist Church’s preschool program. This year’s Addys were for a Central Church mothers’ group logo, an intricate birth announcement for Thompson’s son, and the poster announcing the formation of Disciple Design. The simple poster shows two yellow pencils in the shape of a cross.

Thompson and his wife, Cindy, live in Bartlett with their two children: Rachel, 3 ½, and Nathaniel, 6 months. A Memphis native, Thompson graduated from Memphis State University in 1983 with a degree in graphic design.

Christianity and advertising do not seem to be complimentary, in the stereotype of a high-pressure, intensively competitive industry. Thompson won’t work on cigarette or liquor ads, and his bosses have accommodated him. Further, he finds the spirit of camaraderie rather than back-biting prevailing in the Memphis advertising community.

“I try to live a Christian life and let that show,” Thompson said. “When the opportunity arises, I will share the gospel. But I don’t force it, and I don’t try t slip it into ads. That’s not appropriate.”

“My gift came from God. The work I do for churches, I consider a way of giving back.”