Gayle Akler

President and Chief Strategic Officer

Ask Gayle Akler's clients to describe her, and the word you will hear most often is passion. Passion to produce great creative. And most of all, passion to achieve great results.

What Gayle brings to Sparkplug is her strategic vision, vast knowledge of research and new product development and her commitment to the "big idea". Through her proprietary planning sessions, she is adept at helping clients determine the best positioning for their products or services. And when it comes to execution, she has the skill to advise them on which tool and approach will best address the needs of their brand.

A marketing and communications professional since 1981, Gayle has held senior positions at a variety of high profile international advertising and design companies including Ogilvy & Mather, FCB, Leo Burnett and the Michael Peters Group. Prior to co-founding Sparkplug, Gayle was at Maclaren:Lintas, one of Canada's leading Agencies where she held the post of Sr. VP, Director of Client Service.

The consummate client champion, Gayle has worked on everything including packaged goods, pharmaceuticals, business-to-business, non-profit, service, high-tech and retail businesses.

Gayle has served as a committee chair for the National Advertising Benevolent Society (NABS) and was on the Board of Directors of The Daily Bread Food Bank. She has been a part-time Professor at Ryerson University as well as a guest lecturer at the University of Guelph and George Brown College.

She is an avid diver, runner, painter, moviegoer and mother. And a collector of early Canadian furniture, folk art and antique needlepoint.

 

Stuart Solway

Creative Director and Writer

From an early age, Stuart Solway enjoyed the art of communication. Before he was 10, Stuart was the member of two choral ensembles, wrote the class newspaper and was a public speaking champion.

Stuart is the Creative Director for Sparkplug, creative directing and writing all advertising, direct mail, corporate communications, brand identity/naming and web projects.

After completing his M.B.A. at the University of Windsor as a Xerox Scholar, Stuart entered the communications industry in 1983. Prior to co-founding Sparkplug in 1994, he worked for high profile agencies including Bates Worldwide, BBDO and Marketing & Promotion Group. From 1988 until 1993, Stuart was the Senior Writer at Grey Advertising.

Stuart has worked on everything from tampons to financial services to new products to charities to cars to soft drinks and kid's products. He was one of the first writers to embrace the world of web writing, serving as the online "voice" for Chapters.ca, Villa.ca and Empori.com.

One of only a handful of writers who are fully capable of writing in all areas of communications, Stuart has won numerous awards both at home and abroad for his advertising, promotional, direct marketing and digital contributions.

Stuart was a part-time professor at Ryerson University where he taught copywriting and advertising. He has also guest lectured at the University of Guelph and has had a number of articles published in Canadian magazines.

His interests include diving, marathoning, basketball, yoga, reading, antiquing, jazz piano, and above all, the raising of his son.

• Our Experience