Why creative teams need the safety to fail [according to a senior director for Magic: The Gathering]

"Whatever terrible thing you've pivoted a campaign around - a delayed launch, maybe customer backlash - I bet it didn't involve a multi-hundred-thousand dollar burglary. This week's master can put that on her bingo card. But, more importantly, her bingo card also includes working with a list of brands too long to say in one breath: Special Olympics, Coca-Cola, Nike, Google, Coors Light, Les Schwab, and the legendary Seattle radio station KEXP are just a few."

"Mere weeks before Hasbro was set to release a version of Magic: The Gathering based on Wild West outlaws, the worst happened: Images of unreleased products hit the internet following two high-profile thefts. "A bunch of cards got leaked because people started selling product before it hit stores," Mickes recalls. "It really blew our planned marketing campaign." And while I couldn't confirm if the thieves had old-timey waxed mustachios, Mickes relays the story with an ear-to-ear smile and a touch of mischief in her eyes."

"Today, she heads up the creative team behind the marketing art for the popular trading card game Magic: The Gathering. She sat down for one of my favorite interviews yet, not least because I learned that her grandpa was a Chicago bootlegger whose house was raided by Eliot Ness of The Untouchables. But also for the great advice she shares about facing adversity and working with creatives."

Alicia Mickes heads the creative team responsible for Magic: The Gathering's marketing art. Her portfolio includes work for Special Olympics, Coca-Cola, Nike, Google, Coors Light, Les Schwab, and KEXP. She holds eclectic certifications including tattooing, personal training, TRX, cake decorating, ceramic restoration, and bloodborne pathogens training. She designed the MOD Pizza logo. Weeks before a Wild West outlaws Magic release, unreleased cards leaked online after two product thefts, disrupting the planned marketing campaign. She emphasizes taking ownership of problems while avoiding personalizing setbacks and leads with a resilient, playful demeanor when managing creative teams.

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