It's not often that a language barrier serves as an entry to communication, but for Publicis' Clay Weiner and Alan Vladusic, that's been exactly the case. Since being paired together by the New York agency a little over a year ago, the American Weiner and the German Vladusic have developed an idea-making shorthand that's resulted in some of the year's smartest creative. "We were sharing an adjoining cubicle," recalls Weiner. "It's been good, a nice match of different talents and backgrounds. When Alan first got here he barely spoke a word of English. But now, he barely speaks a word of English."

In actuality, the Bosnian-born, German-raised art director (27) holds his own admirably, especially given that he's only been in America for a brief period. "I started in advertising in 2000, and I came to the New York office last year," he says. Unfortunately, enough still gets lost in translation between the two that verbal workouts don't always yield the best brainstorming results. "Advertising is colloquial and [full of] turns of phrases that Alan won't know," Weiner explains. "Either that or there'll be German ones that he knows that don't even exist here, like 'Don't wear your umbrella on the weekends' or something."

The impediment means the pair relies on other methods of communication to find its common ground. Sometimes that involves horsing around in the office or accentuating conversations with physical gestures; other times it means playing around with photos and images. According to Weiner, 29, the ostensible handicap of their dynamic has actually resulted in better, more universal work. "It's made us solve a lot of things in visual ways," he says. "We prefer to anyhow, but this demanded we do that. We communicate [more] in pictures, which works really well for international audiences."

In just over a year, Weiner and Vladusic have established themselves as arguably the most versatile new creatives in North America. Included among their winning First Boards Awards reel is a startling PSA for skin cancer, a comical MTV bumper starring Weiner's own "Intro Guy" and a touching political spot using gay marriage as its central issue. For Weiner, whose background includes writing credits on comedic efforts like The Dana Carvey Show and Late Night With Conan O'Brien, it's been important to take on different types of disciplines. "Writing humor is something I really enjoy doing, but I don't feel like it's always the right solution in this arena," he says. "With ads, you really have to think about the takeaway. It'd be a missed opportunity if you made a joke out of something like the gay marriage brief."

One of the most effective political ads to surface during the last American election, "Permission", which aired on MTV, showed a young man going door to door and asking strangers for the right to marry his girlfriend. Resonant and tastefully executed, the spot became a labor of love for the team, who had to fight to get it made. "It wasn't through Publicis, but it was something they allowed us to do while we were working here," Weiner says. "We got a director on board who had just gotten married to his lover out in Portland, and he offered to put up a lot of the cost of doing it."

Beyond their unique working methods, the duo have also developed the ability to call each other on bad ideas, a skill that Weiner says is arguably more important than being able to come up with the concepts in the first place. "One of the things we both have is that we've very tough on each other," he says. "I think it's a really good thing to learn in general, that there'll still be a next idea after the one you thought was good."

For Vladusic, the opportunity to work outside of Germany has proved invaluable. Cultural differences aside ("you can't show naked people here", he notes with disappointment), Vladusic observes that while America's wide-open mix of backgrounds makes the selling process more difficult, it also makes the work experience more fulfilling. "We have people from South Africa [at Publicis], people from London," he says. "In Germany I just worked with Germans, and everybody had the same background. Everybody here has different cultures and they come together and mix ideas. It's pretty interesting."

Weiner rejects the notion that they're able to bring different continental sensibilities to their treatments ("Alan has a Euro sensibility about the way he dresses," he offers) and prefers to chalk their success up to the fact that they both have high quality control thresholds. "We're very stubborn about not wanting to do average work," he concludes. "When you have to live with your work as time goes by, you want to think 'At least it was a smart idea'."

YOUR FIRST...

...kiss?
Alan: In Bosnia, 12 years old. My cousins and I went to party on the river. There was a girl there. She was pretty nice. She tried to kiss me. She was older than me, maybe 16, and she put her tongue in my mouth. I didn't know what she was doing.
Clay: At the movies with Carlie Kornbluth. I had suspicions then, as I do now, that she was using a fake name.
...memory?
Alan: I remember something last week - vaguely.
Clay: Nipple.
...experience with jealousy?
Alan: When someone shagged my ex-girlfriend.
Clay: Swimming class. I was a jellyfish, she was a dolphin.
...time drunk?
Alan: Greece '97, The Island Ios. The people there still tell the story.
Clay: House Party '87. I can't remember, but I think Kid and Play were there.
...great idea?
Alan: Can I have another day on this?
Clay: ...
...drug trip?
Alan: Never. That's true.
Clay: O.K. I'm in.
...existential moment?
Alan: Now.
Clay: Was it?
Alan: What does this mean: 'existential?'
Clay: Precisely.

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