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Humphrey Bogus
From 1983, an ad for a video tape that's out to make itself famous for its inaccurate, garbled reproduction...Am I being too harsh on Maxell? After all, they're just having a little fun with an iconic...
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Separated At Birth - Very '80s Edition
From 1985, here's fashion designer Kenzo Takada...times three. Confident, relaxed, and, with with the d.i.y. ties and pocket squares, very much in the style of the '80s.And yet...When I look at the...
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Keeping informed and carrying on
I am fascinated by this simple piece of communication from the British government:Today, the message seems almost like a parody of the British "stiff upper lip" -- probably the reason that...
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I've seen this movie [poster] before...
Yes, every summer now brings us a spate of formula movies that we all feel like we've already seen at least one time before. But now it seem that even the movie posters themselves are...
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Embracing (but not squeezing) Mr. Whipple
"It was that easy. In an hour and a half, America's most universally despised advertising campaign was created."That's how Benton & Bowles writer John Chervokas described the process of creating...
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The Man In The Chair
A deceptively simple layout -- minimalist, really -- is one of the things that gives this 1958 ad it's power. Even stripping away the desk that this skeptical business would normally be sitting behind...
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Read the list! See the movie poster!
A few months back, I noticed there were lists making the way around the web that purported to be "The Greatest Movie Themelines Ever Written" -- actually, it seems to be more or less the same list...
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Double Advertendres
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Go ahead – snicker. Because this campaign theme from the National Pork Board exemplifies an interesting characteristic I've observed in advertising's most memorable...
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Book Review: "Think Small."
There have been books singling out advertising agencies (“Chiat Day: The First 25 Years,” “25 Years of Fallon”), advertising eras (“When Advertising Tried Harder,” “Advertising’s Ten Best of the...
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Podcast: Two Odd Minutes #1
Ep. 1: "New & Unproved""By the 1980s, my city, Minneapolis, had already made its reputation as the hottest advertising market outside of New York and Chicago. So for a young copywriter, there was a...
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Podcast: Two Odd Minutes #2
Ep. 2: "The Intersection ofHollywood & Madison Avenue""When a character in a movie works in advertising, you instantly know that person is going to be vapid, vain, materialistic, manipulative,...
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Podcast: Two Odd Minutes #3
Ep. 3: "The Curious Caseof the Vanishing Croissants""By nature, creative people tend to be scavengers. But the Holy Grail of free food was always that silver tray on which rested the leftover pastries...
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Podcast: Two Odd Minutes #4
Ep. 4: "The Life (and Death)of an Ad Man," part 1"Nothing exemplifies the excesses of what we creative people are capable of than the story of Bill Tuttle. The following is a true story. I say this not...
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Podcast: Two Odd Minutes #5
Ep. 5: "The Life (and Death)of an Ad Man," part 2"No, Bill Tuttle wasn’t a real creative department employee -- or a real person. But making the rest of the agency believe that he was the challenge we...
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Podcast: Two Odd Minutes #6
Ep. 6: "Total Television Recall""When I got into advertising, I knew that I’d found my true calling...I’d stumbled into a field where all those years spent in front of the TV – all those wasted years...
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Podcast: Two Odd Minutes #7
Ep. 7: "Laid Off and Fired Up""If you’ve worked in an ad agency for more than a few months, you’ve probably been through at least one round of layoffs.. All it takes is one account to head out the...
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Podcast: Two Odd Minutes #8
Ep. 8: "The Agency-Go-Round"“So you’ve worked at eleven ad agencies,” she said, probably wondering about my seeming inability to hold down a job for any length of time. “Oh, but that’s eleven agencies...
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Podcast: Two Odd Minutes #9
Ep. 9: "Bad Fortune""One of the handicaps in being a young advertising writer is that you’re often struggling to channel the perspective your audience, who can have a mindset that’s very different from...
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Podcast: Two Odd Minutes #10
Ep.10: Dress Codes"Blue jeans, tee shirts, flannel shirts. These, along with other items of clothing that come in and out of fashion, are the mainstays of the creative wardrobe. And make no mistake,...
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Podcast: Two Odd Minutes #11
Episode 11: Blowing The Dust Off My Portfolio"In a corner of my home office, gathering dust, is my advertising portfolio. In the days before the Internet and digital media, this was how you shopped...
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