Key visual for La-Z-Boy® trade ad. The ad announced La-Z-Boy’s national network media buy for the premiere of the Jurassic Park Series.
This was for all intents and purposes, my first real ad.
It was the final project for my senior design class. Ultimately, my graduation depended upon, at the very least, the good old college try.
The assignment was to interview a Madison Avenue legend, and then in turn, design an ad indicative of the learnings, and authentic aesthetic.
I chose Helmut Krone.
The mind behind 1960s campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle, which featured a large unadorned photo of the car with the tiny word "Lemon" underneath it; the series of "When you're only No. 2, you try harder" advertisements for Avis, and the creation of Juan Valdez, an iconic character personifying Colombian coffee.
The interview took place via the magic of an AT&T pay phone c.1981, linking a noisy, college cafeteria in Detroit, and Krone’s office at BBD, then, at 437 Madison Avenue.
I pumped $8.00 worth of quarters into that phone until the operator warned that we would be cut-off for lack of funds. In return, I received a priceless education from one of the few, original Mad Men.
The design motifs employed in the ad were derived from Krone’s Porsche Design Series Campaign which launched in late 1979.
Once upon a time, executives tripped over one another in meetings to prove they were indeed, the smartest guys in the room. While the big brains jousted, us minions dozed-off, rolled our eyes, or monitored the BS meter.
A truly enlightened, start-up developed Spinscape®. A mind mapping app used to distill order from chaos in meetings, studies, laboratories, and classrooms. It was a powerful aide for the common, thinking person. Allowing abstract, and subconscious thought, to be leveraged, and repurposed to critical, pragmatic problem solving.
As such, mind enhancement seemed a no-brainer for the campaign theme.
Afterall, what could be more appealing to the assertive, aspiring executive aiming for the “C” suite, than a bigger brain.
Imagine walking into a library in search of information, you never knew existed, and an hour later walking-out with a new terabyte, or two, of knowledge. Spinscape afforded students that reality, by designating order to seemingly unrelated bits of information.
This ad was the catalyst in developing the following Eukanuba campaign. It was the first to use the rugged, craft paper background, and the hot pink (rhodamine) accents that had been newly incorporated into the brand’s packaging.
The visual depicts Warhoot’s Incredible Route.
Warhoot was a field-trial dog that, on one, mid-late February day, realized a near perfect run, over three hours and nearly 25 miles. Besting the best, of the best. All while fueled by Eukanuba.
Warhoot’s mission: finding all six, expertly concealed, coveys of quail.
This ad’s intent is to telegraph the essence of what it’s like to be a field trial dog (athlete is actually more accurate).
The dogs encounter medieval thorns, Velcro-like burrs, and inhospitable terrain, in quest to discover coveys of quail, during a finite period of time.
It is the optimal proving ground for performance fuel so to speak. Eukanuba.
Hunting isn’t all fun, and games. It’s not like chasing a ball. It takes hard work. For the dog. Luckily, there are high performance fuels out there. All of them made Eukanuba. This ad details the specific reasons Eukanuba’s formula meets the demands of the hunt.
When a show dog owner, or breeder look back on a year of shows, they either see success, or failure. Profit. Or loss. Many of these astute, investors trust their prized assets to Eukanuba. This ad highlighted all of the reasons why.
The difference between a legendary show dog, and an also ran, is sometimes decided by a hair.
More specifically, a healthy coat.
More Blue provides clear reasons Eukanuba is the healthy choice.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
A brilliant writer, Charles McAleer, thought the perfect metaphor for power, was indeed, the most potent military in the world. The thinking went, “If you really do need something more powerful than the Briggs and Stratton engine in a Yard-Man lawn tractor, then you might as well start at the top by exploring your options. Hmmm, where’s that number to the Pentagin again?”
“Sounds good to me,” I confided.
It was, and it wasn’t.
The ad attracted so much curiosity that within two weeks of its debut, our agency received an ultimatum. You guessed it. From the Pentagon. “Stop running the ad, change the telephone number in the ad, or pay the consequences.”
This ad emphasized the argument for the consumer.
(And provided a moment of clarity for the creative team.)
Yard-Man introduced a more maneuverable, walk-behind. The best way to sell it was to show it in action, on a static page. This ad did exactly that.
This ad was done after the Pentagon ad.
I think we were remorseful; we had used the Pentagon’s number a bit too early. Yard-Man was definitely, the go-to provider of the homeowners’ standard ordnance, no matter what the battle entailed.
With Aardvark, the mission was to find old clothes, a new closet. It’s amazing how a secondhand store can provide anyone, with an exciting, and unique, firsthand experience. Sometimes more than they bargained for.
Individual taste is a very personal matter. Aardvark wasn’t afraid to turn the dial a few clicks toward humor to entertain, and sell its audience.
With the advent of Glam Rock arrived a thankfully, brief era of fashion. Kiss, Roxy Music, and Slade were all the rage as were those gotta have, most highly revered shoes.
What were we thinking?
(Isn’t delirium one of the side-effects of altitude sickness?)
BOSS Dev was a mid-0s development consortium consisting of stateside, and international web developers. Most of the developers were unemployed Russian rocket scientists who had transplanted to Simferopol Ukraine.
So skilled were these developers at writing code, the end user experience often attained Nirvana.
When you’re seeking the most highly prized talent in the market, it doesn’t hurt to increase the wager with a challenge to the gigantic egos roaming the domains.
This ad ran in the Clio Awards program, where there was no shortage of I,I, Me, Me, My…