As readers of our blog, you might have guessed by now that we're big fans of the good old-fashioned craft values of advertising. It's also no secret that we're big fans of unashamedly putting a product centre stage loud and proud in any piece of creative work.
Here's some brutally simple but highly engaging and charming commercials from the U.S.A. that Hal Riney did for Bartles & Jaymes from a bygone age where great casting, great acting, great writing and great direction all made for a great campaign.
Seeing these again it struck me just how rare it is to see a campaign that is as consistently good as this these days. And actually how rare it is to see campaigns that build over time. The tendency amongst agencies is to always chase the new and reinvent the wheel every time. Hence brands seem to be on treadmill on churning out a series of different executions rather than trying to invest in something that works over the medium to long term.
There are probably many reasons why this is the case [and that's the subject of another post] but I think the one contributing factor is that it's seen as unfashionable and uncool to write ads where the product is absolutely the undisputed hero. Or where you are open about the fact that you are flogging something to an audience.
These ads are over 25 years old but I'm convinced that if they ran today they would still cut through any commercial break and be equally effective.
"And thank you very much for your support" as Mr Bartles said at the end of every ad. Or was that Mr Jaymes?
Today's Reading: Ad Contrarian On Age In Advertising
Bob Hoffman has written an excellent piece on the stupidity of advertising's obsession with youth. Read it here.
We Do Have An Old Dog
Our latest good old-fashioned print ad for our good friends at Fentimans. Well, you can't teach an old new tricks, as they say.
The Raven Typography
Some clever typography for a sunny Monday morning. The UK poster for the movie The Raven. Great bit of smartness to use the raven image in the negative space of the A and V. The US version looks like a Ralph Steadman illustration (I'm a huge fan of Ralph's work), but I read somewhere that it's not by him, just a rip-off of his style, anyone know if that's true?
Bill Bernbach Said #54
Number 54 in our Bernbach series...
“A unique selling proposition is no longer enough. Without a unique selling talent it may die.”
Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.
Happy Birthday Delicious Blog!
A big Sell! Towers happy birthday to the Delicious Industries blog. Four years of inspiration and visual goodness. Keep up the good work! Why not pop over and say Happy Birthday?
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