Creative agency Leo Burnett London and the Design Museum, have launched the museum’s new purpose campaign, called ‘Design: Humanity’s Best Friend’, celebrating the impact of design in everyone’s lives. The campaign aims to show how design is integral to everyday life and highlights the museum as a must-see destination in London this year. Lord Mandelson, […]
Agencies
Are You A Counselor to Brands? Or A Circus Freak Out On Loan?
Generally speaking, agencies of record are no more. Today, even the fattest of Ad Cats are happy to take on projects. Has this change ushered in an era of egalitarianism? Or has it turned ad men and women into fine young cannibals? A Lament for Lost Days The breakdown of the AOR relationship between agency […]
The Weirdest Natural Gas Commercial You’ll Ever See
Now that space travel is a commercial enterprise, eccentric people are saving their money for a ticket to a new planet where the air, water, and land are unspoiled. It’s a new kind of post-Earth utopianism. It’s also disgusting, and Paris ad agency ROSAPARK captures this cheap clueless aesthetic perfectly in their new commercial for […]
In A Dallas Courtroom, The N.R.A. and Ackerman McQueen Meet Again
Q. How do men in suits fight? A. With lawyers in a court of law. In the legal skirmishes that continue between the National Rifle Association and its former ad agency, Ackerman McQueen, there is much tit for tat. It seems to me that their differences might be settled the old way—in a duel. But, […]
Work Isn’t Just Work—Work Is Money, Meaning and Identity
Rene Huey-Lipton knows the pain of losing a job. Too often it’s a surprise and a violation; nevertheless, dealing with the aftermath is something we are often asked to do alone while acting brave. I don’t know how others feel, but for me, getting laid off feels like someone has yanked their love away. And […]
Jared Allen Discovered in Mega Fan’s “Jan Cave”
What happens to NFL stars after football? Some become commentators on cable TV, some open car dealerships, and a few make their way into the circus of commercials. For instance, Periscope and Minnesota Lottery, and the Minnesota Vikings are bringing Jared Allen back just in time for the season kick-off. “When it comes to sports […]
BBH Will Work for PBR
Agency compensation is a hot topic today. An industry that grew up on the billable hour has been looking for a new remuneration model for years, unsuccessfully for the most part. Some agencies want to tie compensation to performance. Others, like BBH New York, are willing to barter. For example, the well known creative agency […]
Legal Sea Foods Is A Safe Harbor for Wayward Stoners
A new ad campaign from DeVito Verdi for Boston’s Legal Sea Foods celebrates the legalization of marijuana in the Bay State. The TV and print ads play off the restaurant’s baked, fried and smoked menu items. “Baked” and “smoked” makes sense. “Fried” is something that happens when you drink too much, work too much, and […]
Five New Winners of the $10K Helen Lansdowne Resor Scholarship
Diversity is a talking point. Unless your company is actively doing something about it—then, it’s a universal problem that we’re slowly overcoming. One means of combatting inequality in the ad business is to find talented women, people of color, and people over 40, and help to support their efforts, wherever they happen to be in […]
Ad Age Names Several Small Agencies of Year; In Other News, Barton F. Graf To Close
Agencies rise and agencies fall. Let’s start with the bad news. Barton F. Graf, the small indie agency in NYC, like Wexley School for Girls in Seattle (and other “hot shops” before it), is closing down. Jeff Beer writes about advertising for Fast Company. When learning of the closing of Barton F. Graf, he pondered […]
