from NY Times: Not long after the chief executive at Coca-Cola, E. Neville Isdell, began saying that the company needed to improve its marketing, a group of experienced hands in the ad industry decided they might be able to help.
Soon a collective of creative types from many industries delivered their response, including a new campaign, brand promise and commercial for Coca-Cola using the theme, “A Cool American.”
Another lame spec ad makes the news.
The group that sent Coca-Cola its unsolicited campaign has kept at it, posting suggestions for companies including Mitsubishi Motors North American and Alltel on MadisonAveNew.com, a Web site operated by Harry Webber, the founder of Smart Communications in Los Angeles.
“If Madison Avenue is no longer the evangelist for creative thinking in America, then somebody has to take up that cause,” Mr. Webber said. “That is the calling of all creative people, not just people who work for ad agencies.” Mr. Webber has another motive for wanting to see Coke sales rise: he owns stock in the company.
James B. Twitchell, professor of English and advertising at the University of Florida in Gainesville, agreed that the cultural power of advertising made it hard for creative people to ignore. “If I want to be creative, that’s the place I’m going to go,” he said. “It’s not so much that I want to sell the product, or even care about the product, but it’s where our shared storehouse of stories is.”
