Back in 1984, GSD&M’s Roy Spence was working for Walter Mondale’s campaign and created this spot for Texas:
Now, Spence is back working for Hillary Clinton. The ominous phone is back, too:
Apparently, he hasn’t had many new thoughts while walking across America. To paraphrase GSD&M’s work for Southwest, Spence is now free to scare the shit out of the country.
UPDATE: And in a matter of hours (something few consumer ad agencies could do), the Obama campaign cooked up a response:
UPDATE 2: This clarification is being reported, so far only in The Washington Post:
The new “red phone” ad produced by the Clinton campaign was not, in fact, made by ad guru Roy Spence, as earlier reported in the story “Clinton Ad Hints Obama Is Unprepared for Crisis”. In a twist, it was written by Mark Penn, Clinton’s chief strategist, who has for months advocated taking a much harder approach against Sen. Barack Obama, and was produced by Mandy Grunwald. Spence, who did make a 1984 “red phone” ad for Walter Mondale, is an adviser to the campaign.
So Spence may not have produced it. But my guess is he suggested it.
