American
Cancer Society/"Cigarettes Are Killers"
Another inspired anti-smoking PSA. In this one, shot in black
and white, a cowboy hunkers down at the bar of a crummy saloon.
A Very Bad Guy enters, brandishing a gun, a cigarette dangling
from his lips. Then another Very Bad Guy joins him, also
smoking. It's two against one. One of the VBGs says,
We
figured we'd find you here. They get ready to turn him into
Swiss cheese. But one bad guy starts wheezing. The other
coughs. They dissolve into tobacco-induced convulsions. The
Good Guy (a nonsmoker, thank God) shakes his head and clanks
out of the saloon. A title flashes:
Cigarettes––they're
Killers. Wow!
American Cancer Society
1968
IBM/"Pretend
I'm in Kindergarten"
Is there anything more galling or impenetrable than tech speak? Especially to baby boomers now running major companies? I think IBM's done a great job of empathizing with key I.T. purchasers who can't/won't embrace the language of Geeks. This spot has a CEO trying to get his Tech exec to speak English about what he's doing. The exasperated CEO says, Pretend
I'm in kindergarten. The Techie comes back, Every
buck we spend will earn two bucks back by the end of the
year. Now we get it.
IBM
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Writer: Brendan Gibbons
Art Director: Chris Curry
Director: Joe Pytka
1999
Hallmark/"It's
A Boy"
A definitive example of the long-running, exceptional Hallmark–When
You Care Enough to Send the Very Best campaign that often
runs on the "Hallmark Hall of Fame." In this spot a wife
gets home from work. Her husband tells her they have to
go into the adoption agency tomorrow. She's frustrated.
More forms? More questions? They've been plowing through
this red tape for three years, now! Husband hands her a
card. He says he's been waiting a long time to give it
to her. Inside: It's
a boy! Got me to tear up. Bet it did you, too. Another
spot called "Dance Card," also
directed by Pytka, is just as moving.
Hallmark Cards
Agency: Leo Burnett Company
Foote Cone & Belding started the storied series
Young & Rubicam carried the torch, too
Writer: David Linne
Art Director: Jonathan Moore
Director: Joe Pytka
1992
Volvo/"Margit
Engellau"
We open on mock-vintage footage of a woman, a health-care
professional as she makes her rounds helping serious accident
victims. The copy tells us, She
was a physical therapist working in a Swedish hospital
40 years ago. But Margit Engellau continues to save lives
the world over. The reason? She instilled her horror of
accidents in her husband...who happened to run a car company
called Volvo. Cut to a sleek new Volvo. You
may never have heard of Margit, but maybe you've seen the
monument they've built her. How great to know this
backstory about Volvo's obsession with safety! It's also
tempting to cite another Volvo commercial, this one called "Take
My Volvo, Please" produced by Scali, McCabe, Sloves
in 1976 (Writer: Mike Dazen; Art Director: John Danza;
Director: Rick Levine) where a Dad tosses his keys to a
young fellow, his daughter's first date, with the line, Jeff,
do me a favor, take my Volvo. What a poignant way
to say we make safe cars without hitting you over the head.
Volvo
Agency: Messner Vetere Berger Carey Schmetterer
Writer: Paul Wolfe
Art Director: Steve Montgomery
Director: Carl-Gustav Nykvist
1992
GEICO/"Caveman
Insult"
One of the batch of recent Geico Insurance spots with a very high laugh quotient. In this one, the on-camera spokesman says you have to be as dumb as a caveman to not be able to use GEICO's online services. We pull back to find that a couple of the production crew members filming the spot are, in fact, cavemen. They stomp off the set in protest! In a sequel spot, the spokesman has to apologize for his politically incorrectness. What does this have to do with car insurance? Not sure. Everybody's in love with GEICO's "I've got great news" and gecko campaigns. This is my personal fave.
GEICO Insurance
Agency: The Martin Agency, Richmond, VA
Writer: Joe Lawson
Art Director: Noel Ritter
Creative Director: Steve Bassett
Directors: Will Speck, Josh Gordon
2004
Barney's/"Men
of Destiny"
A gaggle of hard scrabble 1920s kids sit on a brownstone steps. They all tell their dreams. A young Casey Stengel wants to win the World Series. A scrappy little Humphrey Bogart wants to be a big star. A feisty little Fiorello LaGuardia wants to be mayor. A diminutive Louis Armstrong wants to be a musician. Finally, a natty little fellow (Barney) says You're
all gonna need clothes! We cut to a title card, Even
then he knew.
Barney's New York, Menswear
Agency: Jack Byrne
Writer: Steve Gordon
Art Director: Stan Kovics
Director: Steve Horn
1970
Benson & Hedges/"The
Disadvantages of You"
Great music, great footage, wonderfully quirky sequences show us how a new, longer (100 mm) cigarette can get you in trouble by popping a balloon, burning a hole in a newspaper, getting caught in an elevator, etc. Didn't mention the disadvantages of the Big C. Director Howard Zieff helmed (love that verb) features Private
Benjamin and Hearts of the West. The bossa novaesque music track went on to become a pop hit.
Philip Morris Benson & Hedges 100s.
Agency: Wells Rich Greene
Writer: Richard Rich, Mary Wells
1966
British
Airways/"Manhattan Landing"
The Island of Manhattan rises ominously out of the earth and flies! Out across the Atlantic toward Europe. The copy: Every
year we fly more people across the Atlantic than the entire
population of Manhattan. Helped burn British Airways into the brains of American travelers. A 90-second Spielbergian phantasmagoria.
British Airways
Agency: Saatchi and Saatchi, UK
Director: Hugh Hudson
1983
Budweiser/"Here
Comes the King of Beers"
The nation's biggest brewery uses big ol' clunky workhorses, stirring music, and Ed McMahon's pipes to elevate the slurping of suds to majesty. Usually ran at Christmastime. Lyrics came along in the early '70s. Here's a sip: Here
comes the King, here comes the big Number One!, Budweiser
beer, the King is second to none, Just Say Budweiser, You've
said it all, Here comes the King of Beers so lift your
glass, let's hear the call... The University of Wisconsin band adopted the music, substituting Wisconsin for Budweiser.
Budweiser
Agency: Darcy, McManus & Masius, St. Louis
Music lyrics: Steve Karmen
1960s on
Chrysler/"Iacocca"
Corporate machismo at its most naked. Lee Iacocca, he who saved Chrysler, eases through the robotic automotive factories, strokes the sleek lines of his new models, then looks right into the lens and challenges, If
you can find a better car, buy it. This brand finally had itself a personality. They reprised Lee and His Line in 2005. And threw in a cameo by Snoop Dog E Dog. Oscar and Felix, move over!
Chrysler
Agency: Kenyon & Eckhardt
1979
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