Reagan
for President/"Morning Again in America"
A masterful melange of heartland messages on behalf of the Teflon Presidential Candidate. Even a Yellow-Dog Democrat like me appreciates the skill of these spots.
Reagan for President
Agency: Hal Riney & Partners, San Francisco
1984
Sen.
Warren G. Magnuson/"Keep the Big Boys Honest"
The man who created this political campaign, George Lois, is one of my heroes. He cut a swath across American advertising as the principal at two agencies: Papert, Koenig, Lois and Lois Holland Callaway. He redefined the role of the art director, long a second-class citizen. Lois is a first class designer (of many Esquire covers) and a hell of a writer, to boot. At the outset of the '68 campaign Magnuson, the incumbent U.S. Senator from Washington State, had horrible poll numbers. He was considered old, fat, a has-been. Lois's spots took on all these negatives and stressed Magnuson's prodigious accomplishments. When the dust settled in the fall, "Maggie" won with 65 percent of the vote. The theme line, hand-lettered on buttons, referred to Magnuson's strong consumer protection record. Lois reprised the battle cry for Henry Howell (another of my heroes) when he ran for governor of Virginia. This time the "Big Boys" were the utilities and the corporate powers-that- be in the Old Dominion.
Reelection Campaign: Magnuson for Senate
Agency: Lois Holland Callaway
Art Director: George Lois
1968
Twinkies/"Buffalo
Bob"
Howdy Doody's sidekick in the fringed frontier jacket did lots of great "live" spots like this pushing this product's nutritional value. Worked for me. Three decades later when I heard BB was going to appear at a shopping mall I was there with an autograph pen in my paw.
Twinkies
1950s
Right
Guard/"Mona"
God knows why we love this sad sack Sidney, standing at his bathroom sink crying out for his wife, Mona! (Wouldn't you cry out too if your medicine cabinet opened into your neighbor's bathroom?) Love the hail-fellow-well-met neighbor, played by Chuck McCann, who greets our schmoe with, Hi,
Guy! This campaign pooled into a series in which we get to know Sidney's wife and kid. And the neighbor's kid, too.
Gillette Right Guard
Agency: BBDO
1969-72
Revived 1978
Noxzema/"Take
it All Off"
A gorgeous Scandinavian blonde (Gunilla Knutson) tells NFL Superstar Joe Namath to take
it off, take it all off. "It," alas, is a medicated shave foam. Namath played this wonderful hokey sexist stuff beautifully. The music, appropriately, is George Rose's pop hit "The Stripper."
Noxzema
Agency: William Esty
1966
Mike's
Hard Lemonade/"Lumberjack"
I know this is a horrible spot, but I'm nuts about it. Mike's Hard Lemonade used to be known as a girlie-drink. In this spot, guys make the beer-like drink their own. Hilariously. A lumberjack accidentally chops off his foot. The foreman comes forward with a manly, Tough
break, buddy. Lumberjack: Yeah,
my wife bought me them boots yesterday. Cut to a bar. Everybody toasts the lopped-off foot with bottles of Mike's. The theme line is A
hard day calls for a hard lemonade. The creatives obviously grew up addicted to Monty Python.
Mike's Hard Lemonade
Agency: Cliff Freeman and Partners, New York
Writers: William Geiner, Ian Richenthal
Art Directors: Guy Shelmerdine, Scott Vitrone
Director: Traktor
2001
Nike/"Hackeysack"
I'm neither a golf nor Tiger Woods fan (Gary Player is my idea of a suave golfer) but this spot is a masterpiece. Just Tiger playing–playfully, artistically, joyfully–with a golf ball, off the head of his golf club–as if it were a hackeysack. At the end, he lobs the ball to himself and then smashes it as if it were a baseball. Great stuff.
Nike
Agency: Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, OR
Writers: Chuck McBride, Kash Sree
Director: Doug Lyman
2000
"Bloopers"
If you're a political junkie, you love this spot. It's
a series of dunderhead remarks by big time pols. Sen. Bob
Packwood talks about kissing women. Bill Clinton insists
he didn't inhale you know what. Chicago's Mayor Daley (the
old one) says, The
policeman isn't there to create disorder. The policeman
is there to preserve disorder. And Dan Quayle
wraps things up by saying, The
question is whether we go forward to tomorrow, or we're
going to go past to the–back. A title cards
tell us There
must be some pretty amazing campaign managers out there.
Aristotle. Powerful tools for political campaigns. Wish
I knew what Aristotle does. But I still dig the footage!
Aristotle
Agency: Big Mouth, San Francisco
Writer: Neville De Souza
Art Director: Gerard Vaglio
2000
WJZ
TV/"Talkin' 'Bout Bob Turk"
This is a local spot, done to promote a weather man on
Baltimore's ABC affiliate. His name is Bob Turk. A friend
of mine, Lee Bonner, directed this spot. Lee went on to
direct episodes of" Homicide", "The Practice", and "Profiler".
He also develops TV shows and feature films. This spot
is one of his first. In it we see a group of R&B singers
strutting along the streets in Fells Point, Baltimore's
oldest neighborhood. They sing, I
got sunshine on a cloudy day... starting the great Temptations hit "My Girl." All
of a sudden, in pops this mop-headed white guy, the weatherman.
Instead of Talkin' 'bout my girl– the lyric segues
into, -talkin' 'bout Bob Turk.
A wonderfully goofy spot, beautifully shot and absolutely insane.
WJZ TV, Baltimore
Writer/Producer: Dick Goggin
Art Director: John Dean
Music Talent: The Softones (Marvin Brown, Steve Jackson, Elton Lynch, Byron Summerville
Director: Lee Bonner
1979
"The
Staples Genius"
A Junior Birdman is told by The Boss he has to come up with ideas for saving money. The Boss will see the J.B. in the morning! J. B. stays up all night trying to brainstorm. No ideas. Not a one. Zip. He falls asleep at his desk. In the a.m., The Boss stops by. J.B. wakes up. A Staples catalog is stuck to his head. The Boss: Staples.
That'll save us a lot of money. You're a genius! And I've always admired that animated stapler stapling out the logo at the end.
Agency: Cliff Freeman and Partners
Writer/Art Director: Mark Schruntek and Dan Lelleher
Director: Jeff Gorman
1999
Want to add or subtract a spot? Want to complete or correct the credits? Great!
Send me your thoughts right now.
100Greatest@drewbabb.com
