Got Ads? Got Film?

Art & Copy Comes to Toronto and HotDocs to Inspire this weekend.

I attended Shift Disturbers today, and got a see an amazing 12 minute trailer/teaser of Art & Copy. Amazing.

One of the great insights came from David Baldwin, Chairman of the Board, The One Club for Art & Copy, who stated, "the film was more or less Chapter One in the historic perspective, and we currently writing the future chapters".

Love the opening sequence of the trailer (below) and the cave art. There was a famous quote from Marshall McLuhan, "Ads are the cave art of the twentieth century", what a perfect start to the film.

The 12 minutes was a walk down memory lane seeing , George Louis, many vintage images of Bill Burnbach (my advertising hero and birthday partner) and DDB who single-handedly rewrote the rules of advertising, and then hearing legendary ad women Mary Wells Lawrence and Phyllis Robinson sahre their thoughts, was more then heart warming, it was down to earth inspirational.

Reminder, Art & Copy plays May 1st and 3rd in Toronto during HotDocs.

Here is my original BlogPost. Watch the video when you're done. Inspiring.

Originally Posted On A View From An AdGuy March 28, 2009

Got creativity?

Got manipulation?

Got art?

Is great advertising actually a rare and rebellious accomplishment more akin to—dare we ever say it—art?

Advertising has without question has made a profound effect on modern culture. This goes without question or debate. You see an average of 5,000 ads every day. Most of them suck. Handfuls are good, only a few look and feel like-and indeed really are-art.

Slow Dissolve, ECU full screen, Art & Copy The Film.

Living in Toronto places us in the center of the Canadian Advertising Universe and this in turn puts us in the center of culture and art. Hot Docs, the Canadian International Documentary Festival is North America's largest documentary festival, conference and market. Each year, the Festival presents a selection of more than 150 cutting-edge documentaries from Canada and around the globe and runs April 30th to May 10th and this year we get a look inside some of the innovative advertising campaigns of our time and the creative rebels behind them are the fascinating subjects of acclaimed filmmaker Doug Pray.

Toronto screenings at Hot Docs will be held at the Isabel Bader Theatre on May 1st at 930pm and 3rd at 4pm. Tickets are on sale now.

Mr. Pray (Scratch, Surfwise) weaves a web heartfelt and dazzling footage of TV satellites being launched and billboards being erected with some of the most remarkable ad campaigns of all time. Like the talented subjects he profiles, Pray creates a rousing synthesis of art, commerce, and human emotion.

ART & COPY reveals the stories behind and the personal odysseys of some of the most influential advertising visionaries of our time and their campaigns, including Lee Clow (Apple Computer 1984, and today’s iPod); Dan Wieden (“Just Do It”); Phyllis K. Robinson (who invented the “me generation” with Clairol); the late and great Hal Riney (Pepsi Choice of A New Generation and also helped President Reagan get elected); and George Lois (who saved MTV and launched Tommy Hilfiger overnight).

The movie was filmed and edited during a four-year period and had an unusual source for its funding — The One Club, a non-profit organization dedicated to the craft of advertising headquartered in New York.

Art & Copy provides a window into the creative process and the individuals who have changed our lives in ways we may not realize,” said Mary Warlick, CEO of The One Club. “The movie looks at advertising not as products flying off the shelf but as the work of a few American heroes who feel passionately about their craft, ideas, and the ability of ideas to change how people feel.”

Art & Copy takes us inside a powerful, yet surprisingly unknown, industry to reveal the most influential creative forces tapping the zeitgeist of our time.

Think of those commercials we can never seem to get out of our heads. Each one is the brain child of an industry typically associated with pandering and manipulation.

Beginning in the 1960s, a creative revolution revitalized the advertising industry. Bill Bernbach launched the Volkswagen Beetle, prompting viewers to "think small." Dan Wieden coined "Just Do It" and forever changed the way we motivate ourselves athletically. Phyllis Robinson empowered the "me generation" with a Clairol tagline. Hal Riney all but insured Reagan's reelection with heart-tugging TV ads. Mary Wells Lawrence reinvented the big bad apple via her "I love NY" campaign. George Lois gave Tommy Hilfiger the makeover of a lifetime, while Cliff Freeman wondered "Where's the beef?" and Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein asked, "Got Milk?"

Yes, we sell widgets and wackiness, but just these are the artists, they tap zeitgeists and rouse emotion that have allowed to "Think Different" and "Just Do It".

Pray's captivating tribute- like an ad itself-sells you on the undeniable art of advertising.

Thanks to Aviva Cohen a former student of mine for bring the Toronto Hot Docs presentation dates to my attention.

Video Roundtable from the Sundance Film Festival:

Doug Pray, Filmmaker of Art and Copy, Rich Silverstein of Goodby Silverstein (Got Milk), Lee Clow of TBWAChiat/Day (Think Different), Dan Wieden and David Kennedy of Wieden + Kennedy (Just Do It), and the legendary George Lois (I Want My MTV).

Also see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju0Fq_QltPw