Lee Clow At Ground Zero of California Cool: Think Different - The Surfer's Journal 20.4 Feature

I've been reading The Surfer's Journal now for about 15 years... yup I may be landlocked but I'm passionate about surfing from a very young age during my summer's spent in Ocean City, New Jersey. No big waves, but enough to fuel an young boys interest. Life on the beach can do that.

When I briefly moved to California in 1981 I spent many a weekend admiring and watching the surfers off the Manhattan Beach Pier, Santa Monica Pier and countless beaches along the PCH.

This story features the 68 year-old Lee Clow from his many complex sides. Creative genius, hardcore surfer and passionate life-liver (okay I made that word up) and every piece of Lee in between. From his early days at Santa Monica College to his army stint at Fort Bliss, Texas (okay that name is just too cool) to being landlocked in New Mexico (he notes "I never understood how people can live out there or anywhere in the middle of the continent) to staring in advertising at NW Ayer and finally hitting full stride when he campaigned Chiat/Day CD Hy Yablonka and landed upright. The rest is history. A brilliant history.

Read the excerpt at The Surfers Journal 20.4

"Lee Clow At Ground Zero of California Cool: Think Different"

BTW Consider buying TSJ, the stories are from surfer's and images will find you booking your next vacation.

Watch this video to better understand "Give Me Water, Give Me Surf or Kill Me Now"

"Are We Telling Stories, or Are We Just Playing Games". Lee Clow and Alex Bogusky Talk. ~ Best of A View From An AdGuy.

 

Lee Clow, Global Director of Media Arts, TBWA Worldwide and Alex Bogusky, Partner, Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Chief Creative Insurgent MDC Partners. (NOTE: Click on image for link to watch the video)

I originally posted this piece shortly after starting my original blog "A View From An AdGuy" on Blogger.com (anthony.kalamut.blogspot.com). Quickly it became one of the most popular and frequently searched, viewed and downloaded. Over the weeks ahead I will return to those earlier postings and bring them here to posterous. Hope you enjoy.

Lee Clow did some of the best campaigns back in the 1980's and 1990's, and at that time advertising was all about TV commercials, radio spots or print ads. (ahhhhhh the good old days, ha?) One of the greatest spots Mr. Clow gave the world just celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary, the Apple Mac 1984 spot.

"Are we telling stories, or we just playing games".
"The changes that technology has brought won't change the basic element of what we say, just where we will be saying".
"The Internet opened up a whole new world for us, it's a great time to be in this business". 

That is the reason why it is so encouraging to hear Lee talk, and together with Alex Bogusky, who is one of the ad-revolutionary, about the fundamental changes in the industry.


Clow talks about the massive shift from a "monologue" to a "dialogue" and that advertising has to be a constant conversation and every piece we create has to interact with the audience. 

What an attitude! Instead to be frightened by all that weird stuff, he wants to explore the possibilities and create something exciting with it. The vision never dies.

Part One - Lee Clow & Alex Bogusky on Storytelling & The Future



Part Two - Lee Clow & Alex Bogusky CP+B Interactive Case Examples for Google/Burger King and Conversation



Part Three - Lee Clow & Alex Bogusky Interactive Case for  Nissan/TBWA and Conversation



Part Four - Lee Clow & Alex Bogusky Taking Questions 



NOTE: If any video doesn't play - immediately Click Here to Watch the full 28 min video and get inspired by these 2 guys and their work.

Legendary AdMen Talking. Lois, Clow, Weiden, Kennedy and Silverstein.

Ahhhhh, to be a fly on the wall in the room this "round table" conversation took place would nothing short of being amongst advertising royalty.

Some of the biggest names in advertising gather around the table with "Art & Copy" director Doug Pray and talked about the life-enhancing, world-changing powers of advertising and how it has change society, developed culture and made each of them "career" lifers.


Included in the conversation are the films director Doug Pray, along with modern day Advertising  Mad Men Rich Silverstein of Goodby Silverstein the mind behind the "Got Milk?" campaign. Lee Clow  of TBWAChiat/Day creator of the famed Apple "1984" Super Bowl Spot and the "Think Different" campaign, Dan Wieden and David Kennedy of Wieden + Kennedy who have been the men behind Nike and the iconic" Just Do It" and the legendary advertising Hall of Famer George Lois.

Art & Copy is now considered the best "Recruitment" films to encourage anyone to consider a career in advertising. "Art & Copy" has been making the its rounds across the globe to packed theaters, art schools and community centers gaining nothing but outstanding reviews.

This short video is truly a blessing to hear from the real life and legendary "MadMen" of the second "Creative Revolution".

Can We Get A Recount. AdWeek Media - A (Vote and) Decade to Remember

(Note: My father told me opinions are like assholes... we all have one... most of them stink... except your own)
 
Well the votes are in and the results are posted... and the AdWeek has spoken.

Alex Bogusky made you angry. Irwin Gotlieb made you jealous. Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein made you smile. Google, Honda and Coke raised the bar. R/GA, SMG and Butler, Shine, Stern raised the stakes. Our picks, and yours, for the top marketing, media and agency performances of the 2000s. Selections in 33 categories spanning 10 years.

It's true, the readers choices counted... but for what? A simple exercise. Oh it is easy to have an opinion, but this will all make for great watercooler...er, Twitter and blogger conversation for the next few days.

I am not 100% sure how Alex Bogusky made us angry... or how Irwin Gotlieb made us jealous, but one thing for certain the readers choices and the AdWeek staff seem to be at odds. Seems almost every category the readers had a different choice then the staff. Okay, Alex Bogusky was the clearly the Creative Director or the Decade on both columns, but agency of the decade and executive(s) of the decade were significantly out of whack.

Of the 10,049 votes cast for Agency of the Decade, CP+B posted a leading 18% of the votes yet Goodby, Silverstein & Partners were named the top dog (note: GS&P wasn't in the top three). Long known as a creative powerhouse for culture-penetrating TV and print work, Omnicom Group's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners best work included Super Bowl spots for Budweiser, E*Trade's "Dancing Monkey". But the ground breaking work for  "Got Milk?" easily made them a "gold standard" of creative.  All the while, it was transforming itself from "ad maker" to "content provider", producing "art that serves capitalism," as Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein call it, in whatever form that's required. Hard to understand, the work is great but CP+B spent the most of the decade reinventing itself and its clients for "digital future" and speaking of "culture-penetratin", did they see the work done for Burger King (Subservient Chicken or Whopper Freakout), Volkswagen, Microsoft, Old Navy and recently the GAP... please. Okay, I got to give some disclosure here, I am big fan of CP+B. They have been defining the creative standards and clearly have dominated the award shows throughout the decade.

Oh and were or were is Weiden + Kennedy in this agency of the decade conversation... Nike, Honda etal.

One of the innovators and industry leaders that brought a small south Florida agency to the national and worldwide advertising spotlight, Chuck Porter was a clear leader in the readers votes. He carried 22% of the 4,915 votes ahead of the David Jones (20%), Chief Executive Officer of Euro RSCG Worldwide and the third place (14%) Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, co-chairmen and creative directors of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. AdWeek named the GS&P duo their executives of the decade. Sorry, but what Chuck and CP+B has done over the last 10 years will the basis of case study in success and creativity. His leadership extends into the business, but also the a holding company and an agency can live in harmony. Oh wait, then again, did AdWeek forget Lee Clow?

As for Creative Director of the decade, Alex Bogusky was the easiest choice for both readers and the AdWeek staffers. Alex took 30% of 4,304 votes ahead of the brilliant David Droga who took 12%. Under the leadership of Alex, CP+B has dominated the award shows and has drawn some of the greatest creative talents to both the Miami and Boulder offices. The young "AdLanders" I have the privileged of working with in my classes are all drawn to the work and desire to work for CP+B. The past 10 years and the future has been bright and will be brigther because of his talent and personality. David Droga is a case study in "doing right". Droga5 has design brilliant creative thinking for its clients, but also taugh clients that you can "pay forward" and still lead your category. Droga5 has created amazing work for UNICEF with the Tap Project and New York Department of Education "Millions" project, and the very funny Sarah Silverman "The Great Schlep" campaign for the Obama Presidential run.

Oh, did I mention the biggest oversight... Scott Goodson and StrawberryFrog. Look it up... "Cultural Movements". Hmmmmmmm... a real game changer.

Well, like I started this rant... check the results, read the insights, view the work... truly a healthy conversation will be had.

Art&Copy - The Movie. A Review From An AdGuy.

"THIS IS NOT ONLY THE BEST FILM ABOUT ADVERTISING, IT MAY JUST BECOME THE BEST RECRUITMENT FILM EVER MADE FOR THE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY"
- A View From An AdGuy

"AFTER SEEING ART&COPY, WHO WOULDN'T FEEL INSPIRED"
- A View From An AdGuy

Toronto Screening - HotDocs
Sunday May 3rd, 2009 - 4pm
Isabel Bader Theatre

This film turned out to be much more then expected.

I am not 100% sure what I expected after I viewed a 12 minute trailer at Shift Disturbers this past week, but it really was much more then a “History of Advertising”. Art & Copy is a perfect combination of ad clips and interviews.

From the opening sequence focusing on the primitive cave art, this certainly was a way to pay homage to Marshall McLuhan who described advertising this way; "Ads are the cave art of the twentieth century", and then immediately introducing us to a third generation “poster rotator”, who seems to be a “golden thread” throughout the film. We meet this young man who has a simple job, changing endless billboard ads. His great grandfather did it, and so on. He claims to have never met any of the creators of the ads his families long history has posted, but thanks them all when he proclaims; “for generations nobody in my family has ever been unemployed”.

Director Doug Pray takes us on a passage of those who created and lived the business during the golden “Creative Revolution” of DDB and Bill Bernbach, Mary Wells Lawrence, Phyllis Robinson and the legendary George Lois. Ah those who planted the seeds of today’s creative evolution.

And why shouldn't the craft of advertising be admired? "Art & Copy" begins in the late '50s and early '60s as big thinkers on Madison Avenue came up with the idea of pairing copywriters and art directors, melding a business necessity with creative talent.

Mr. Pray offers up a perfect Q&A with some of the greatest names in the field and recounts their successes. The interviews with titans of today like Dan Wieden, Hal Riney, David Kennedy, Lee Clow, Rich Silverstein and Jeff Goodby make it a complete celebration of creativity. Great advertising is great because it's great creative thinking and Art & Copy is essentially, an ad for advertising -- all of the attractive features of the business are shown in a glorious and shining light, with very little left unasked unless of course, you are a critic of the advertising industry. There have been a few critics of the film, which may come from the fact that the majority of support for Mr. Pray’s film came largely form The One Club, a non-profit dedicated to the craft of advertising based in New York.

Art & Copy offers that great advertising can be great art; great advertising can be artistic, to be sure, but the best ad in the world still has to sell. It’s a pretty simple mantra; “it ain’t creative unless it sells something”.

Many of the great moments of Art & Copy (and believe me I could listen to the rough, give-'em-hell George Lois for hours) came when hearing how many of the icon campaigns were created. Mr Lois is really offers the greatest moments in the film... too many quotable's to list here. He is truly "bow" that finishes the gift this film is. To learn now that Nike’s iconic “Just Do It” came from a headline when Utah convicted murder Gary Gilmore’s final words to his executioners, “Let’s Do It”, gave proof an idea can be found anywhere. I am sure Nike doesn’t have this story in its history books. The film is full of these little antidotes. As each is spoken, it really make the film worthy of our time.

It's unclear if advertising today is better than ever before, but we're certainly in the Golden Age of celebrating the Ad Man and it’s easy to see why AMC's "Mad Men," perhaps TV's finest “advertising based” show or TNT's recently cancelled "Trust Me" are so well received by the general public.

Art & Copy gives a very realistic portrait of the advertising world. It is likely the best recruitment film made.

The film will begin national screenings on August 21st when it goes into major distribution. In Canada the film is distributed by Mongrel Media of Toronto.

Art & Copy will have two more “exclusive” screenings in Toronto later this month when presented by 27Marbles. These screenings will be held at the Royal Theater (608 College at Clinton St.) on May 25th and 26th. The first evening is an “industry screening” at 7pm with all profits supporting Art Building Children’s Dreams (ABCD), a grassroots, not-for-profit, charity that uses art to fund the education of third world children. (www.abcdreams.ca). Tickets are $15 and must be purchased in advance online (click on logo below for ticket purchase). The second evening is a "student only" screening and tickets are available by contacting Stacey Farber at sfarber@icacanada.ca.

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

"Are We Telling Stories, or Are We Just Playing Games". Lee Clow and Alex Bogusky Talk. ~ Best of A View From An AdGuy.

Lee Clow, Global Director of Media Arts, TBWA Worldwide and Alex Bogusky, Partner, Crispin Porter + Bogusky (NOTE: Click on image for link to watch the video)

Lee Clow did some of the best campaigns back in the 1980's and 1990's, and at that time advertising was all about TV commercials, radio spots or print ads. (ahhhhhh the good old days, ha?) One of the greatest spots Mr. Clow gave the world just celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary, the Apple Mac 1984 spot.

"Are we teeling stories, or we just playing games".
"The changes that technology has brought won't change the basic element of what we say, just where we will be saying".
"The Internet opened up a whole new world for us, it's a great time to be in this business".

That is the reason why it is so encouraging to hear Lee talk, and together with Alex Bogusky, who is one of the ad-revolutionary, about the fundamental changes in the industry.


Clow talks about the massive shift from a "monologue" to a "dialogue" and that advertising has to be a constant conversation and every piece we create has to interact with the audience.

What an attitude! Instead to be frightened by all that weird stuff, he wants to explore the possibilities and create something exciting with it. The vision never dies.

Watch this 28 min video and get inspired by these 2 guys and their work.