From The Roots Of Great Advertising To Re-Rooting For The Web

“So I crawled out the window and stood on the ledge, and didn’t come in until the client bought the campaign”…from the bull dog antics of creative icon George Lois, through the 10 principles of Bill Bernbach, the lecture I gave at CCNY was an odyssey of creativity in advertising.

Traveling in time from the Madmen 60’s through the gem creative ads of today. Then the lecture leaped into the web, where the cosmos of limitless possibilities exist. Where tempting techno graphics competes with down to earth “friendly social” branding.

Social Media Successes vs. Social Media Messes.

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Navigating Likes, Tweets, Friends Updates, Posts, Blogs, Followers, Click-throughs, Unique Visitors, all part of the brand’s Social Media judge & jury. It’s a never ending winding road, where around the corner is an idea that can launch a brand to new heights, or where the floor opens up from under and it drops down to sink in the mud & mire of ridicule.

Who does the special advertising, special public relations, event planning, websites, Social Media and the today’s terrific Apps. Are today’s brands seeking specialists, or just special ideas? The lines may have blurred but what remains is that a good idea, is a good idea. If it’s well thought out, with the product as hero, in a truthful, simple, friend-to-friend message, but in a way that hasn’t been seen, it will connect and touch the soul. And that will work in print, TV, banner ad, Facebook or even a Tweet. And it’ll be only a twit who just won’t get that.
60 college students stood up and applauded at the end of the lecture.
Not a twit among them.