Campaign’s ongoing series of interviews with the Kings of Madison
Avenue has been received with much enthusiasm and many animated
discussions, but, so far, no fisticuffs. The only question that stumps
them as a breed is ’what’s your favourite ad?’, while the one phrase
they never use is ’things ain’t what they used to be’. This is because,
whether British or American, they have filed talk of ’the glory days’
under ’agency truths that are no longer true’. So why do certain London
creatives - let’s call them Dinosaur Daves - bang on about the glory
days? And what do they mean by it?
For these erstwhile Grosvenor House creative legends, the glory days
began in the late 60s/early 70s when the Brits overtook their US
counterparts thanks to the flowering of CDP and the birth of BMP, and
continued through the emergence of Saatchis, Lowes, GGT, WCRS, AMV and
BBH until the late 80s. B&H, Fiat, Hovis, the pregnant man, the Heineken
poster, Audi beating the Germans to the pool, Gertcha, Hamlet’s photo
booth, Paul Hogan at the ballet, the dambusters, Castlemaine, ’Labour
isn’t working’ - no-one would deny that these were classic ads produced
in a corporate climate that encouraged exciting work.
Since then, according to Dinosaur Dave, advertising has been in terminal
decline. Raw, untamed instinct has met cold, irrefutable business logic
and the work has gone to the dogs. The evidence for this is the rise of
multinational corporations and global advertising networks to service
them. Add suits taking over the business, philistine planners and
restrictive research, the emergence of digital communications and media
- all are enemies on the long road to getting a precious idea on air or
to publication.
The contrast to the Dinosaur Daves are John - Smash - Webster and,
though he is now retired, Alan - Iguana - Waldie. Cocooned away during
long careers at BMP and Lowes, both are lauded as heroes by the Dinosaur
Daves. They’re a bit special, not only for the great work they’ve done
or engendered, but for the essential decency they embody. But the irony
is that both have always been fascinated by the young, the future and
contemporary stuff in general. They never lived in the past (Webster’s
brilliant new campaign for Compaq bears witness to this), but Dinosaur
Daves do.
I have never been able to figure out why it is that when it comes to
helping clients rise to greatness, Dinosaur Daves would give their lives
to overturn the conventions of the category. But when they turn the
mirror around, they never see what’s staring back at them; they never
think to break the conventions of their own category. When they do,
advertising will surely be more appreciated by the people who pay for
it.
caroline.marshall@haynet.com
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