First up, an apology to Stephen Carter for the arrogant, erroneous
headline atop this column last week. Of course, not all of JWT’s
problems are of his making; the column was merely an attempt to say that
he must bear some responsibility for the agency’s woes, such as they
are. And no, he hasn’t phoned to whinge.
Grovel over. On to the Campaign Poster awards and, if you were present
last night, you will already have your own views about the quality of
this year’s winners. My own, shared by several of the judges, is that
the medium is in a purple patch, not just in terms of creative
excellence, but in influence. It’s becoming the medium for our time:
universally accessible, immediately arresting, instantly gratifying and,
demonstrably, value for money. There’s now as much debate about poster
campaigns as there is about TV commercials, and it’s not just Mr
Beattie’s ouevre.
Pretty Polly is an idea so simple, other agencies will kick themselves
for not thinking of it first, then going through the bother of planning
permission and local councils etc to make it happen. Seldom can there
have been so little disagreement on a jury as jam-packed with
opinionated judges as we were lucky enough to have.
The execution was entirely germane to the product, as was our other big
winner, the Levi’s poster campaign, with its shrink-to-fit headline and
superb photography. If Pretty Polly is an example of what would once
have been dismissed as a stunt becoming part of the mainstream (with a
commensurate budget behind it) Levi’s is more traditional advertising
that achieves the still more difficult task of finding a fresh way of
taking on an excellent campaign, and then some. The craft skills that
went into the work were immaculate, but enhanced rather than obscured
the message.
Levi’s passed the ’did we notice it around Hammersmith roundabout?’
test, as did the poster that was my favourite of the year (although
neither the jury chairman, John Hegarty, nor I were able to vote), the
Volkswagen Sharan jelly-mould execution, the winner of our inaugural
Campaign readers’ poll.
It conveyed all the heritage of the old VW Camper in an instant -
although some on the jury thought this was not necessarily a positive
message.
It was arresting, interesting, fresh and relevant, but I couldn’t say
anything.
Such is the way with all awards. Perhaps you will have preferred the
Nike illustrated campaign or the Kew Gardens ’Amazon’ work, both
exceptional in different ways. And, as more new advertisers are
attracted by this mass medium’s demonstrable value-for-money successes,
and contractors and specialists continue to try hard to accommodate new
thinking, the creative standards will continue to rise. One question:
where are the copywriters in posters’ bright new future?
