Yeah, McDonald's creative is way lame (then again, so am I for saying "way lame'). But somebody must be "lovin' it." I assume "Adage" must have some criteria for their choice. As inane as it is, the work seems to be connecting with the public at large. And really, One Show pencils and Grand Prix Lions aside, isn't that what advertising is all about? I admire great work as much as the next envy-soaked creative, but I think we sometimes forget that this is business, not art. Which is not to suggest that we compromise our standards or settle for mediocrity - just to remember that we are creating ads to appeal to consumers, not a small clique of award show judges.
As for Burger King, yes, the Subservient Chicken was great. But what about Ugoff and Dr. Angus? I didn't see them generating much talk outside the industry. And what about those commercials that ripped off "The Office?" And how about the ill-advised "Wake Up With The King" commercial? Check out the alt.tv.commercials newsgroup on Google sometime and see what kind of reactions it got from the vox populi. Makes for interesting reading.
While it's pretty much impossible to choose a single ad or campaign, I've always admired an ad for Nikon from the early 1990's; I believe it was by Scali McCabe Sloves. It consisted of four black boxes, each with a reversed out line of text. Each "caption" described a famous photograph - for example, "A young boy salutes his father's coffin" for JFK's funeral. There was no body copy - just a headline that said "If you can picture it in your mind, it was taken by a Nikon." Utterly simple, totally brilliant - and far more compelling and truthful than any gimmicky website or marketing fad du jour.
While I largely agree with you, Mr. Whore, I think Mr. Wnek's argument does have some validity. He doesn't espouse pandering to the lowest common denominator or embracing mediocrity. Rather, he seems to be saying that advertising should appeal to its intended audience rather than the same two dozen or so ponytail-wearing, cappuccino-sipping creatives who are fixtures on the award show circuit. Kind of hard to fault that.
Don't get me wrong: Awards are nice. But I think there is entirely too much importance attached to them. An ad that may seem "cool" to you or me or Jeff Goodby may not necessarily resonate with the people it's ostensibly trying to reach. (And can I just say that I've always wanted to use the word "ostensibly" in a sentence? Makes me feel so erudite.)
I must respectfully disagree with your dim view of Deutsch's work, CopyWhore. In my humble opinion, they are doing some of the most inspired, original and memorable creative out there. Like that, uh, toe nail fungus character. Brilliant! And. . . um. . . you know. . . er, that other thing that they did for. . . uh, the name escapes me. . . well, that was pretty darn good, too.
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Wow. This is like my wildest fantasy come true - only the scantily clad vixens in mine are Bea Arthur, Janet Reno and Ann B. Davis.
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