It has been said that “creative without strategy is called art; creative with strategy is called ‘advertising’.” The recently published book, “D&AD 50” celebrates the last half century of commercial creativity.
D&AD (Designers & Art Direction) began in 1962 when a group of…you guessed it, designers and art directors came together to celebrate creative communication and raise standards within their industry. D&AD is comprised of individuals from the creative, design and advertising communities from around the world. The group holds an annual awards event, presenting winners with the coveted “Yellow Pencil”. Even rarer, some entries are so outstanding that they receive a special “Black Pencil” award.
The annual D&AD Awards are recognized throughout the world. They establish an “absolute reference standard for creative excellence”. By studying the award recipients featured in D&AD 50 it becomes abundantly clear that there is no one characteristic that makes an ad successful. Each of the highlighted ad campaigns are unique in their own right, however they all do an excellent job of being memorable. And isn’t that, after all, what it’s all about?
Advertising creative director Bill Bernbach once said, “nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make.” What ad campaign has made an impression on you???
One of my favs would have to be the this one from Dos Equis! The ad campaign quickly turned into a pop culture phenomenon as a wave of spoof videos hit the web.
Share one of your favorites below! Who would you nominate for a prestigious “Pencil” award???
3 replies on “More from Team “I”- INGENIOUS Ads”
KP — Great post! Made me actually look up past Black Pencil award recipients. Incredible. Many clearly groundbreaking and taking artistry in the different platforms to a new level — I was drawn into a pretty amazing film reel with robots, music, use of color, and then as soon as it became risque I had to shut it down – wow, it was a little TOO real for my screen and totally took me by surprise. When I do think about ads or specifically an ad campaign which has remained tops in my book, it’s the “Priceless” series I always think about. I remember when I first saw the initial commercials, I thought “this is a phenomenally clever ‘hook’ and one with a long shelf life” and here it still is with lots of examples of things money can buy and things it can’t.
There is something about that team I Kyndell. They continue to put up great posts week in and week out!
Great post! Thanks for the interesting background and interactive aspect.