Imagine sitting through a forty-minute rough cut once where the product never appeared until minute thirty-eight. Nobody in the room cares. That’s the whole trick, and almost nobody gets it.
Every brand says it wants storytelling. Then the first draft arrives with a logo in the opening frame, a list of features in the middle, and a call to action bolted onto the end. The audience checks out in the first eight seconds. Here’s the promise: by the end of this article you’ll have a working method for building a story that carries a message without announcing that it’s carrying one.
Spotted at the corner of Broadway and West 29th Street: a two-panel, billboard-scale Marshall ad featuring Green Day frontman/ guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, unfolding like a quiet manifesto in the middle of Manhattan foot traffic. Rendered in muted sepia tones, the campaign feels nostalgic without tipping into retro — a visual cue that this is about legacy, not revival. Continue reading Billboard as Manifesto: Billy Joe Armstrong For Marshall→
I’m long overdue for a Shark Attack post — and this one’s an absolute killer. I recently spotted an ad from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that stopped me in my tracks. Plastered on the back of a newsstand in Midtown Manhattan, the image features a gaping shark’s maw, all teeth and terror, lunging straight at you. The message? Don’t look at your phone while driving. Because distracted driving kills — and this ad isn’t mincing words (or flesh). Continue reading Shark Attack NHTSA Distracted Driving Ad→
Before ascending to the heavens, this Glass of Whiskey (1949) toured the world. In the pages of Lifeand Newsweekmagazines, it could be seen surmounting arctic slopes, and traveling by train. It sweated deckside on a luxury liner, rode a Ferris wheel, and went sledding. Meticulously staged by the pioneering color photographer Anton Breuhl (1900 – 1982), such absurd tableaux conjured worldly associations for his client, the mid-tier Kentucky distiller Four Roses. Continue reading Eye On Design: Four Roses Whiskey Ad Campaign→
Confession: Longer ago than I can even remember, I had a weekly ritual where I’d get on the phone with a friend living in Atlanta and together we’d watch episodes of ABC’sThe Bachelor (or The Bachelorette). We would spend the hour laughing our asses off, making fun of all the sad, desperate idiots on the show. After a few mind-numbing seasons, however, I just couldn’t take it anymore and had to stop watching. This was back before the show really started to get ridiculous, so you can only imagine how far downhill it’s gone. Continue reading Pink Thing of The Day: Humping Inflatable Flamingos→
