WHAT'S NEW Portfolio By MARK DOLLIVE

WHITTAKER HOUSE

AGENCY: Boy & Girl Advertising, Chicago
CLIENT: Whittaker House, New Buffalo, Mich.
MEDIUM: regional newspapers, magazines
CREATIVE DIRECTOR/COPYWRITER: Amy Krouse Rosenthal
CREATIVE/ART DIRECTOR, ILLUSTRATOR: Paul Safsel
You must admit, few clothing stores would have the nerve to compliment prospective shoplifters on their light-fingered chic. As in its past campaigns, this client dares to catch the reader by surprise, and that gives it oversized impact from small-space, black-and-white ads. Of course, a campaign that grabs attention by departing from convention will sometimes stray too far. For instance, the ad that offers to show us dead women who no longer shop may be perfectly accurate in its take on things, but it also seems jarringly brusque. And, since the same line could as easily apply to men, some women will manage to take umbrage at Whittaker for fostering a politically incorrect stereotype of the ditzy dame.
RAINIER BEER
AGENCY: Deutsch/Dworin, New York
CLIENT: G. Heileman Brewing Co., Chicago
MEDIUM: 30-second TV
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Donny Deutsch
ASSOCIATE CREATIVE/ART DIRECTORS, COPYWRITERS: Greg DiNoto, Paul Goldman
AGENCY PRODUCER: Nikki Fox
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Bednarz Films, Dallas
DIRECTOR: Jeff Bednarz
Ranging from merely odd to downright bizarre, a series of Rainier-drinkers’ prayers introduces the beer to the Texas market. A youngish woman prays that Ann Richards will be around a long time so ‘Texas women will learn to love smaller hair.’ A biker named Judge prays for repeal of the helmet law. Moreover: ‘I pray this marriage lasts, my tattoos never fade, the Black Hills of South Dakota never change.’ From a slightly built cowboy: ‘I pray that I’m invisible to speed-checkin’ radar. I pray for a gurl with a little dad I think I can whup.’ The onscreen tag, in typewriter script: ‘Pray for Rain.’ It’s highly entertaining, and ought at least to make Texans curious to see what the fuss is about.
MACK TRUCKS
AGENCY: Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis
CLIENT: Mack Trucks, Allentown, Pa.
MEDIUM: trade publications
CREATIVE/ART DIRECTOR: Jud Smith
CREATIVE DIRECTOR/COPYWRITER: Jack Supple
COPYWRITER: Dan Roettger
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Harry DeZitter (dog), Peggy Day (truck)
The quality of Mack trucks has had its ups and downs over the years, making the marque a tricky one to advertise. The company’s bulldog icon has always been first-rate, though, and it still evokes the days when ‘built like a Mack truck’ was becoming a familiar catch-phrase. This campaign gives the spokesdog his day, using vivid shots of a real bulldog in tandem with terse headlines to spotlight one aspect or another of the new-and-improved Mack line: durability, comfort, horsepower, etc. Best bit of copy here: ‘As lumber trucks they’ve been known to drag away two generations of timber. And then go for a third.’
HUMANE SOCIETY OF UTAH
AGENCY: EvansGroup, Salt Lake City
CLIENT: Humane Society of Utah, Murray
MEDIUM: consumer magazines
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Ron Stone
ART DIRECTOR: Steve Cardon
COPYWRITERS: John Kinkead, Rebecca Bentley-Mila, Bryan DeYoung
Ads have used the personals-ad ploy before, but it’s employed with great gusto in this adopt-a-pet campaign. There’s the single black French poodle eager to share her ‘joie de vivre’; the full-figured basset hound who ‘loves gourmet cuisine, sports and walks in the park’; the cat who warns that ‘hairballs need not apply’; the female collie who’s ‘been mistaken for Lassie.’ Another dog asks whether you’re tired of tossing a stick and having to fetch it yourself. With the humorous tone – sustained in the rather odd photos – the ads tug at the reader’s heartstrings without being off-puttingly maudlin.
Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)