What's New: Portfolio

PEARS ORIGINAL SOAP AGENCY Bartle Bogle Hegarty, London CLIENT Elida Fabergƒ, Kingston-upon-Thames, England MEDIUM consumer print CREATIVE DIRECTOR Dennis Lewis ART DIRECTOR Mike Wells COPYWRITER Will Barnet MODEL MAKER Gavin Lindsey PHOTOGRAPHER Jonathan Lovekin Those of us who own thrift-shop ties are reminded daily of the era when manufacturers zealously expunged natural ingredients from their wares. Though faded by time, labels telling of "100% acetate" or other miracle fabrics still glow with pride in man's ingenuity. Nowadays, of course, "natural" is among the chief talismans of luxury brands. But people who covet status symbols are also keen on craftsmanship, even if it is fundamentally at odds with the lure of the natural. This ad skillfully addresses that refined appetite for nature. "Pure glycerine, rosemary, cedar and thyme. Just as nature intended." That second sentence has a sly humor to it. Needless to say, nature never intended that these ingredients be combined in a bar of soap whose fabrication takes two months. Much as they profess to admire unalloyed nature, consumers will be chuffed to find it polished by hand and presented to them on a silver platter. JOHNSONVILLE BRATWURST AGENCY Clarity Coverdale Fury, Minneapolis CLIENT Johnsonville Foods, Kohler, Wis. MEDIUM outdoor CREATIVE/Art DIRECTOR Jac Coverdale COPYWRITER Kelly Trewartha PHOTOGRAPHER Curtis Johnson The conventions of blue-collar chic are quite as recondite as those of upscale marketing. In each case, the purchase of a brand is a form of self-expression, not just one of consumption. This ad shrewdly trades on the insight that eating a bratwurst (with or without the aid of a napkin) is partly an act of defiance: You're thumbing your nose at (a) the wimpy-yet-bossy health police who view bratwurst as a heart attack on a bun, (b) the snobs who regard bratwurst as hopelessly downscale and (c) the people who'd love to eat a brat but aren't bold enough to face down the bratophobes. One feels here the primal bond between man and brat. (How many foods are known by an affectionate nickname?) It's a clever part of a larger campaign urging brat fans not to put their grills in mothballs just because Labor Day has come and gone. BASS ALE AGENCY Weiss, Whitten, Stagliano, New York CLIENT Guinness Import Co., Stamford, Conn. MEDIUM consumer magazines CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marty Weiss CREATIVE DIRECTOR/COPYWRITER Nat Whitten ART DIRECTORS Jeff Compton, Jerry LaStarza COPYWRITER Ian Caplan PHOTOGRAPHER David LaChapelle Given a choice between licking this boot and drinking Bass, most of us would opt for the Bass. But while taking an implicit slap at the weird micros that have cropped up, the ad makes Bass seem comparatively dull-a safe choice, but not an exciting one. Where does that get the brand? If a drinker in this country wants a middle-of-the-road beer, he'll get a Bud. When it comes to big-ticket items, an established brand can exploit our fear of making a mistake. Beer just doesn't fall into that category. The appeal of Bass is that it's unusual (to lager-soaked American palates) without being bizarre. This ad mutes the positive part of that positioning. And a motto that says "there's always Bass Ale" generates little urgency about buying one now. After all, if you don't get a Bass this year, it'll be around next year. HEWLETT-PACKARD PRINTER PAPER AGENCY Winkler Advertising, San Francisco CLIENT Hewlett-Packard, Palo Alto, Calif. MEDIUM computer-user publications CREATIVE DIRECTOR Pat Marcoccia ASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Cordell Jeffries ART DIRECTOR Marci Roberts COPYWRITER Dan Krewson ILLUSTRATOR Elliott Park As any pyromaniac will tell you, if you want to get attention, set a house on fire. Hewlett-Packard uses that technique to good effect here, lending pizzazz to a category that's otherwise as dull as they come. The focus on letter forms (introduced earlier in the campaign) gives an air of specificity to the client's claim that its printing supplies are a cut above mere commodities. If H-P is looking at things stroke by stroke and descender by descender, one feels its assertions of quality are more than puffery. Anyhow, the "f"s look jaunty in their firefighter hats, don't they? Another ad in the series shows a letter "i" on the moon, next to a banner announcing that "i was here." None of this is uproariously funny, but it doesn't try to be. Rather, the offbeat wit conveys a sense that H-P is on top of things. What's New submissions should be in the form of proofs, slides or (for TV spots) videotape. Please list creative director, art director, copywriter, agency producer, production company (and its location), director and illustrator or photographer. Describe the media schedule, including break date for the ad. Preference will be given to the newest work. Materials cannot be returned. Send submissions to: What's New Portfolio, Adweek, 1515 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10036.

Brand Marketing

What's New: Portfolio

Mark Dolliver

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Mark Dolliver