What's New: Portfolio

CAROLINA HERRERA The model's slouching gait suggests we're seeing Groucho Marx in evening gown and blond wig. (Oh, Groucho, not again!) It does catch one's attention as a conventional pose would not. In that sense, it matches up well with the quotation from the thoughts of Chairwoman Herrera. But if the photo departs from the standard haughtiness of fashion ads, the text could scarcely be more haughty in its unsubtle implication. Are we to understand that women who don't buy gawk-at-me gowns are leading colorless lives? Who needs some dressmaker to pass judgment on "everyone else"? Even women who count themselves among the full-color elect will find this presumptuous. The ad is part of a four-page insert. Other pages talk of the specific women we're seeing, and readers will be more receptive to that sort of storytelling than to aphorisms on the nature of life. AGENCY Dente & Cristina, New York CLIENT Carolina Herrera, New York MEDIUM consumer magazines CREATIVE/ART DIRECTORS, COPYWRITERS Barbara Dente, Donna Cristina PHOTOGRAPHER Miles Aldridge ______ TALBOTS If a well-dressed tree falls in an unpeopled forest, does it still look good? One isn't sure how to take the ad's headline. Maybe it's saluting the Talbots customer as someone whose chic is innate; she can't help but look good at all times- that's just the way she is. But it also sounds like an admonition never to let your guard down, even if there's not another human being in sight. The photo doesn't settle the question. The rustic setting is lovely, but the woman looks suspiciously put-together for someone who's been canoeing. Still, if this definition of "classic" doesn't grab you, the campaign has lots of others, and that makes it a flexible vehicle for creating a rapport with a large target audience. AGENCY Arnold Communications, Boston CLIENT Talbots Inc., Hingham, Mass. MEDIUM consumer magazines CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER Ron Lawner CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kathy Kiely ART DIRECTOR Matt Rocket COPYWRITER Martha Shaw PHOTOGRAPHER Bill Miles ______ CORNING'S CORELLE DINNERWARE "Reliability" is a sterling quality, but not one that sets your pulse racing. Likewise, durability in a product can suggest a sensible-shoes dowdiness-probably not what you want in a set of dishes. So, this ad is smart to let you warm up to the look of Corelle dinnerware before emphasizing that it "resists chips, cracks, breaks, fading and, yes, even peeling. So day after day you can depend on it." The headline's reference to the brief shelf life of fruit doesn't immediately convey the product benefit, but it intrigues you sufficiently to draw you into the body copy. Then, once you grasp what the ad is up to, the headline gives a playfully stylish gloss to the utilitarian message. You come away feeling you can have your cake and eat it, too-even if you've dropped the plate. AGENCY DMB&B, New York CLIENT Corning, Corning, N.Y. MEDIUM consumer magazines CREATIVE DIRECTORPat Chiono ART DIRECTORPat Bilger COPYWRITER Guy Lowe PHOTOGRAPHER Robert Ammirati ______ PARTNERSHIP FOR A DRUG-FREE AMERICA For years, public-service ads used images of junkies sprawled in grimy places as a way of de-glamorizing heroin. Little did we know that these ads were laying the groundwork for "heroin chic." Such photos may be good at fostering aversion among the fastidious people who'd never try heroin in the first place, but they seem to exert some allure for the sorry souls who are most vulnerable to drugs. What's notable in this "Happy Heroin Hints" series is its lack of patience with people who try heroin. It doesn't cajole them or commiserate with them or scare them. Rather, the campaign's mock cheeriness treats them with contempt. In effect, the message is: Do as you please, but don't expect sympathy from us if you screw up your life in such a witless way. At a time when many people seem to wallow in their "victim status," it's not a bad idea to include this derisive voice in the chorus of anti-drug messages. AGENCY Ogilvy & Mather, New York CLIENT Partnership for a Drug-Free America, New York MEDIUM magazines, out-of-home CREATIVE DIRECTOR Rick Boyko ART DIRECTOR Per Robert Jacobson COPYWRITER Kate Silverberg ______ PARTNERSHIP FOR A DRUG-FREE AMERICA What scares the sort of kids who are susceptible to drugs? Not dying. Or missing out on a social life. (If they had a fun social life, odds are they'd shun drugs anyway.) They are afraid of being uncool, but the efforts of do-gooding adults to depict drugs as uncool are models of futility. This ad gamely tries another tack: Maybe kids fear being stupid. "NASA research shows how pot can affect a spider's ability to spin a web. Which makes you wonder just how harmless marijuana really is." Of course, it may well be that the target audience does not mind being stupid. The oafish tone of much youth-oriented pop culture suggests a good brain isn't a status symbol these days. Still, the ad's approach is worth a try. AGENCY TraverRohrback, Kalamazoo, Mich. CLIENT Partnership for a Drug-Free America, New York MEDIUM school posters CREATIVE DIRECTOR Joe Clipner ART DIRECTOR Tracey Ellenberg COPYWRITER Bill Hahn _______ 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.

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What's New: Portfolio

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