Client: American Electric Power, Columbus, Ohio
Agency: HMS Partners, Columbus
Creative Director: John Strohmeyer
Art Director: Rocco Volpe
Copywriter: Jennifer Spier
Producer: Lisa Burke
Director: Mark Story for Crossroads, Los Angeles
Keeping a recurring character fresh and funny is difficult. The ‘I love you, man’ character in the Bud Light advertising campaign ran out of gas quickly. But the ‘AEP Guy,’ created by HMS Partners for American Electric Power, continues to elicit laughs into its second year. Many utilities offer solutions to real consumer or business problems in their advertising. The results are usually boring. The AEP Guy pops up in silly, unexpected situations with dead-pan seriousness. One of two new television spots, titled ‘Creature Feature,’ parodies 1950s Japanese science-fiction flicks. A Godzilla-like monster threatens a city, causing the military chief to explain, ‘This city is doomed!’ But the AEP Guy shows up, clipboard in hand, to explain that he has installed an invisible electric security fence. Sure enough, the creature bounces off the fence. The city is saved and AEP gets its ‘We have solutions’ message across in a memorable way. –Scott Hume
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Client: President Riverboat Casino, Davenport, Iowa.
Agency: Zimmerman, Laurent & Richardson, Des Moines, Iowa
Creative Director/Copywriter: Jim Richardson
Art Director: Fred Robinson
Graphic Designer: Jennifer Clark
A series of plays off the name of the client provides ZL&R creatives with ample fodder for print ads tied to promotions and local tourism events. A women’s bowling tourney led to ads headed ‘Women have ball with President’ and ‘Congress bowled over by President.’ ‘We try to target it to what’s going on,’ said account executive Mike Goldin. Promotions for a Cadillac giveaway read, ‘President provides free transportation; for a seafood dinner, the headline is, ‘President goes overboard!’ The new themeline is a play for self-indulgence: ‘Who deserves it more than you!’ Said agency president Louis Laurent, ‘It all revolves around how the customer is treated: like a President.’ –Trevor Jensen
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Client: Reebok International, Stoughton, Mass.
Agency: Leo Burnett, Chicago
Executive Creative Director: Mark Figliulo
Art Director: Noel Haan
Copywriter: Brandon Reif
Photographer: Tony DeOrio
Leo Burnett takes a low-key approach–unusual in the highly stylized world of athletic shoe advertising–in this initial print ad introducing Reebok’s DMX Run running shoe. The ad looks like a fax from Reebok’s Spencer White, director of its Human Performance Engineering Lab, announcing that the DMX shoe beat Nike’s Zoom Alpha model in a cushioning test. While short on copy, the ad is just real enough to earn a second look from magazine page turners. The style also gives the DMX work a distinctive look, separating it from other Reebok advertising, which features basketball pros Allen Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal and others. Unseen in print ads, White is at the heart of the television spots, which broke March 27 to kick off the DMX campaign. Tall, thin and mustachioed, he looks like many of the runners that populate city parks and suburban sidewalks. In the spots, he is shown driving around in his car seeking out runners to try the new shoe. –S.H.
Copyright ASM Communications, Inc. (1997) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Midwest
New Campaigns: Midwest
