Tonight I decided to check out the Edmonton Film Festival, specifically, Art & Copy. Its a documentary on the rise and continued power of advertising in our consumer culture. So, basically it gathered together a bunch of cynical old men and women, leaders in the industry, and interviewed them about campaigns they’ve done in the past, their pasts and what they think about it all. Their tales of committee meeting and creative direction Inspired me. They put a rare human face on an often demonized profession. These people dreamed of telling uncompromising truths that move people and happen to sell a product at the same time. They’re inspiring because their work is what every aspiring creative person idealizes: they’re designing work with integrity, producing powerful messages that shapes current culture, and getting paid for it all!
One person in particular, Lee Clow, really sold the movie to me. He’s this huge advertising executive that you’d expect would be finely dressed and trimmed, but he’s essentially a hippie who grew up surfing and decided he’d get into advertising. Lee then realizes that the company he’s working for has no artistic integrity and is milking the clients for all their worth. He then breaks off, forms his own company with his standard of what good advertising should be and makes the friggin Apple “1984″ commercial. Just listening to him talk about his passion had me itching to do some work, and do it well.
Another speaker, who’s name I forget, made a very interesting summary of great advertising. At the heart of any product is a simple truth that resonates with people. Or something along those lines. As the credits rolled, I was motivated to try harder in my work, and to be more passionate about what I do. Rarely do I take away so much from a movie, so I strongly recommend it. Maybe I should watch more documentarys…
Of course she’s not wearing a bra.
That trailer was too good.
Now I want to see it. Damn you advertising, and damn you too Apple 1984 ad! I would have quite enjoyed a Unix hive mind!
‘advertising is the most whorrish business you can get into’ mauhahaa.
I really should have gone to that, My friend offered me a free ticket too. Thats what i get for procrastinating and leaving so much work for wednsday night. Looks really clever.
Completely unrelated to your post… but this site reminded me of you for some reason.
http://www.ironicsans.com/
Yeah I remember stumbling across that apples commercial when I was dealing with some information about Macs and PCs. At first I was wondering what the hell I was watching, but it gets the message across.
Apple always did make commercials that spat in the face of PCs and stand out and openly say “We’re the best!”
Yet PC doesn’t do that and STILL PC somehow outsells and outnumbers the amount of users of Apple users. I wonder why that is? Doesn’t make much sense to me.