In the movie Kramer Vs. Kramer, Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) was an advertising copywriter, just like me. Among the many props adding a Madison Avenue verisimilitude to his office was a neon sign of his last name. If you saw the movie, you probably didn’t notice it. But I did. Because I had one, too. Lots of agency copywriters, art…
Advertising
Advertising stories and insights
Thank You For Your Service
The soldiers who appeared in U.S. Army TV commercials in the early 1980s were generally paid $1.00 for their efforts. Their participation was considered part of the Army’s recruiting mission and, therefore, an element of their regular military duties. The $1.00 was to make the releases they signed legal. Most of the young soldiers, needless to say, loved being in…
The 53-second Radio Commercial
Bob Prince was into it. He had my radio script in one hand, a Pall Mall in the other and the stopwatch on the table in front of him. “Iron City Beer has that clean, crisp taste …” he intoned. Then, almost imperceptibly, he glanced at the stopwatch on the table in front of him, concluded that there was not…
A Mountain-Grown Eruption
If you’ve seen a Folgers Coffee TV commercial in the past 30 years, you’ve basically seen them all. It goes like this: Somebody is asleep. Somebody else makes coffee. The aroma of the coffee wakes the sleeping person up and draws them to the kitchen where they are handed a cup and once again inhale the aroma, only more deeply.…
Be All You Can Be … at Arlington
A few years ago, I was in Washington, D.C. for my niece’s graduation from Georgetown University. My wife and I stayed at a hotel across the Potomac in Arlington. Early that Saturday morning she, her brother and I went out for an exercise walk and ended up in Arlington National Cemetery, an amazingly tranquil place at 7:30 am. Walking up…