Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1958)

CONTINUED Best '57 tv commercials picked by art directors GOLD MEDAL: Edward J. Bennett (art director), Guy Fraumeni (artist). Hallmark Cards (advertiser), Foote, Cone & Belding (agency). Hallmark Hall of Fame on NBC-TV. COMMENT: ". . . an extremely good illustration of good 'color taste.' Subtle, moody, impressionistic, this painting effectively projected the somber and sometimes desperate mood of the Robert E. Sherwood play." CLASS: Design of complete unit: show titling — continuity stills. Over a two-night period in January, 12 agency art directors, radio-tv executives and film producers met in the conference and screening rooms on the 17th floor of McCann-Erickson's New York office to weed through 240 still pictures and 367 films (commercials, program openings, station promotions) submitted for the 37th annual exhibit of Advertising and Editorial Art and Design. Seven entries won; a number of also-rans were found worthy of exhibition. Last Wednesday noon, the seven winners (at right) received their due; until this Thursday, New York ad executives and visiting firemen will wander through a maze of exhibited stills at the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria until they reach a small screening room where the Art Directors Club of New York will run off 30 films judged the best of last year's crop of tv commercials. Quality is not to be construed as just "artiness," according to Norman Tate, tv art director of N. W. Ayer & Son, chairman of the tv awards committee. "While it's true that we do not judge on the basis of sales effectiveness or purchasing persuasion power it is extremely hard to divorce yourself from the consideration of selling in tv. After all, we're not creating commercials for fun alone." Regarding the tv stills category of" the '57 judging, Mr. Tate said, "It should be noted that most of the entries are executed at a fraction of the cost of publication art work — tv production budgets being what they are. Probably because of this ever present problem and because of inadequacies in tv reproduction these exhibits display a continuing high level of originality and humor. There also is a refreshing boldness and simplicity in design." Concerning the film winners and runners-up, Mr. Tate described the basic tenets or standards by which the champions were picked: "Excellent taste in every detail, flawless production, well-conceived continuity and, last but most important, originality." All the winners are relatively simple and uncluttered in design. Mr. Tate went on, "In the opinion of the judges, the calibre of film work submitted to the show was of generally higher professional standard than in previous years. It looks as if in the future it is going to be harder to be outstanding simply on the basis of high production quality and good taste. It also is true that there were fewer bad uses of cartoons but though there was a relatively high level of quality in cartoon work there was evidence of a sameness that was disappointing." Several winners, however, represented a use of cartoon techniques. Summing up, Mr. Tate found that "in all categories there seemed to be fewer new trends or developments. Possibly this is simply a sign of developing maturity in the field, or it may reveal a fertile field for competition in the future." The jury which picked the 1957 award winners was comprised of Mr. Tate; Edward R. Mahoney, Cunningham & Walsh; G. Warren Schloat Jr., Compton Adv., John A. Sidebotham, Young & Rubicam; William Duffy, McCannErickson; Stephen Elliot, Elliot, Unger & Elliot, and S. Rollings Guild, Photographers 2 Inc. As chairman, Mr. Tate did not vote. This group was primarily responsible for evaluating film entries. Other judges included William H. Buckley, Benton & Bowles; Suren Ermoyan, Lennen & Newell; John Jamison, J. M. Mathes Inc.; Allen F. Hurlburt, Look magazine, and Robert H. Blattner, Readers Digest. They were concerned primarily with judging non-film or still art work involving tv. GOLD MEDAL: Chris Jenkyns, Robert Cannon (art directors). Bill Higgins (artist), Playhouse Pictures Inc. (producer), U.S. Navy (advertiser). No advertising agency. COMMENT: ". . . it seemed to represent a very emotional approach to a serious problem — recruiting. It was a hell of an effective combination of animation and photography ... so unusual none of us had ever encountered it before . . ." Fully-animated film commer CERTIFICATE OF DISTINCTIVE MERIT: Georg Olden (art director), Eleanor Bunin (artist), CBS-TV (advertiser). No advertising agency. COMMENT: ". . . devastatingly clever, this bit of promotion for The Last Word truly was the last word. Here we have an original based on a theme of Steinberg ... a living dictionary pointing to the last page and, inevitably, the last word. CLASS: Design of complete unit: single frame promotional station break. CERTIFICATE OF DISTINCTIVE MERIT: Jack Sheridan (art director and artist), Albert McCleery (producer), NBC-TV (client), NBC Matinee Theatre. COMMENT: ". . . dramatic . . . yet clearly simple and uncluttered in both thought and execution." CLASS: Design of complete unit: single frame show titling. GOLD MEDAL: John Hubley (art director), Emery Hawkins (artist), Storyboard Inc. (producer), CBS-TV (client) for The Seven Lively Arts. COMMENT: ". . . not a cartoon in the usual comic sense (however sophisticated) but a representation of jazz music that captured the eccentric movement and textural feeling of pure jazz, most decidedly one of the seven lively arts." CLASS: Design of complete unit: filmed show titling. i 1 US u < v CERTIFICATE OF DISTINCTIVE MERIT: John Coleman, Henry Caroselli (art directors), Tom Armstrong (writer), Hans Koenekamp, Arthur Feindel (photographers), Warner Bros. Tv (producer). Campbell-Ewald (agency), Chevrolet Div. (advertiser). COMMENT: Where other auto advertisers throw in everything but the spare tire, this one stayed wonderfully simple, combining a fine-looking product with yet a finer concept of imagination." CLASS: Film commercials. CERTIFICATE OF DISTINCTIVE MERIT: Lawrence Berger (art director), Paul Kim i artist), Academy Pictures Inc. (producer), BBDO (agency), Timken Roller Bearing Co. (advertiser). Project XX's "The Innocent Years" on NBC-TV. COMMENT: ". . . action flows magnificently ... it is simple, fresh — and while it uses the traditional 'institutional approach,' it manages to be untraditional in that it is done with light, clean, child-like naivete." CLASS: Live and animated film commercials. r Page 84 April 7, 1958 Broadcasting