Sponsor (Apr-June 1964)

hy John IUniiHiiili.il i Ice president and associate creative director, McCann-Erickson Westinghouse Creativity John Blumenthal came to McCann-Erickson in 1962 after spending 10 years at Young & Rubicam. His last position at Y&R was associate copy director. An associate creative director at McCann, he is a graduate of Colgate University, where he majored in English. ■ It's NO! \ i rv OFTEN you arc given the opportunity to be author and critic, but wc were asked to do ;i critique on the first hatch of Westinghouse commercials that went on the air this February. As authors, at this juncture, we are a little sick o( looking at our own words and pictures. As critics, we are perhaps a little harsh in our evaluation ot the commercials hecause they are our own. and we al Ways feel thej could he a little better. I guess it is this feeling that makes \ou <jo on to the next job with hope. \s authors, we got together last October writers, ait directors, producers, all of us We set forth an objective for each commercial and went about creating. We might, now as enties looking back, have been happier il those Commercials had been produced exact!) as the) appeared back then. when they were simple and spontaneous. But. as anyone in the business knows, that is not how the game is played. There come the inevitable rounds of supervision, change, caution and compromise. Here, a bow to our client, Westinghouse. In the beginning they charged us with creating exciting, unusual commercials. In the case of Westinghouse, where each product has a fund of information to be transmitted, the creative latitude is lessened. But to the great credit of our clients, they were willing to resist adding points and they were willing to try something new, not for the sake of difference but for the sake of memorable selling commercials. When you create and produce commercials in batches as we had to do in order to get Westinghouse on the air with their ample media schedule, a pattern usually develops. Some are great, some good, some fair, and every once in awhile a clinker sneaks in. The spots you had great hope for may not realize their potential. It works the other way, too. A commercial that m;i\ have seemed fairly ordinary in script stage can come alive in production. One that looked good all the waj was the commercial for Westinghouse light bulbs entitled "Harry." The objective was to portray the fact that Westinghouse light bulbs last longer than other bulbs, which the) do. Our solution was a light bulb which would never go out no matter how hard our hero. Harry, tried to extinguish it or how main nines Harry's wife, visible onl) in the background, n a g g e d him, Harry, turn off the light."' The total effect was everything we knew it would be. A memorable, pcrsua sive commercial for an ordinari low-interest product. And it scon as one of the best that Schwer ever tested. ( This week we i Schwerin.) As critics, our commercial f Westinghouse Micarta did not li up to the lofty niche we had a corded it in the commercial hall fame. Micarta is an extremely di able surface best known for u as kitchen countertops but recent expanded into many other areas ' usage. Our objective was to Hi the name Micarta with Westin house and show how durable a: beautiful it is and the main as it has. Our creative solution was1 musical treatment in which a px young lass danced adroitly En kitchen countertop to desk to w surface to tabic, tapping all t way. A good demonstration variety, durability and beauty, tc when we cut into closer shots of t Micarta itself. Then where did fail? It's rather hard to pinpoi Casting was excellent, producti slick, sets attractive. But put all gether. the commercial did not hi that certain something that takes out of the "good" category into 1 great. Admittedly, it is hard for y| the reader to fully appreciate t commentary if you have not sc the commercials in question. HoB ever, one more commercial Infl our first batch deserves nientiiH For the Westinghouse Instant-'H television set. our objective vl to show that with other t\ sets \| must wait 25 seconds to get picture and sound while the Wd inghouse set comes on immediate! Our first thought was to use a quil cut technique to show how mil fun and excitement you might Bl in 25 seconds. But. 25 seconds! 14 SPON«