Vintage Ad Heaven

Fuehrer Furious The Duke University Digital Advertising Archives are a treasure trove for any ad geek (like me) looking to root around in our history. I didn’t know it even existed until a couple days ago; I do now.

Tonight’s object of fascination was war bonds. It’s hard to imagine selling people on giving money, from their own pockets, to fight a war. We live in a cynical age, and the people running our armies are excellent at proving us justified in our cynicism. But 70 years ago, the people believed in their sacrifice, and that winning that war would make the world a better place. They were right. And war bonds were a great way to join the effort, without, you know, joining the effort.

Examples after the break. Continue reading

Why small is beautiful.

In late July, we took a road trip to attend the Ad Age small agency conference in Portland. (After all, we’re a small agency. It’s good to conference with one  another.)

A couple days later, Publicis and Omnicom announced their merger, creating the world’s most gargantuan ad agency.

Quite a contrast. And we feel good about it. Continue reading