by Christopher Pinto,Creative Director
Engelhardt & Partners Advertising
When I tell people I'm the Creative Director of a national advertising agency, they often (jokingly) ask me if my job is anything like Don Draper's from Mad Men. I (jokingly) respond, "Not much, except for the minibar."
The Mad Men series, now in its fourth season, has given us a glimpse into the lives and work of ad execs during the golden age of cocktails and Manhattan advertising firms, in the days when all the best ideas hadn't yet been conjured up and media was limited to TV, radio, print and outdoor. In those days the Creative Director was the idea man; with his workforce of copy writers, art directors and graphic designers he oversaw the creation of fantastic advertising which grabbed attention and practically forced the reader to want to know more. It was from this era that some of the most fascinating and most powerful campaigns emerged, campaigns that are still recognizable today.
If Don Draper were frozen in 1964 and awakened now, he would be amazed at the changes that have developed in advertising over the last 50 years. Things started to really move in the 1980s as the desktop computer began to replace the art desk. Copy writing became more streamlined as ad space prices escalated. Cable television meant instead of three or four channels to advertise on, dozens, then hundreds became available, splitting people's attention and therefore each commercial's reach. As technology advanced in the 1990s, brighter, slicker, more extremely-stylized ads began to take the place of traditional photos and copy.
Then the World Wide Web sprung up. At first no one except a few handfuls of computer-savvy tech heads thought anything of it. It was slow, it was dull. No photos. No video. Just pages of copy, with the occasional flashing star or bright red headline in Helvetica Bold. Advertising agencies didn't give it a second thought. Makes you wonder if an old-timer like Draper would have embraced this technology, or would he have just wrote it off as an insignificant trend?
By 1999 it was clear that the Web was going to destroy everything that ad men and women had worked on for 50 years. The dull, lifeless pages began to look more like magazine pages with photos, clip art, and animation. People could see an ad for a product and buy it right on line. Then the technology really took off, and suddenly it seemed science fiction was becoming real. You could log on to the Web and check the weather, look up information on encyclopedia sites, watch small but interesting video, view slide shows of photos and post on social sites. And, most of all, you could advertise on these sites.
Somehow many ad agencies didn't see the potential here. By 2005 most agencies had missed the boat on Internet advertising, with the spoils going to Web Masters, Internet service providers and software developers. If you wanted a banner ad on the net, you called a web guy, not an ad agency. I think this is the point where Draper would finally see the potential, as portions of his ad budgets started getting siphoned away for the Web.Luckily a few ad agencies (including ours) picked up on this trend. Some became completely digital, meaning they invested all of their efforts into online advertising. Some opened Web departments, others incorporated their Web advertising into existing creative departments. At Engelhardt and Partners Advertising we saw this coming a long time ago, and laid the groundwork for integrating Web along with traditional forms of media in order to brand our clients with a strong, cohesive message across the board.
Now, in 2010, we've conquered the change necessary to keep up with today's ever-changing technology. Our creative department has learned to think about campaigns that not only work in TV, radio and print, but on the net as well. Everything works together synergistically to exploit our clients' opportunities. Our ePulse Total Internet Package is unique in the industry as it incorporates all media together, concentrating on the media that works best for each client. And Creative is still considered the most important part of the process, as we know that no matter how much money you spend on advertising, if no one looks at it, it's all in vain.If Draper were real, Engelhardt and Partners is exactly the kind of agency he would want to work at. I just wouldn't let him yell at the customers ;)
Engelhardt & Partners Automotive Advertising
www.EPADV.com
