Some Top Agency Pros Pick Ads They Admire

It takes a lot to get Phil Dusenberry excited about a TV commercial. After all, the New York ad agency chief probably sees more commercials than Dodger slugger Kirk Gibson sees curve balls.

But one recent evening, while Dusenberry was home with his wife watching television, a commercial suddenly had both of them vying to be the first to blurt out what the ad was about. The rather simple commercial features an orchestra conductor who walks into a room, stands on his head, and begins conducting the orchestra with his feet.

While Dusenberry and his wife began shouting out words like “music” and “orchestra,” the commercial suddenly switched to a picture of the NYNEX (New York/New England) Yellow Pages. The phone book opens up and the camera zooms to the listing, “Conductive Shoes.” That’s right, “conductive shoes,” is an honest-to-gosh listing in the Yellow Pages in all seven states served by NYNEX.

Dusenberry’s agency, BBDO Worldwide, is best known for its Pepsi ads. Although BBDO didn’t create this ad campaign of visual puns, he wishes it had.

“It’s the best campaign out there right now,” said Dusenberry of the ad created by the New York office of the Venice ad firm, Chiat/Day. And many of Madison Avenue’s top ad executives are in full agreement with Dusenberry.

Ten executives from some of New York’s biggest ad firms were asked to name their favorite commercial campaigns over the past year--excluding those created by their own agencies. Eight of those executives picked NYNEX. The campaign includes a dozen commercials that are all visual puns.

Most Los Angeles area residents will probably never see these NYNEX commercials, because the ads are only aired in New England and in New York state. But advertising executives also picked some very familiar commercials as close seconds to the NYNEX spots, including ads for Oldsmobile, Pepsi, Subaru and Reebok.

Meanwhile, their favorite print campaign--hands down--is the one for American Express. It features portraits of famous celebrities by photographer Annie Leibovitz. The celebrities reveal how long they’ve carried the credit card. The ads, which include entertainers ranging from Luciano Pavarotti to Ella Fitzgerald, were created by the ad firm Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.

“It’s been the best print campaign for the past six years,” said Richard J. Lord, chairman of the ad agency Lord Einstein O’Neil & Partners, which creates ads for Saab. “It’s terrific stuff, with clarity and purpose.”

Overall, however, executives said that the quality of advertising may be at an all-time low. “These days, every time the client sneezes, the ad agency wipes its nose,” said Robert H. Schmidt, president and chief executive of the New York ad firm Levine, Huntley, Schmidt & Beaver Inc. “That is not a way to create great advertising.”

But the NYNEX campaign is great advertising, said Schmidt, whose agency creates ads for Subaru and Maidenform. “It draws attention in a very charming and memorable way to a very dull product.”

The NYNEX ads were specifically created to get attention, said Jane Newman, president of the New York office of Chiat/Day. “Everyone takes the Yellow Pages for granted,” said Newman. “That’s because they’re given to you free, kind of like water. Of course, eventually you get a bill for the water.” So, two years ago, the agency decided it could generate more interest in the NYNEX Yellow Pages with ads that feature people playing charades that spell out listings in the Yellow Pages.

In one ad, a handful of gruff-looking train engineers sit on fine furniture while drinking tea and discussing things like interior design. The Yellow Page heading to that ad: civil engineers. Yet another ad, which is set to the music from “The Stripper,” features a stuffed chair that seems to be stripping itself of arm covers, cushions and even coils--all in rhythm to the music. The phone book category for that ad: furniture stripping.

Aside from NYNEX, most executives agreed that Oldsmobile’s “New Generation of Olds” ads rank among the best. The ads feature well-known celebrities and their offspring--such as former astronaut Scott Carpenter and his son, Jay. “In a believable way, the campaign brings them into the ‘90s,” said James B. Patterson, chief executive of the New York office of J. Walter Thompson, which creates ads for Ford. “But the product still has to live up to the advertising,” he said.

The Oldsmobile campaign also gets thumbs up from another top executive at J. Walter Thompson, William M. Lane, who is executive vice president of the New York office. “I admire advertising when you can’t substitute someone else’s product for it,” he said. “You couldn’t substitute the line ‘This is not your father’s Buick’ for the line ‘This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.’ ”

Pepsi’s advertising is also highly regarded by many ad executives. Most were particularly impressed with the ads featuring actor Michael J. Fox--including one where Fox and his girlfriend try to snatch a Pepsi from a soda machine while a growling dog is at their feet. “The ad is an absolute stunner,” said Norman Berry, chairman and chief executive of the New York office of the ad firm Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. “What’s more, it has a relevance to its audience. This is the sort of thing that happens to 16-year-olds.”

Indeed, there are also some 16-year-olds who would drive a Subaru through a rainstorm to see each other. And an ad with that scenario--created by Levine, Huntley, Schmidt & Beaver--is one of Newman’s favorites. “You can’t help but like the people in that ad,” said the Chiat/Day president.

But executives were harshly divided over the almost surrealistic ad campaign that Chiat/Day created last year for athletic shoe maker Reebok. The campaign, which has since been killed, featured the slogan, “Reebok Lets U.B.U.” The ads positioned Reebok shoes as fashion statements, and the people who wore them were clearly making statements. One commercial, for example, featured a fairy tale-like princess exiting a busy New York subway station while wearing Reeboks.

“It was a brave and interesting attempt to try and stand out,” said Louise McNamee, president of the ad firm Della Femina, McNamee WCRS, which created the Joe Isuzu “liar” ads. “I liked its irreverence. But most of all, I liked that it didn’t look like anything else.”

Others say U.B.U was D.O.A. “I think they lost a lot more customers then they gained with that campaign,” said Patterson of J. Walter Thompson. “A lot of people just looked at the ads and said: What the hell is this?”

Steamy Billboards Generate Some Heat

If nothing else, those racy billboards for Johnnie Walker Scotch are bringing a lot of business to the phone company.

The billboards, which feature suggestive photos of male and female models in swimsuits, all list local phone numbers along with the headline: “And I drink Johnnie Walker Scotch.” During the past month, 37 of these billboards have appeared along freeways in Los Angeles and San Francisco. While executives at New York-based Johnnie Walker have yet to measure how the $3-million campaign has affected sales, the company reports that more than 40,000 phone calls had been placed as of April 15.

Meanwhile, the ad firm that created the campaign has received some calls, too. “Some people have written or called us to accuse us of being sexist,” said Leo Greenland, chairman and chief executive of the New York ad firm that created the campaign, Smith/Greenland Inc. “But that was not our intention.” Greenland said he has received about a dozen complaints--all of them from women.

“There are men in this world, there are women in this world, and there is sex in this world,” said Greenland, whose agency also creates ads for Penthouse magazine. “We certainly haven’t introduced sex to advertising.”

Some have objected that Johnnie Walker is using a form of “phone sex” as an attention-getter. “This isn’t phone sex,” said Greenland. “It’s more a spoof on phone sex than anything.” Those who dial the number in Los Angeles, are greeted by the voice of a sexy woman--or man--who talks about all the fun things they like to do in Los Angeles--then pitches Johnnie Walker.

In July, the campaign will begin to appear in a number of other cities, including Denver, Boston and New York.

In the meantime, some ad executives have voiced opposition to the campaign. “This is advertising that appeals to the most base human emotions,” said William M. Lane, executive vice president of the New York office at the ad firm J. Walter Thompson. “It’s easy advertising that any of us could do, but that few of us would.”