This spot is from Computer Associates, And, quite frankly, is the best commercial that I have ever seen that NEVER won a major advertising award.

Some ad critics like Bob Garfield guaranteed it would win a Gold Lion at the Cannes Festival. It didn’t even make the short list!

It was an Emmy finalist, which isn’t a bad thing. But advertising juries never gave it as much as an Andy.

It’s all about the product. It’s funny. It has TWO punchlines. And, most of all, its a great demonstration of what the product does. It backs up your back up!

So why didn’t it ever win? Very easy. It was from Young and Rubicam/NY. We weren’t supposed to win awards. We were a big, New York shop. Awards go to Goodby, and Weiden, and Crispin. Not big agencies. Trust me, there really is bias against the Big Agencies in those dark rooms. I have seen on more than one occasion a juror look at the credits on the back of a print ad before giving it an award.

If I’m wrong, so be it. But I don’t think so. Hey, judge for yourself

I remember the first time I ever visited Chicago…it was a cold, snowy day in March 1982. I fell in love with it almost immediately. A couple of weeks later I returned on St. Patrick’s Day to take a job a Leo Burnett. I remember standing on the Michigan Avenue bridge watching some crazy guys in boats dying the Chicago River green. I knew I was home! Chicago is a great city…and one of the things that makes it so wonderful are the people that live there. When Leo Burnett moved into it’s new building at 35 W. Wacker, I got a great corner office on the 24th Floor, that overlooked the Chicago River and the “Bob Newhart” building across the river. It was a great office, with an incredible view, up and down the River. The entire Ferguson/Shallcross group would crowd into my office and watch the city workers in the small boats churning up the water and dye! Although it never happened, we always wanted to see one of the guys in the boat fall out!

Here’s another great demo commercial for Master Lock. Love it! What a simple…and dramatic…way to show the strength of a Master Lock. This was originally show in the Super Bowl in 1973, long before it became fashionable to advertise on the Big Game. I think this is still one of the top ten Super Bowl spots of all time.

I love great ideas. However, this tattoo is not one of better ideas I have ever seen. It’s got all the elements of a great idea.  It’s a unique use of the medium, to say the least. And it’s eye catching, to say the least. But does that make it a good idea. No really. It reminds of the time Bob and I were at McDonald’s presenting “pneumonic” ideas to the head of marketing Paul Schrage. One of the creative teams showed Paul a “unique” way of opening every McDonald’s commercial. As the lid of the Big Mac box opened, a commercial would start inside box. Close the box…commercial stopped.  The art director said to Paul, “I’ll bet you’ve never seen anything like this before, have you Paul?” To which Mr. Schrage replied, “No I haven’t. And you know why?” No one said a word,. “Because it’s shitty.”  I think the same goes for this idea, too….