International Man (or Woman) of Mystery by @JesseOHare
By Jesse Sharp-O’Hare
International Man (or Woman) of Mystery
What with our numerous international students, visits from French students and our year’s theme being ‘hello world’, I thought I would do a SCAB covering some of what advertising looks like in the rest of the world. I know that I’m not alone when I say I’m planning on moving abroad at some point, so here is a brief overview of some of the global creative centres, and some of the work they’ve produced.
First up is one of our closest continental neighbours, the Netherlands. As one might expect, their agencies and creative hubs are based along the twisting canals and stoned English sixth-formers of Amsterdam. A city that oozes creativity at every turn, Amsterdam recently took over an entire feature of the Drum magazine, where ECDs at several of the agencies described the beautiful aestheticism of their offices, the freedom agencies are generally afforded by clients, and the cosmopolitan makeup of the admen and women. Continuing to draw creatives from across Europe and the World, Amsterdam is looking to snap up previously U.K.-bound European talent if Brexit continues to screw everything up. All the big global agencies, including O&M, W+K and Saatchi&Saatchi have offices, along with smaller agencies like Swedish agency Perfect Fools.
Here’s an article on living as a creative in Amsterdam: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/10/03/life-creative-what-it-s-really-live-and-work-amsterdam
Here’s a tearjerking Cannes Lions winner by O&M: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBfM2cMKsSg
Second is Brazil, the home of South American creativity and advertising. Based not in relaxed Rio De Janeiro, but in the hustle and bustle of Sao Paulo, Brazilian advertising has been hugely influential both in South America and in the wider world. Brazilians love advertising, and ,embers of the industry have risen to a level fame in the home country quite unrivalled by pretty much any of their international contemporaries anywhere else in the world. This includes one particularly famous adman, Washington Olivetto, getting kidnapped for over fifty days for ransom. Suddenly not so hot are you now Sir John. A big mix of international agencies (Grey, TBWA, JWT) and homegrown Brazilian agencies like Africa and W/Brasil occupy the Brazilian scene, and they’ve won a huge host of international awards between them. Adverts in Brazil are usually humorous and vibrant, and invariably involve a lot of both male and female skin.
Brazilian print ads: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/241036/figure/fig04
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/241036/figure/fig05
Here’s some lady skin: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/241036/figure/fig01
And some dude skin (for a diet cola): https://muse.jhu.edu/article/241036/figure/fig11
And a silly football Cannes winner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF_s8Kevydc
Finally we come to America. The land of the free, the home of the brave. The country that gave us the Marlboro Man, ‘Wazzzah’ and Helmut Krone still has the biggest budgets anywhere on the planet, giving us work you just couldn’t afford to do anywhere else. Lots of the big international agencies like TBWA and Grey hail from that side of the pond, alongside American (although now also UK-based) agencies like Droga5 that continue to push the envelope creatively. These agencies are now spread throughout the country, although many still work in New York, particularly around the world-famous Madison Ave. American advertising is usually full-on, emotional, and nothing exemplifies this more than the biggest of big budget Super Bowl ads. So let’s just watch a few of those shall we.
Superbowl: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2c2mPpvcpw
Most of Droga5 NY is gold: https://droga5.com/work/
I hope this short rundown has been informative, or at the very least a little entertaining.