crowdsourcing santa

A downside of being out of town this weekend--or upside, depending on your tolerance for Christmas spirit(s)-- was missing out on the sight of thousands of Santas who came out for the annual Santacon. Despite it's being billed as NOT A PUB CRAWL, it's a pub crawl taking place annually in cities around the world from New York to Chicago to Pasadena to Beijing. (In China, Christmas is a romantic holiday.)

If you're in next year, read the ground rules before going, which include "Not just a hat", "No making kids cry" and "Pay with cash."

Photo by Marc Whalen. The rest of his SantaCon series here.

hey kids! it's not too late to turn your home into a winter wonderland

For some reason we were never allowed to do this at our house. Probably because of what George Fenneman (the anncr) doesn't tell you: how difficult the damn stuff is to get off. Merry Christmas!

Charlie Brown learns the true meaning of Advertising

Poor Charlie. He's on impossible deadline for a concept but all his ideas suck. Linus lords his silver Addy over him, Sally's hounds him for timesheets and Peppermint Patty wonders why she ever slept with him. What a writer at Crispin would do?

Anonymous creators of this ought to get a Clio for Christmas. I got it from Adfreak who tipped Adrants and Brettner.

cheers from 1956

One thing you won't find on Ebay's "unwanted Christmas present" list is the 1956 Art Director's Awards annual I was lucky enough to receive this year. The 35th Annual cites awards in eight categories, including separate categories for Color Ads and Station Break Art Cards and Record Album Covers. (Hoagy Carmichael's won big that year.) This photo was honored in the Advertising Art category and was shown in the annual as most visuals were, without corresponding copy that mucked it up when it ran. The The photographer was Irving Penn. The art director was a guy named Hershel Bramson. Manuel Grossberg is acknowledged, perplexingly, as "Designer of Complete Unit." Stylist, you think? Anyway, here's to you and the breaking year.

fear of flying

Thanks, Bill Green (aka Make the logo bigger) for a delightful visit to Square America where cat-eye glasses, wicker baby buggies and vintage Christmas cards abound:
If I were one of these dandy, well-wishing Boyds, I'd be flying home today in a private plane instead of vacuum-packed on US Airways (recently declared to be the worst performing big airline in the country) hoarding rations of ¼ can of soda and mini-bag of pretzel nubs. Wish me luck. And the miracle of same-day arrival of luggage.

merry christmas and god save the queen

How did speechmakers go live on TV before teleprompter? They hid cue cards behind strategically placed floral arrangements. Jolly holiday to all and cheerio!

have a 1978 christmas

For your holiday pleasure, ancient artifacts like "turntable", "8-track" and "cassette player" brought to life. But hurry! Sale ends today!

top this, home depot

Last month, Lowe's Warehouse jeopardized the good will of its base franchise (did you know there's a trade association for American families?) by attempting to secularize Christmas trees, calling them "Family Trees" in its holiday catalog. Ever since a spokeshead issued an apology back in November, PR must have been scrambling for other ways to restore brand luster. Just in time for last minute Christmas shopping comes a heart-warming story that gives new meaning to the tagline "I found it at Lowe's". (Thanks, DEL, for this breaking news.)
MAN DISCOVERS BIRTH MOM IS CO-WORKER AT LOWE'S.

merry christmas, honey, 1961

A guy at the office showed me a Christmas, oops Holiday gift he's already bought for his wife, a lovely watercolor portrait of her with their kids. He wants to surprise her. He commissioned it months ago from an illustrator and has been paying for it in installments so it won't show up as a big payment on their books, which she keeps. She's a stay-at-home mom whose work he appreciates: she works a lot harder than I do, he says. Though sometimes I despair at inequities in the world, in the business, I'm comforted by this reminder of how far we've progressed since cartoon characters promoted cigarettes to kids on TV (see below) and husbands thought of wives as unpaid personal chefs.

(Tonight, my husband whipped up a great dinner-- thanks, hon.)