greetings from vegas. but where were the CLIO's in 1963?

Writing this from (as the sign says) "Fabulous Las Vegas" where the Clio Awards is celebrating its 50th anniversary by showcasing statuette-winners from five decades. They'll also be honoring Matt Weiner tonight for his Mad Men work that dramatizes advertising in the 1960s, generally considered to be the turning point in the business, the time when advertising became a legitimate career instead of a shady enterprise propogated by hucksters. (You may not agree that this shift occurred.)

Betty Draper will be tweeting the event with other Mad Men on Twitter. (From a 1963 POV, of course.) Of course she'll be far more dressed up than most attendees. In the 60s, award shows were black tie. Every gentleman owned one. The few female invitees toted gowns and heels to their offices and you didn't want to go to the ladies room at 5 PM when air was heavy with perfume and hairspray and you'd likely see a boss in her girdle.

Doing a little research into CLIO archives turns up names long gone, but not quite forgotten: Normal, Craig & Kummel; NW Ayer; Oglivy, Benson & Mather; Paper, Koenig, Lois; Benton & Bowles (more commonly referred to as B&B.)

Still-vibrant DDB won best in 1963 for this sixty-second long (interminable, by our standards) spot using actor Jack Gilford for Cracker Jacks. Creative kudos went to writer Judy Protas (though the spot is silent) and inimitable art director Bob Gage.

the one club knows what kind of pressure you're under

Who has time to think about awards when there's so much unrewarding work to get done. Nice folks at The One Club understand this. So they're extending deadline for The One Show to February 6. And making that date just for registration, not for materials. So you've got another three weeks to get actual samples to their offices.

And because they know ad grunts who do digital are probably even busier than their counterparts in traditional, they've extended the deadline for Interactive to February 27.

This year, they're introducing a new category to support work for green causes: Environmental Advertising. Remember that pro-bono ad for recycling you did for your uncle on the school board? Send it in. You could win a Green Pencil. Made of--what else-- recycled glass.

(image resurrected from a dusty One Show annual, 1974. It won gold that year for Consumer Magazine Cover. Yep, people were stressed in the seventies, too.)

emmys validate Mad Men obsessives

My obsession with Mad Men (damn you, Matt Weiner) was validated last night by the fact that the series made Emmy history, being the first basic-cable show to win best drama award.

Weiner also picked up the award for best drama writing. Only disappointments to me were that Jon "Don Draper" Hamm lost out for best actor and that (creepily true to the show's premise of White Guys Rule) none of the stellar actresses (Hello, January! Howdy, Christina!) received even a nod.

What makes the win interesting to insiders is that the show took home the grand prize despite the fact that Hollywood traditionally sees success through the prism of viewership. Mad Men evangelists may be surprised to know that its 2 million strong fan base pales in comparison to the 21 million glued to American Idol's finale in May. But no doubt last night's wins will help convert more fanatics. Sign of a fanatic? Following Mad Men and Women 24/7 on Twitter. Here's their rolodex:

Don Draper
Betty Draper
Peggy Olson
Joan Holloway
Bobbie Barrett

Jimmy Barrett
Sal Romano
Kitty Romano
Pete Campbell
Trudy Campbell
Roger Sterling
Ken Cosgrove
Paul Kinsey
Bertram Cooper
Helen Bishop
Bud Melman
Father Gill
Freddy Rumsen
Duck Phillips
Sally Draper
Bobby Draper
Francine Hanson
Midge Daniels

Harry Crane
Dick Whitman
David Ogilvy
Bill Bernbach
Benjamin Spock

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.