Ad Geniuses

Paul Silburn

2009-09-30T03:14:00.001-07:00

Londoners use to say their city is the greatest in the world. And, let´s be reasonable, when it comes to advertising, they are right. Just check out Paul Silburn curriculum. In any other place in the world, he would be the best advertiser ever, but in UK he is just, let´s say, in the top 20. He has won over 20 lions, including legendary campaigns like "No nonsense" or John West Salmon´s "Bear Fight" and, more recently, "Life´s for Sharing" for T-Mobile.

Paul has worked in a row of agencies that include Lowe, TBWA Leo Burnett, BBH and Saatchi & Saatchi, we could say, half of the best London agencies. He has also made a small adventure at Fallon Minneapolis, but it didn´t last long. Pat Fallon fired him and, since them, things haven't been working at the classic agency.

Different of other creatives, its hard to identify his strong point. He has done funny physical comedy, sensitive subjects and down-to-earth advertising. He has been awarded in alternative media, film, print and outdoor. One thing, although, it´s easy to notice. His ads all look real. If he had done any scams, we don´t know, but their biggest award campaigns are pretty real.

Ad Genius 17: Paul Silburn.
Countries: UK, USA.
Agencies: Lowe, TBWA, Leo Burnett, BBH, Fallon, Saatchi.
At Cannes: Over 20 lions, 7 Gold.
Strong Points: Versatility.

Hernán Ponce

2009-09-30T02:17:00.000-07:00

There are lot of Argentinean advertising semi-gods, but few of them exceeded the 10 lions barrier, like Hernán Ponce. He himself became an executive after he opened his agencies and those lions he has won, let´s say so, were probably not written by him. But what makes Hernán Ponce and his agency great are their worldwide seen spots for Axe. South America is known for great creative work, but few global works come actually from there. These TV spots created by Vega Olmos Ponce might be the only exception.

Like most of the heavyweights from Argentina, Hernan Pónce started his long creative director career in the agency of David Ratto, the most famous and dearest ad man in the country of Tango. He left the best agency of time to lead the newest rising star of Argentina: Young & Rubicam, where he won loads of Lions and recognition enough to open his own brand: Vega Olmos Ponce, together with Fernando Vega Olmos. Contrary to his partners, Ponce really engaged his creative mind in legendary ideas for Axe, including the second Argentinean Grand Prix after almost 40 years (the first one was a film for Pepsi from 1969).

Ad Genius 16: Hernán Ponce.
Country: Argentina.
Agencies: Ratto/BBDO, Young & Rubicam, Vega Olmos Ponce.
At Cannes: 25 lions, 1 Grand Prix, 3 Gold.
Strong Points: Advertising for teenage men.

Rob McLennan

2009-09-30T02:11:00.001-07:00

With 5 Grand Prix in the last 5 years, South African advertising is between the most creative in the world. Some say just because they speak English and they have a point. It´s much easier to win awards when you write your ads in English and, not only that, if it looks English. Getting crazy things approved by clients is also much easier in a third world country, where, let´s say, people are not as boring as in developed places. Multicultural life in Johannesburg is also a great advantage for the South Africans. But let´s also be reasonable. Mumbai is also very multicultural, English speaker and third world and yet, did not produce as many great stuff as the capital of South Africa.

From the many South African stars, Rob McLennan, above his 21 lions, is one of the biggest, together with Julian Watt, Gareth Lessing and Graham Warsop. Others like Tony Granger and John Hunt were too big for Africa and are now heading multinationals in New York.

Rob is not different from the big advertising stars. He began working in boring jobs like banking and house painting, until reaching in a short period of years the creative lead in a big multinational agency, Lowe Bull. Rob´s creativity was very award oriented, with lots of ideas who looked scams, until he finally did a hell of a campaign: Axe´s "Get a Girlfriend", one of the most successful and original concepts of the last years. Cannes gave him a late recognition with a Radio Grand Prix last year for an absurdly crazy campaign for Virgin Atlantic. Unfortunately, I just don´t know how to post audio files here, so you won´t be able to hear the great radio work from Rob.

Ad Genius 15: Rob McLennan.
Country: South Africa.
Agencies: Lowe Bull, Network BBDO.
At Cannes: 21 Lions, 1GP, 6 Gold.
Strong Points: Radio Ideas.

Gerry Graf

2009-09-30T02:07:00.000-07:00

Think on the funniest campaigns you have seen lately from USA: "Combo´s man-mom", the latest crazy Skittles ideas, Fedex office commercials, and Crest campaign of smile. Gerry Graf has made them all. Gerry is all about humour since before starting his carreer, writing comedy sketches at college. Living in New York didn´t hurt too... Like Woody Allen or Jerry Seinfeld, he knew how to find comedy in every aspect of life.

Gerry started as a junior in Saatchi & Saatchi, but only when he reached BBDO NY, he started to create the called "effective advertising". His career gave its highes jump when he created the legendary campaign for E-Trade in the beggining of cyber-era, end of 90s.

Last year, Gerry Graf has received the tough challenge to charge Tony Granger´s place in Saatchi & Saatchi New York, which was named the agency of the year in the previous Cannes edition. Gerry has been doing great work, even without the top names Granger had in his team. Last year, he captured a Gold Press Lion and a Silver Film Lion for Miller. On the other hand, Granger is struggling in boring Y&R.

Ad Genius 14: Gerry Graf.
Country: USA.
Agencies: BBDO NY, Goodby Silverstein Partners, TBWA Chiat/Day, Saatchi NY.
At Cannes: 20 lions, 7 Gold.
Strong Points: Nonsense humour.

Eugene Cheong

2009-09-30T02:00:00.000-07:00

Ogilvy´s Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, Tham Khai Meng, is the most famous name of Singapore. But the real talent from the Southeast country lies on Eugene Cheong. From the many Neil French´s Asian Pupils, he was, definitely, the one who shined most.

Cheong is working at Ogilvy since 1981, from the time David Ogilvy himself was still there, and has also spent a brief time in some hot shops in the middle of the 90s. Eugene has worked in London´s office, which puts his thinking much closer to West than East. His ideas are usually very high-class, always using the combination great copy + long text, instead of visual puzzles.

Respected as a big talent, Eugene finally got a well deserved recognition at Ogilvy and was named Top Creative of the office in Asia. Neil French refers him as the world´s second best writer and some say he can write speeches better than Obama. From his more than 300 awards around, we will highlights the ones he has won in Cannes.

Ad Genius 13: Eugene Cheong.

Countries: Singapore and UK.

Agencies: Ogilvy, Bates, the Ball partnership.

In Cannes: 14 lions, 6 gold.

Strong Points: Long Copy.

Antonio Montero

2009-09-30T01:33:00.000-07:00

It´s not possible to determine how responsible Antonio Montero López is for the success of Contrapunto in the last eight years he has been there. The only thing we know is that he has won, during that period, over 20 lions. We are not considering the other 3 lions Antonio has won in his previous agency, "AVA".

The true thing is that, more than a homage to Antonio himself, this post would like to highlight Contrapunto and Spain in this post. The country is always between the ten most awarded in the world, but it has a lack of big stars, different than its latin counterparts, Argentina and Brazil. Rafa Antón, the most well-known Spanish star, for example, has won "only" eight lions. Few, considered to the dozens each Brazilian or Argentinean star has won.

For 35 years, Contrapunto has been consistently, the most (or between the most) awarded and respected creative agencies in Spain. It has so much strength that it has not been sold to any multionational yet. It is probably the most successful agency in Europe to promote Smart, the small car and it reached the new century making great things for web too. Here, we will show some of the work Montero has done in Contrapunto.

Ad Genius 12: Antonio Montero López.

Country: Spain.

Agencies: McCann, Almeida Vaqueiro e Associados, Contrapunto.

At Cannes: About 25 lions, more than 20 in Contrapunto.

Strong points: Enviroment and social work.

Kaliber Beer - Celebrity bloopers here

Nigel Roberts & Paul Belford

2009-09-30T01:25:00.000-07:00

Worshipped in UK, not so in Cannes, Paul Belford and Nigel Roberts are probably the most influential advertisers in the world in the most classic category: print. Their system "poster design + beautiful headline that works alone" is a must in countries like Brazil and Singapore. Their "scam ads to win advertising festivals" is also repeated exhaustively in the rest of the world. And finally, their "Economist" posters are taught in the first grade of every advertising school.

It´s not easy to choose the best of the team, since they have always worked together. Now, after almost 15 years together, they split. Nigel is creative director at CHI & Partners, while Paul (the most awarded art director in the history of D&AD) is partner of a small agency, "This is Real Art". Together since DMB&B times, they worked at TBWA, Ogilvy, Leagas Delaney and AMV BBDO. Their constant agency changing and their scam scandals, suggest that they might not be easy to handle.

Ad Genius 11: Nigel Roberts & Paul Belford

Country: UK.

Agencies: DMB&B, TBWA, Ogilvy, Leagas Delaney, AMV BBDO, CHI & Partners, This is Real Art.

At Cannes: 20 Lions, 6 golds.

Strong points: Beautiful layouts + smart headlines.

Chuck McBride

2009-09-30T01:24:00.001-07:00

American advertising! In our imaginary, we see guys wearing suits going to Madison Avenue, working on the last floor of a skyscraper. It´s hard to imagine that one of the most successful American advertisers of all times has never put a foot in New York, only, maybe, to get his One Show Pencils.

The closest Chuck McBride got from the Big Apple was when he worked in Philadelphia for Wieden & Kennedy. But that was brief. Chuck is a West Coast Man. From Portland to San Diego, he has worked in the hottest American agencies of the 1990s and collected around 20 lions, all in the major category: film.

And we are not talking about Lions. We are talking about huge lions, films that are still top favorites of the world´s biggest creative directors. Who else has ideas like "Got Milk?", Nike´s "The Morning After" and Adidas One´s "Hello Tomorrow" in the same portfolio? If you know, please send me an e-mail suggesting.

Ad Genius 10: Chuck McBride.

Country: USA.

Agencies: Team One Los Angeles, FCB San Francisco, Goodby Silverstein, Wieden + Kennedy Portland and Philadelphia, TBWA Chiat/Day San Francisco, Cutwater.

At Cannes: Around 20 lions, 12 Golds.

Strong Points: Oversized-budget films.

Bernhard Lukas & Arno Lindemann

2009-09-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

It may not be fair to put two creatives as one genius, but some minds simply work better together. After cyber revolution, integrated campaign + stunt era, the creative team is something that still survives and works very well. In this German case, it works amazingly.

Before forming a team in 2007, Bernhard Lukas had won "only" one Gold Lion and Arno Lindemann "only" one silver and one bronze. Than, after Lukas and Lindemann met in Jung von Matt everything simply started to work smoothly. In three years, they have collected 13 lions, most of them in their new Hamburg-based agency, Lukas Lindemann Rosinski.

Contrary to Amir Kassaei´s DDB or Scholz & Friends and, maybe, even Jung von Matt, Lukas & Lindemann try to make great things in real work. Sure, they have made some success with scams too (who hasn´t?), but we can notice in their last Lions for Lego, Mercedes-Benz and Germanwings that everything seemed pretty real and in the client´s strategy.

Ad Genius 9: Lukas & Lindemann.

Country: Germany.

Agencies: Springer & Jacoby, Oysterbay (Lindemann) Jung von Matt, Lukas Lindemann Rosinski (both).

At Cannes: 16 lions, 1 from Lukas, 2 from Lindemann, 13 together.

Strong Points: Low cost stunts.

Charles Inge

2009-09-29T02:14:00.000-07:00

From the dozens of british advertising geniuses, it´s hard to start with one. Charles Inge may not be as well-known as Mark Tutsell, Paul Silburn or Jeremy Craigen (all them will definetely have their names here). But Inge, above all them, has class and style, he is a true British and his elegant ads are still a big influence in London and around the world. Where else could ads like The Independent´s "Littany" or Stella Artois´ "Reassuringly Expensive" be done but in UK?

Although having won 30 lions in his career, Charles Inge just worked in two agencies: Lowe and CHI & Partners, this last one founded by him. Adept from Bernbach style, Inge´s ads are usually truthful and based in solid arguments. Sure, when he is selling dirty juice, where there is no arguments to sell at all, he just picks a very good director to shoot a couple of very funny commercials.

It´s true that his agency is still a brilliant filmmaker, but they were having some problems to fit themselves in the new-cyber-era of advertising. Smart and elegant, like the british sir he is, Charles left the scene and hire some expert kids to do that work for him. Once in a while, he comes back and shoots a fantastic movie, for the delight of his fans. Me included.

Ad Genius 8: Charles Inge.

Country: United Kingdom.

Agencies: Lowe and CHI & Partners.

At Cannes: 30 lions, 2 GP, 9 golds.

Strong points: Brave concepts, clever executions.

Agnello Dias

2009-09-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

Prasoon Joshi may be the Indian dearest, but the biggest talent from the fastest growing country in the world is definitely Agnello Dias. Joshi´s fan may say that Aggie (his nickname) has no local style and he makes advertising like an European. This is, somehow, true, altough in the last years, we´ve seen Bollywood-style films from him.

After Dart, Interpublicity and Lowe, Agnello finally reached the place where he would start to build a winning career: Leo Burnett. After three bronze lions, something considered very big in India, Aggie was hired in JWT and became CCO soon. In just three years, he won an unprecedented collection of 11 lions, including the first and only Grand Prix in the history for India.

After becoming bigger than any agency in India, Agnello took the obvious decision to open his own. But, more than that, he called his old pal from Leo Burnett, also multi-awarded Santosh Padhi, to join him in what we would call the hottest shop in India, maybe from the whole Asia. In the last 10 years, both creatives have won more lions than all the other Indian agencies together. Let´s see what he is preparing for next year!

Ad Genius 7: Agnello Dias.
Country: India.
Agencies: Lowe, Leo Burnett, JWT, TapRoot.
At Cannes: 14 lions, 1 GP, 6 golds.

Strong Points: Critic view, black humour.

Erik Vervroegen

2009-09-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

With almost 70 lions, Belgian art director Erik Vervroegen is the most awarded advertiser in Cannes Festival, technically tied with Brazilian super-star Marcello Serpa (76 lions). With such numbers and his well-known reputation, he has definitely a space in advertising Olympus. But, moving ahead, we won´t avoid the question: "Is Erik the best advertiser in the world?"

If talent could be measured in awards, yes, we might say he is. TBWA Paris was three times agency of the year in Cannes, all under his rule, against Serpa´s lonely prize in 2000 for Almap. And we are talking about a guy who has made success in different markets, being named the best in South Africa (TBWA Hunt) and in New York (Bozell). Serpa, on the other hand, has worked just in Brazil and always with the best talent since the beginning of his career, at DPZ.

But if you pay more attention, you will see that Erik´s talent has its border. Contrary to David Droga, for example, he has not gone beyond classical advertising. Even in standard print, we can see that works from Crispin Porter or early Kesselskramer have brought much more freshness to the market than the visually stunning tricks from mr. Vervroegen. In film, his commercials for Amnesty International and AIDES have never gone beyond their top awards in Cannes, finding resistance to win respectability at One Show and D&AD. What would be his most particular contribution to advertising, the visual puzzles for Playstation, was not actually begun by him, but by TBWA London some years earlier. It´s not overstatement to say that he has actually repeated formulas. Brilliantly, of course, but never bringing anything real new.

Maybe to avoid this craftsman identity, Erik moved to Goodby Silverstein Partners, one of the most innovative agencies in the world. With his stunning talent together with GSP defiance, he may do real unique work and leave the category "one of the bests" to become the biggest of them all.

Ad Genius 6: Erik Vervroegen.

Countries: Belgium, South Africa, France and USA.

Agencies: TBWA Hunt, Bozell NY, TBWA Paris, Goodby Silverstein.

At Cannes: Almost 70 lions, 2 GPs.

Strong Points: Flawless visual, smart tricks.

Ari Merkin

2009-09-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

Crispin, Porter + Bogusky is known for totally crazy

and original work. But in the middle of freaks, there

was one classic advertiser shining. Yeah, maybe his

work was not really ultra-fresh, but his Bernbach style

was respected in awards like One Show and Cannes.

Ari Merkin used to write long copy, headlines, make

big concepts and tell the truth. His clear, no-nonsense

way was just the opposite of most things from Crispin.

Maybe, that´s why the agency succeed so much. There

was always someone who could do great, but more

digestive work. And that made not-so-crazy clients

really happy.

Low-profile kind of guy, Merkin might be a brilliant

creative, but not exactly a great executive. Even

winning 13 pencils in a single One Show edition, he is

not very well-known and his agency, Toy, is also out

of the award circuit, probably because of lack of lobby.

Ari Merkin started working in 1993 for Roy Grace

and Diane Rothschild, advertising legends from the

70s and in 1998 began his fantastic epic in CP+B,

creating all that great work the agency is known for.

Some years later, he was hired to lead Fallon´s

operation in New York and he really succeeded,

winning loads of awards with some standout work.

But Fallon was not on its best days and had to close

its NY doors, keeping its work mainly in the original

Minneapolis agency. Now, calm Merkin is making OK

work in his small agency on Manhattan for about 3

years. We hope he doesn´t give up and come back

with some great stuff!

Ad Genius 5: Ari Merkin.

Country: USA.

Agencies: Grace & Rotschild, CP+B, Fallon NY, Toy.

At Cannes: 10 lions (1 GP)

Strong Points: Clever down-to-earth thinking.

Jureeporn Thaidumrong

2009-09-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

Our first female ad genius comes from Thailand. Jureeporn Thaidumrong, known as Judee, is the owner of JEH United, the country´s most awarded agency. She is probably the most powerful creative woman in Asia, perhaps from the whole world. Asked if she had to fight harder to become a creative executive, she answered elegantly:

" It’s not true that women in Asia have a harder time getting to the higher echelons of the ad business. I actually think women here have more opportunities than in North America or Europe. In Thailand for example, there are many female creative directors. And that’s not only true in creative departments. You see lots of senior management and CEO positions being occupied by women. And it’s true all over."

Judee started at Grey and passed through Y&R, Leo Burnett, DDB and Results, an Ogilvy hot shop. There, she met Neil French, the Asian british guru, and her career gave a jump. She started to win awards and was named ECD at Saatchi & Saatchi and after at McCann until opening her own business. JEH´s work, like most from Thailand, is very imaginative , smart and unique, maybe looking a bit weird for the average western eye.

Altough most consider Judee a phenomenon, some people think she wins awards more easily than most of people, because she is woman and asian. Check out her portfolio and decide by yourself.

Ad Genius 4: Jureeporn Thaidumrong.

Country: Thailand.

Agencies: Grey, Y&R, Leo Burnett, DDB, Results, Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann, JEH United.

At Cannes: 11 lions, 4 gold.

Strong points: Visual tricks (print) and humour (film).

Ícaro Doria

2009-09-27T03:24:00.000-07:00

Ícaro is a Brazilian print master, a self-made man, who won major-awards at unknown agencies in small countries, until reaching Saatchi & Saatchi New York and helping to make it Agency of the Year in Cannes.

Ícaro is a visual thinker for excellence, but Brazilian top agencies thought he couldn´t make "good headlines", making the terrible mistake of neglecting him. Then, Doria found his way in Portugal, considered the European refuge for Brazilian creatives. There, he made multi-awarded campaigns for insignificant agencies and clients, until Tony Granger discovered his talent and called him to Saatchi NY. In the world capital, he created his most famous print campaigns and started to make great work also for radio and TV. Now, Ícaro is having some tough time at hard-for-creatives Y&R New York, but is also colecting some few awards. This time, as Creative Director.

Contrary to most of our ad geniuses, Ícaro did not win a Grand Prix in Cannes, but he was close twice. The first time was in 2003, when his ad for Ferin Library was considered the best of the year, until the jury found out it was a scam (big deal!). Two years later, his campaign for Grande Reportagem Magazine was clearly above everything else in print, but the lobby for TBWA Paris was stronger, and the Grand Prix went to EMI for some few votes. Anyway, things were never easy for Ícaro. Maybe that´s why he keeps making good work!

Ad Genius 3: Ícaro Doria

Countries: Brazil, Portugal, USA.

Agencies: DPZ, Leo Burnett Lisbon, FCB Lisbon, S&S New York, Y&R New York.

At Cannes: 11 lions, 3 gold.

Strong points: Fast descriptions of big truths.

David Droga

2009-09-26T19:34:00.001-07:00

He is the man. No one in the business has won so many awards and is still on top. David Droga started at Omon in Australia and after winning a few lions, he became creative director and partner at 22. He was, then, hired to lead Saatchi & Saatchi operation in Asia, as Creative Director in Singapore. The agency rapidly became the best in the world, promoting Droga as the Executive Creative Director in the original Saatchi & Saatchi in London. Of course, the agency became the best in the world some years after, promoting him once again as Worldwide Chief Creative Officer of the whole Publicis group. Naturally, he realized it was boring to be chairman and not creativeman. Finally, he escaped to open his avant-garde Droga5 in New York and Sidney.

If you are already jealous after seeing his curriculum, check out some of his awarded works...

Ad Genius 2: David Droga.
Countries: Australia, Singapore, UK, USA.
Agencies: Omon, S&S Singapore, S&S London, Publicis Group, Droga5.
At Cannes: Over 50 lions, 3 GPs.
Strong points: Unconventional advertising, stunts.

Juan Cabral

2009-09-26T17:56:00.000-07:00

Juan Cabral is probably the biggest ad star of our generation. With only 29, he became partner of one of the leading UK agencies, Fallon London. And he is not even british. Born in Argentina, Cabral began at Agulla & Bacetti, where he already collected some global awards.

You just couldn´t say that Cabral is lucky since he has worked in the best agencies and had the best opportunities. If you check out the credits, you will see he is usually the copywriter, the art director of the ad (if print) and the director (if TV). He usually has no company in the credits. And when he does, we can suppose who is the real brain...

Like most superstars, he is a bit exquisite. After winning his most prestigious award, the TV Grand Prix in Cannes, Cabral decided to move back to Argentina to raise his first kid. Will he become the advertising James Dean and retire forever, maintaining intact his image of legend or will he come back to try the tough challenge of keeping being the best?

Ad Genius 1: Juan Cabral.

Countries: Argentina, UK.

Agencies: Agulla & Bacetti, Mother, Fallon London.

At Cannes: 11 Lions (2 GP).

Strong point: Emotional advertising and use of music.