Chuck McBride

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.

Ícaro Doria

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.