Gerry Graf

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.

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.

Erik Vervroegen

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.