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Bogusky, Roberts, W+K12 rebrand AmericaThis month, Paper magazine asked 15 top "visual communicators" for ideas on how to rebrand America. From the ad world, they got submissions from Crispin's Alex Bogusky, Saatchi's Kevin Roberts and Wieden's in-house ad school W+K12 (which inherited the assignment from Dan Wieden), as well a bonus offering from George Lois. See all of their creations here. Bogusky's three submissions show Che wearing an Obama shirt, an American flag with religious symbols for stars, and an under-construction sign at a U.S. border crossing. Roberts' five ads include several versions of a "U.S. vs. them" idea, as well as an image of the Statue of Liberty giving birth to President Obama. W+K12's six offerings include a nice illustration of a spinal column made up of the 50 states. And Lois whipped up an Obama version of Uncle Sam. The other submissions are interesting, too—particular the obese Ronald McDonald created by our old friend Ron English. |
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May 14, 2009 in Nudd, Rebranding America | Permalink |
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The Che shirt should clear Florida of its Cuban population in short order. I guess its Crispin's Miami roots showing themselves.
What a joke.
Posted by: MATOS | May 14, 2009 5:17:04 PM
I love my colleagues and would never be accused of "playa hatin'" but I would not want anyone on marketing industry talking about rebranding America without the "brand manager" for the U.S.A. account being the equivalent of a history, cultural history, political science, and current affair's professor.
They can be as creative as they are known to be... with all of their exciting award winning flair... but they need to really really really know that the United States is far more than the pop culture that is the stuff of advertising.
The links above of the ideas all tongue and cheek of course could have been done by anyone. What would have been interesting is to appeal to these gents deeper passions and ask how through their work they could have touched people on a deeper level with a rebranding of America.
Okay.... back to work. (5 min smoke break is over)
Langston Richardson
ECD, infuz
Twitter: @MATSNL65
Posted by: Langston Richardson | May 14, 2009 5:58:38 PM
I find these almost offensive - and not in a good way. Talk about "hacks". There's really more to America than these knee-jerk first thoughts and pop-culture panderings. If this is what the "best and brightest" in the biz came up with, it's no wonder everybody's getting sacked.
Posted by: Brad | May 14, 2009 7:55:14 PM
Sure, the Che concept could be taken as "well that there's sayin' America's bein' overrun by commies." On the other hand, wouldn't it be cool if American democracy was so compelling that he would just drop the whole militant bit?
You know Che's been looking for an upgrade to the fatigues for decades. I know I've long dreamt of having a huge perfect circle made of copper for a head.
Posted by: Andrew MacPherson | May 14, 2009 8:49:06 PM
How did they get "Obama" to wear that Che shirt?
Posted by: Herbert | May 14, 2009 10:53:06 PM
Polo Ralph Lauren, I like its comfort and style other than other t-shirts, the classic-Fit Polo, slim custom fit Polo and women's skinny Polo are the nice choice for you.
Posted by: anny | May 15, 2009 5:31:01 AM
It looks like if Chucky & Ronald had kids.
Posted by: Dawn | May 15, 2009 6:16:17 AM
I actually just wrote up a quick post about this on my blog, with credit to here, of course.
I find the spinal column piece amazing, and the best out of them all.
I find Bogusky's Flag and Che executions terrible. He's really only representing 84% of the country with religions, so...thanks, Alex.
And Che? Really? Those Che shirts stand for nothing but dollars and cents coming from entitled kids who want to act like they're part of a non-existent counterculture movement.
Meh.
Posted by: Alexander Chesbro | May 15, 2009 6:40:31 AM
I didn't see any "Lovemarks" on Kevin's efforts. Anyway, he didn't do them, his hacks did while he was checking out five star hotels in the South Pacific to write about on his pathetic blog.
Cheers/George
Posted by: George Parker | May 15, 2009 2:36:15 PM
The genius creative directors who approved these "efforts" should stick to what they do best--firing people and losing accounts through no fault but their own.
Posted by: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. | May 18, 2009 5:56:16 PM
