(at Art Directors Club of Montreal)
Doyle Dane Bernbach Inc. Senior Vice President, Head Art Director
"I love advertisements"
I run, (and I think alot of our other art directors do too), on kicks. A kick is a way of thinking which seems to be the only way of thinking at the time. No matter how different the advertising ideas are in each of the jobs I work on, this particular kick innuences either visually or in some other way, how these jobs come out. It soon becomes too easy and I become terribly bored with it. Then, I'm suddenly pushed into having to find another kick. This is the time when I feel empty, and this is the time when I am depressed. But then I start to climb out of it, and I find that there is a new approach, or a fresh viewpoint. 'lben, the cycle starts allover again.
I donlt know if it's true, that each time you start to climb, you climb higher. I kind of think it is. I donlt think there really is any progress in art, generally, but I do think there is progress within an individual in his ability to express his art.
One of the good things about being in this business a long time is that you begin to understand the conditions under which you work best.
I know that I work best when therels alot of pressure. Even when a job is not rushed, I seem to procrastinate until it is a rush, because that is the time when the juices begin to flow and I can think better.
I'm somewhat lazy, and I find that this discipline which comes from the outside really helps.
I am not noted for getting 1n early in the morning, but I never think of my job as a 9 to S job. When I have alot of work to do, I would just as soon work all night if I had to.
I also feel that any artist never rea~ gets away from his job.
I try not to bring any particular problelll5 home with me, but it seems to me that the problems of the moment cross my mind and I'm constantly tr,ying to find a solution to one thing or another.
And when I find an exciting solution, I get keyed up and it's hard to think of anything else.
Another thing I find is, that I'm happiest when I have a tremendous amount of work to do.
When I'm busy, I never have time to worry about myself. My mind is on the problem.
And it seems that the more work I do, the more work I'm able to do.
It also speeds up that cycle I referred to before.
You know, when I sit home at night and watch television, (whichI sometimes do), and I see the commercials, I get the feeling that commercials, generally, are the biggest bore in the world. Now I realize that the American economy has to keep moving ahead.
And I realize that advertising is the major tool used by the industries to move their products, but I really feel that you won't move these products by boring people, no matter how many selling points you may jam in.
When I work on a commerical, just the effort to keep from boring someone makes me do better work.
I like people very much. I like them too much to have a cynical approach. To underestimate their intelligence, or to attempt to deceive them.
I've always considered myself an average guy and I feel that if what I do has an appeal for me, other people will be moved by it too.
I've never been able to see things objectively. I'll leave that to the experts. Looking at things objectively, not following your own instincts, destroys your art.
Being artists, we are naturally sensitive to all changes around us. I think more sensitive than most people. If we lose this, we I re sunk.
This is the one thing that allows us intuitively to be ahead of the researchers.
One final thing. I think the day is past when the artist who has labored hard and long on his particular piece of creative work has to go to somebody and say, "Here is is, I hope you like it. Please like it. If you don't like it. I'll change it. If you don't like it, I'll shoot myself." The day has finally come, I think, when the people who do the work are also the people who have a strong voice in deciding what work will run.
If you can take your eyes off her face for a few moments, you may pick up a bargain in silks. Or perhaps even a Rollriflex.
In Jamaica, you have an excuse to stare. Faces like you've never seen before. Shades from a new spectrum. Eyes,cheekbones, skin, lips, hair--- that have always belonged to different worlds. Here, together in one face.
You see a girl behind the counter of a silk shop. You wonder. How much of that loveliness is Africa? How much China? How much India? How much Europe? You can't always tell. Sometimes, Africa blends into China into India into Europe. Until the divisions are blurred, the lines of difference, lost. And what comes out is a thing that belongs to none of them. Only to Jamaica. At its best, this new kind of beauty is fragile, dreamy, ethereal. At the very least, exciting, interesting, unexpected. So who could blame you for not paying attention to the purple silk sari.
But if you can shift your eves to the silk, you'll see that it is quite a buy. 60% less than you would pay in the States. And those French doeskin gloves. And those Egyptian cottons. 40% less.
Jamaica's duty-free prices are among the lowest in the world. Chivas Regal Scotch, $5.50 a fifth. Seagram's V.O., $2.50 a fifth. 12-year-old Jamaican rum, $3.00. Aphrodisia -- 60% less. Professional conga drums, hand-made by Jamaican George Hedley, $22.00. Hand-woven straw bags, S2.50. Nikon, Zeiss Ikon Contaflex. Rolleiflex cameras, 45% off.
Jamaica? Among other things, it's the world's most beautiful discount house.
For more information about Jamaican eyes, cheekbones or rum, see your travel agent or Jamaica Tourist Board, Dept. 2C, 630 Fifth Avenue, N.Y.C.
