Monday, August 25, 2014

Creator: Mario Mariotti


Mario Mariotti
Green Tiger Press, 1984



The Best of Ad Campaigns!
Steve Blount and Lisa Walker
Rockport, 1988

Noblia Citizen, client
Lintas: New York, agency

…They needed what every client wants: Smart, breakthrough advertising. What they got was a trip to the zoo. Mike Jordan, the copywriter assigned to the business, had a book of “hand sculptures” which had been created by an Italian artist, Mario Mariotti. Mariotti's technique was to take someone’s hand, quickly daub it with paint to resemble some kind of animal, then photograph it. Arendash felt that, if the concept could be refined, “animals” would be a terrific way to show off Noblia….

…Working with Mariotti’s idea of the hand as an animal, Bruce Arendash and creative director Lynn Giordano began putting the pieces together. They hired Hiro, the famed Japanese photographer. Matching product attributes to animal characters, they came up with a duck, a swan, a giraffe and a zebra. The headlines pointed up the similarities: “Waterproof as a duck,” “Elegant as a swan.” “Thin as a giraffe,” “Bold as a Zebra.”…



…We really needed to set an image. The ‘animals’ did a good job of that from an advertising point of view, but where the ads appeared was just as important,” Kravetz continues. Lintas bought heavily in the fashion list: GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Esquire. It also bought Town & Country, a key play in the jewelry industry….


…The “animals” were unleashed in Fall 1986, to coincide with the second half of the 1986 buying season. Citizen put about $2 million behind the effort and a bit more than that for 1987. For their money, they got a series of spreads and a special twelve-page insert in jewelery [sic] trade magazines....


As Waterproof As a Duck.

As Thin As a Flamingo.

As Thin As a Giraffe.

As Striking As a Panther.

As Exotic As a Parrot.

As Rugged As a Ram.

As Elegant As a Swan.

As Racy As a Thoroughbred.

As Bold As a Zebra.
(two-page spread version)


Step-By-Step Graphics
September/October 1988

(Next post on Monday: Hellmuth Building)

Monday, August 18, 2014

Comics: Superman, 1973 Chinese Edition


SUPERMAN
(Chinese edition 1973)
Published bi-monthly by
Pan-Asia Publications Ltd.
1201/2 Kam Chung Bldg.
54 Jaffe Road, Hong Kong

First issue covers and splash page




(Next post on Monday: Mario Mariotti)

Monday, August 11, 2014

Comics: Hong Kong Comic Books




Popular Culture—Comic Books
In the 1950s and 1960s, comic book-stalls in Hong Kong were
virtually everywhere, and youngsters needed to pay only 10 cents
to read 10 of their favourites. To increase business, most street
barber-stalls bought many comics for young customers to read.
The most popular were the Miss Thirteen and Old Master Q series.
From the intellectual’s view, the cultural identity of the time was
best illustrated by literary magazines and student journals such as
New Currents and College Life.



Monday, August 4, 2014

Street Scene: Neon in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Macau


  H O N G   K O N G  
Neon signs on Temple Street and streets nearby
























Hong Kong Museum of History



Victoria Peak



GUANGZHOU

Lan Kwai Fong, Shamian Island




MACAU





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Calle Dao
Casa Grande Neon Sign Park
New York Neon, Postcards from Chinatown

 


(Next post on Monday: Hong Kong Comic Books)