Air Inspiration

We all experience it, those moments when we feel completely uninspired to work on anything. When we feel we can't create something cool and original. The above two commercials are in my opinion the best Jordan commercials ever made and (among others) are what I turn to, to get me inspired, and motivated to crank out good work. God bless You Tube. What do you guys do when your brain feels like being lazy?

U.S.S. Pampanito

This one-shot for the U.S.S. Pampanito was done by Jac Madsen (AD) of The Creative Department in San Francisco. Demonstrates the 3-part headline. Fitting, or inefficient? Thoughts on the art direction.

SAS Airlines

These billboards for SAS Airlines were done by Daniel Berenson(CW) of Adhouse NYC. It demonstrates the classic lingua franca juxtaposition line. Is the execution easy, or does its simplicity carry well and hit easy? Consider the medium.

Defining Greatness

Considering the subjectivity involved in what it is we do, I've often wondered to myself what makes a great ad? Recently, I spoke with a couple writers at Martin-Williams who stressed the need for every campaign in a student book to be great.

When they know you've spent a couple years devoting your life to building a portfolio, you shouldn't just be doing good stuff. But what if some say your work is good, but others say its great? What if some don't even think its good?

I say a great ad is an ad everyone (or most everyone in the great creative schema of things) agrees is great. For example, the above headline issued in the 2000 CA Ad Annual by Carmichael Lynch--no creative in their right mind could honestly say that this isn't a great ad, or at least a great headline.

Thoughts? How do you define what a great ad is?

The Eye Bank

This ad for The Eye Bank was done by Matthew Ogelby (CW) of 101 Ad School. Thoughts on the implementation of the braille execution? Does it work here--originally? Or has braille become so used that it becomes incredibly difficult to execute without being an advertising cliche.

Wolford Nylons

These spreads for Wolford (nylons) were done by Kelly Riordan (AD), B. William Johnson(CW) and Nobuhisa Tanimoto (CW) of Brainco.

All thoughts are welcomed and encouraged as usual.

What's in YOUR book?

Long-time reader, first-time poster.

I'm an art director (I'm clearly not a writer) and I'm interested in hearing your opinions on this:

I was proposing some spec work to one of my writers last night when I realized that I had no idea what's really missing from my book. I always hear things like "Oh, you should have some travel," or "There should be a parity product," or some other blanket statement. But no one's ever said "You know, these are the categories CDs are interested in seeing," and then laid out a list.

So, what I'm interested in hearing is what you think--or what you've heard--qualifies as an even mix of clients for a student book. What do you have? What do you wish you had?