NYNEX - "JUST LOOKING"
Just looking." Not only are these two words particularly grating to the sensitive ears of retailers. They're also potential. After all, you hear them too much and you're out of business. Nynex offered a very rewarding solution: advertise in the Yellow Pages.
MASSACHUSETTS LOTTERY -- "JUMPING FOR JOY"
Jumping for joy is what winning the lottery is all about. How could anyone possibly pass up a golden opportunity to see how high they could jump?
McCHICKEN TEASER -- "SINGING CHICKENS"
This 10-second spot, created for a regional consortium of McDonald's franchise owners -- without the mega-bucks of McDonald's corporate backing them -- had to be done on a shoestring budget. It was my idea to do the spot with singing chickens, who were known to work for chicken feed. My teammate Tom Simons, the art director who would later put his name on the doors of Rizzo, Simons, Cohn and Partners & Simons, immediately said they should sing the McDonald's jingle. And during production, it was lead chicken Tom Davis who added the hilarious punctuation at the end of the spot. Aside from winning a First Place Hatch Award, as well as One Show, Clio and Andy awards, the spot helped make the launch of McDonald's McChicken sandwich a huge success.
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS/BOSTON -- "GREAT PAINTERS OF EVANS WING"
To promote the launch of the totally restored Evan's Wing at the Museum of Fine Arts, I came up with a concept that featured not only great painters already known to the world, but an anonymous painter whose work did as much to elevate the Evan's Wing to its newfound status as anyone else's. As with the concurrent print advertising campaign, this spot relied on humor to reinforce the idea that fine art need not be intimidating. On the contrary, it should be entertaining for museum goers of all ages and all tastes.
As telecommunications rapidly grew more mystifying to an audience that came into the world a little too soon to be suckled with user-friendly technology, NYNEX Business Information Systems sought to simplify their technological sophistication through an unassuming advertising. The result: An award-winning, light-hearted telecommunications campaign employing the simplest possible graphics and animation.
NORTHERN UTILITIES -- "FOREIGN SUBSTANCE," "BURN MORE OF YOUR MONEY," "PERFECTLY CLEAR," "QUIT SMOKING"
If you want clean, economical and efficient home heating fuel, you choose natural gas. When Northern Utilities needed a simple, inexpensive and effective TV campaign to drive home its key sales messages in visually arresting ways, they enlisted me to write the copy, Wayne Waaraamaa to steer the art direction, and the two of us to develop the concepts. The result: these minimalist 15-second spots. The voice-over was provided by the grandfatherly character actor Barnard Hughes, whose many films included Oh God! with John Denver and Terri Garr, Tron with Jeff Bridges and Doc Hollywood with Michael J. Fox.
NASCAR – “PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE”
I was not directly involved in the production of this commercial. However, the concept "I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag," which I created, and the copy, most of which I wrote, were licensed to NASCAR for use by California Speedway, a NASCAR-operated track. "I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag" is a registered trademark that I own for use in all motorsports. Anyone interested in licensing this concept, should contact me at danbbro@gmail.com. Anyone wishing to purchase items featuring this iconic phrase, with a photo of a race car driver robed in a checkered flag, should go to Pledge Racing.
