What would you like to put in an ad that never usually gets seen? We asked recent Lürzer's Archive contributors to tell us.
AXEL SPENDLINGWIMMER
Creative Director, Wien Nord Serviceplan, Vienna
Easter eggs – hidden treasures, messages, jokes, or secrets. Simply the non-obvious, rewarding everyone who discovers them. They give us the opportunity to add additional depth and engaging elements that are not only fun for us to implement but also especially entertaining for the audience. Happy hiding!
SANDRINE LE GOFF
Creative Director, LePub, Amsterdam
Breaking convention is most satisfying. This portrait breaks a taboo around women and their vaginas, whose representation in culture is stuck between medical and porn; it breaks the silence about endometriosis, which afflicts 10% of women with nameless pain; it breaks the idea that pain is ugly. And yet we can’t break the rule of airing it anywhere.
ANDREA BISTANY
Vice President / Group Creative Director, Klick Health, New York
A diverse population of powerful women showcasing the strength in their bodies and in their sexuality. In all phases of life. You know all the content that continues to get censored for being ‘inappropriate’? Let’s celebrate the power of femininity, instead of being afraid of it.
CAROLINE ANDERSSON
Art Director, Åkestam Holst, Stockholm
It’s not what you put in the ad, it’s about how you do it. And I miss dark humor. Let’s bring back the tickling darkness that makes you look behind your shoulder before you know it’s safe to laugh.
ANA-MARIJA MATIC
Senior Designer, Zulu Alpha Kilo, Toronto
Encouraging sustainable living, inclusivity, and community engagement is vital, but pushing creative boundaries further can inspire actionable impact as well as positive social and environmental change.
LIVIO GROSSI
Group ECD, Dentsu Creative Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City
Imagine advertising without attempting to sell anything. This poster should stand out amidst other advertisements by offering a pure, uncluttered moment, interrupting the usual barrage of marketing messages.
JAIME CUETO
CEO / VP Creative Soda Tres, Barcelona
I would make a law so the consumer knows that advertising will be broadcast in one minute. This already happens in many countries, but not worldwide, and consumers have the right to choose whether they want to see advertising or not.
XAVIER SOLÉ
Founder / Creative Director Honest, Barcelona
Irreverence. Irreverence is increasingly difficult to find in advertising. Almost everything is boring and flat. In a world full of repetitive messages, boldness and daring stand out. We need more irreverence to break molds, challenge norms, and emotionally connect with audiences saturated with the mundane.
REES STEEL
Creative Director, BMF Australia, Pyrmont
Ugly insects. Not CG ones, or ones that can talk. No bees, butterflies or beetles. I want uncharismatic little buggers. Arthropods, annelids or hell, I’d even settle for a nematode. As the dominant lifeforms by biomass, I reckon it’s only fair. They’re everywhere! Just not in ads.
DIMITRA ANDRIKOPOULOU
Creative Director, The Newtons Laboratory, Athens
I’d have to go with fourth-wall- breaking characters, inspired by real events, funny stories and cats. We already see them in ads, but we need more of them. I would also really love to put something small and unnoticeable in each work – an inside joke for me and my team, to remind us of the time we created it.
MIA SELAND PETERSEN & MIKE DINESEN PETERSEN
Creative Team, Jung von Matt, Stuttgart
A person with working hands who can’t carry anything, a funeral on land for a blue whale, a man with a literal heart of gold — no heartbeat comes from him, but he lives a pretty good life. An ad for a quantum computer only talking about the calculator, and shampoo for animals.
JOÃO SOARES
Copywriter, Ogilvy Brasil, São Paulo
Books display authors’ names on the covers. Film posters have credits. Even video games give a nod to their developers. So, how come TV and other ads shy away from credits? I say, let’s (subtly) insert our agency names in our creations. Who knows? The public might enjoy the transparency.
CLAUS COLLSTRUP
Creative Director & Partner &Co. / NoA, Copenhagen
Something real. At a time when artificial and fake is the norm and everything is controlled by data, it gets more and more rare to see a real photograph, a real person, a real ad.
GARY FAWCETT
Executive Creative Director, TBWA, Manchester
My mum. The ad would be honest and likeable, and the product would sell. There isn’t enough honesty from brands and people are crying out for it. They are also crying out for my mum in an ad. They just don’t know it yet.
ISABELA LOURENÇO
Art Director AlmapBBDO, São Paulo
I would introduce more realism, with ordinary people conveying real emotions and products being shown as they really are. Advertising must reflect the plurality and reality of the world to be true and effective.
DANIELLE HAYTHORNE & ALLISON CHAMBERS
Creative Director & Associate Creative Director, Will, Vancouver
We want to see more of the kind of stuff you’re not ‘supposed’ to show. The stuff that represents what’s going on in the real world. The topics that are culturally relevant and important outside of advertising, but are seen as too edgy for advertising.
