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VOICES
The First Time
Everyone whose work is appearing in the pages of this annual should be proud. But if it’s your first time in here, the magnitude is heightened. You did it. You’re in the annual. You
might be standing a little taller today, attacking new briefs with the panache of a conquering hero returning from battle. One guarantee: you’re saving this book forever. At first, you’ll need to flip to the index to look up the page (or pages!) you’re on, but it won’t take you long to commit that page number to memory. Even when important digits like your high school graduation year fade in old age, that page number will remain firmly imprinted on your cerebrum.
Dave Kuhl
“I’ve always looked at the Advertising Annual as that great permanent record of what’s good and who’s doing it” —Marty Senn
Your first time in Communication Arts is also a moment to think about its impact on your career and how you’ll reflect upon it years from now. I talked to several veterans of the business about their inaugural appearance in the CA Annual, what it meant to them and advice they have for this year’s CA newbies.
Early Admiration
Hardly a soul gets into CA and remarks, “What’s CA?” Known throughout the industry by just two letters, it often serves as the first textbook for aspiring creatives. Former BBH chief creative officer Ari Weiss remembers developing his fondness for CA while attending Boston University. He would return home during winter break and hunt for the CA Annual in the magazine racks of the local bookstore. “Communication Arts was always next to Architectural Digest,” he recalls. “I would flip through every page in total admiration of one incredible idea after another—the same way I had previously fallen in love with The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes. And so my obsession began.”
Tim Cawley, founder and chief creative officer at Sleek Machine, used his commuting time to study the classics. “When I was just starting in the business, I remember I had three or four CA Annuals in my messenger bag that I took with me everywhere,” he says. “I had an hour bus ride to my job, each way, from Boston to Providence, and I pored over every ad OCD-style, desperately trying to figure out the tricks [of] legitimate copywriters. I was riveted by the work in the annual, but actually being in there myself seemed
24 Advertising Annual 2016
[like] a distant, far-fetched dream—like the advertising equivalent of a moon landing.”
All of the legendary work featured in past CA Annuals elevates the impact of making it in, especially when it’s your first appearance. Marty Senn, chief creative officer at Carmichael Lynch, comes from an advertising family, so he understood its significance. “CA has always been a big deal to me,” he says. “My dad was in the business, so we always had old issues of CA around the house, dog-eared where his agency had been featured. I’ve always looked at it—and the Advertising Annual in particular—as that great permanent record
of what’s good and who’s doing it.” BBDO executive creative director Denise Rossetto recognizes the longevity of every annual. “It’s such a tactile thing,” she says. “You read it and then spend all year with it.”
Anne Elisco-Lemme, executive creative director
at Duncan/Channon, developed a single-minded passion to get into the annual. “Early on in my career, CA was the
show to get into,” she says. “Every creative I knew kept every annual, writing his or her name in marker on the spine or cover so nobody would poach it. They were coveted. So, as you can imagine, I had one single goal at that time: to get into CA.”
First Time In
Weiss has the rare distinction of getting into CA for one of the first ads he ever created, while an intern at Sawyer Riley Compton, now Brunner. He still remembers the moment well: “For one of my first assignments, my partner Kevin Thoem and I were formidably tasked [with] making the Atlanta Ballet’s production of Romeo and Juliet more desirable to a younger audience. So we came up with the headline ‘Two ballet dancers die. What better reason to attend?’ and set the copy next to a dagger.” Flash forward to his next winter break, back home for the holidays and perusing the local bookstore again. “I dove straight into the annual, and there was our ad,” he says. “I couldn’t believe it. Something we had thought of was deemed worthy enough to belong in the hallowed pages of Communication Arts.”
Jay Russell, chief creative officer of GSD&M, made his first CA appearance with a print campaign for Arizona Jeans. He recalls the feeling: “In school, CA was where you went to see the best of the best. The Internet was in its infancy, and the CA Annual was [advertising’s] bible. So the first time in was a big deal for me.”