D&AD 50 – 50 years of excellence in design and advertising and the people that made it happen. 2013

It’s the one advertising award book to take serious: “Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple computers, flies in to collect the company’s fourth Black Pencil for product design.” (D&AD, 2013, p.27).

“While creativity in films, drama, food and literature flourishes, generally speaking, the way business uses creative advice to assist with its self-expression has become dispiriting – a bundle of stale and well worn clichés.” (Wolff in D&AD, 2013, p.91).

“Now that there is far more work from around the world, more diverse categories and multiple juries with international judges, it’s harder to maintain the standards that D&AD was created to uphold and celebrate.” (Wolff in D&AD, 2013, p.91).

“I will never write a book on advertising because there’s nothing to say that hasn’t been said before. If you want to learn how to do great ads, my advice is to study great ads. Everything that John Webster wanted to say about advertising is in his work.” (Abbott in D&AD, 2013, p.115).

“why did they (the presidents and people working for D&AD besides their job) give so much time to D&AD? I suspect, like me, they thought it was good for business. They turned out to honour the brave and good work, and by honouring it, they helped to increase it.” (Abbott in D&AD, 2013, p.117).

“Right now, advertising is trying to invade culture in every way it can. Back then, it was happy to sit in a little box called advertising – but it feels like it was much more a part of culture than it is nowadays.” (Henry in D&AD, 2013, p.115).

“The tougher jurors’ decisions are, the more likely next year’s entrants will strive to produce greater work.” (Brown in D&AD, 2013, p.115).

“However, the most ironic and, in retrospect, iconic moment was when the Yellow Pencil for Interactive was collected by none other than the legendary and much missed John Webster, advertising’s Mr TV – the man who considered a 48-sheet poster campaign “below the line”.” (Brown in D&AD, 2013, p.267).

“Like John Webster, D&AD understood it wasn’t advertising’s job to sell stuff.

It was marketing’s job to sell stuff.

Advertising was just the noisy, visible part of marketing.” (Trott in D&AD, 2013, p.302).

“It is advertising’s job to amplify marketing’s strategy.” (Trott in D&AD, 2013, p.303).

“One year, BMP won six D&AD Awards.

More than any other agency, including CDP.

I remember thar night sitting next to Stanley Pollitt, he was so proud.

Not because we’d won so many Awards.

But because, for once, John Webster had only won half of the,.

The entire rest of the creative department, had finally managed to win as many Awards as John had on his own.

Stanley saw that as a sign of his agency’s maturity.” (Trott in D&AD, 2013, p.303).

“I’ve been Chairman of the education sub-committee, and we came up with the phrase: ‘With a pencil comes responsibility.’ We are floating ideas like: if you win a Pencil, should you do educational community service? Should a Black Pencil be 12 hours and a Yellow Pencil eight?” (Brody in D&AD, 2013, p.349).