Awards season is upon us. Appropriately, we interviewed a man who knows more than most about awards. Donald Gunn, once dubbed as "the man with the best job in advertising," is the founder of The Gunn Report, launched in 1999. The Gunn Report is based on a very simple idea: it combines the winners' lists from all of the major advertising award contests in the world - national, regional and global - thus establishing the annual worldwide league tables for the advertising industry. Donald, who is Scottish, joined Leo Burnett in London, fresh from Cambridge University, in 1962. Donald worked as an Account Executive for six years before becoming a copywriter. He subsequently served as Burnett's Managing Director in the Netherlands and Switzerland, and Creative Director in South Africa and France.

In 1984, Donald was appointed Leo Burnett's Director of Creative Resources Worldwide. In this job, based in Chicago, he created several Burnett institutions which are the envy of the industry (including the World TV Update and Worldbeater reels, and the Global Product Committee), as well as spearheading the worldwide study on creativity and effectiveness, "Do Award Winning Commercials Sell?" After retirement from Burnett, Donald served as President of the Cannes Festival in 1998 and 1999.

After much top-secret data-crunching for The Report, the league tables emerge, including top commercials, top agencies, top production companies and top countries, as well as a Showreel of the Year featuring the 100 most-awarded campaigns in the world. Donald talks about notable trends at award shows including the "return of the giants," how you can use The Gunn Report Library, and which particular nineties sitcom featuring Jennifer Aniston his kids got him hooked on. Interviewed by Regan Murphy, regan@adcglobal.org.

DG: There was a need for the best in advertising to be identified. Because there are so many individual award shows there was a need to bring together a consensus and identify and celebrate the best.

DG: In the first seven or eight years the report did not change very much. Eventually, consolidated league tables enabled better comparisons, and after that big things happened.

DG: I had never worked in interactive. I worked in TV and print and I have always regretted the fact that I was not around for interactive. Some countries have gotten really good at interactive really quickly. I have really enjoyed observing this trend.

DG: The trend of the "return of the giants" is fantastic. These giants have recently done very well in all media. Unilever, with their Dove campaigns for example, is one of these "giants." So are Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola. Pepsi was eclipsing Coca-Cola but that is not so any longer.

DG: In 2007 within the agencies league table, twenty-three different countries were represented in comparison with sixteen countries awarded in both 2006 and 2005. Countries like Romania and Latvia are being awarded. The geographical spread of creative excellence is increasing and I think this is a great trend.

DG: I haven't strongly encouraged my children. They are similar to me in some ways though. Two of my children have had internships in London but who knows yet. I am not sure yet what they will pursue.

DG: Individual creatives are one of the biggest groups of The Report users. In addition to having a nice book on their shelves, the reel allows individuals to look at 100 of the most awarded works. It is a record of the whole year at their fingertips.

DG: Next year we will add integrated, which is a complete campaign with mixed media. I think design is a whole different thing, but perhaps it will be added to the report one day.

DG: The Gunn Library is unique in a couple of ways. We only put in 100 of the best of a year of advertising. And as we have gone back and put in commercials from the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's we have used the same criteria - only including the most awarded. You can find things in a way you would not expect. Beam.TV allows us to provide a whole menu and the menu is devoted to strategy. For example you may search by topics like "safety", "long lasting", "examples of roles of mothers." Or you may search within different formats, "demos" or "side by side comparisons." Categories like "naughty," "rude" and "daring" have been very popular.

Places you want to go: more of India, the middle of Africa, and more of Japan.

Books: Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns and books by Carl Hiaasen

Movies: The Godfather, Jaws, The Magnificent Seven

TV Shows: Cheers, Friends, UK comedy shows

Drinks: vodka, scotch, wine (but only with meals)

DG: I am about to leave for Thailand for Adfest then will go to India for the Advertising Agencies Association of India's annual festival, Goafest.

DG: No, not yet.

Resulting from The Gunn Report is an annual product - The Gunn Report & Showreel of The Year - the 100 most awarded commercials and campaigns in the world in the year that was. This provides the advertising, marketing and production communities everywhere with the ultimate screening and reference reel of the world's best commercials of the year - plus a beautiful book with synopses and credits for all the commercials and The Gunn Report itself in full. This year The Report will include information on the most awarded online and interactive work for the first time. Put simply, this will be one of the most important reference book and reel you can buy throughout the year. The good news is that to make sure even more people read it, The Gunn Report team is making their product highly affordable, whether you are a Creative Director or a student of advertising.

The Gunn Report Library offers only the best of the best. The unique online library is the SMALLEST creative library in the world and that is one of its huge benefits. If you want to research, view and use just great work, then you need use no other library. The Library itself houses approximately 2,000 commercials from 1962 to the present day, growing by 100 ads a year (i.e. The Showreel of The Year). The quality of the work is not the only reason for using The Gunn Report Library - the real benefit is in Donald's fantastic tagging and coding. Each ad is tagged with the more conventional - agency, creative, director, product and category as you would expect. You can, however, also search The Gunn Report Library by three wholly unprecedented (yet simple to use) fields, created for advertising people with their daily work and challenges in mind.

At point of order ADC members may enter the code "ADC08" and receive a 10% discount across the board on your purchase. For information about membership and subscriptions go here.

ADC Young Guns exists to identify today's vanguard of young creative professionals. Those of you who've set your minds to making a name for yourself, raising new standards from within cubicles, conference rooms, cramped apartments, and studios across the world - this is your chance to put those battle cries in action. If you're age thirty or under and have two years of the working life under your belt, we'd like you to show us what it's all about.

This year, 50 winners will join the ranks of past ADC Young Guns Stefan Sagmeister, James Victore, Rei Inamoto, floto+warner, Mike Mills, Bonnie Siegler, Emily Oberman, and Todd St. John, among others.

To learn more and register, visit the just-launched ADC Young Guns site: http://www.adcyoungguns.org

The Advertising and Graphic Design seniors at SVA were asked to submit their best ads, campaigns, designs, digital videos and 3-D work for a portfolio show.

Chairperson: Richard Wilde

@ADC Gallery
106 West 29th Street, NYC

The Backstory: ADC Young Guns Live starts at 5:30 with an Adobe CS3 Workshop led by Adobe Certified Trainer Scott Citron and celebrates the ADC Young Guns 6 Call for Entries with a presentation from a past Young Gun. At 7:00 pm Julia Hoffmann, ADC Young Guns 4 recipient, treks back to the Art Directors Club to talk about her transitions from design to advertising, from traditional to interactive, from Pentagram to Crispin Porter Bogusky, and from New York City to Boulder, Colorado. Hoffmann will share her work, which - like her career, life, and location - is constantly in flux. One attendee will win a copy of Adobe CS3 Design Premium. The evening is sponsored by Adobe.

$14 for ADC members
$20 for non-members
To register go here.

5:30 pm Adobe Workshop
7:00 pm Presentation

@ADC GALLERY
106 West 29th Street, NYC

THE ADC JURIES HAVE SPOKEN.
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH IS ALMOST UPON US... Stay tuned! This year's winners will be revealed and celebrated at ADC's 87th Annual Awards Gala. Yahoo!'s Big Idea chair will be awarded to the top winner(s) in the ADC Hybrid category and the Corbis Creativity for Social Justice Award recipients will be named and receive cash prizes.

Buy tickets!
87th Annual Awards Gala
May 1, 2008 - 7pm
@ ADC Gallery
106 West 29th Street, NYC
http://www.adcawards.org

"One night, many cities and the best creatives in the land"

Portfolio Night 6, the world's largest annual advertising portfolio review, returns to New York City next month. The event will happen in twenty other cities worldwide. New York's night will happen at ADC's Gallery and is sponsored by DDB Worldwide and produced by ADC's partner, ihaveanidea.

If you are a student, recent graduate, or junior with an advertising portfolio you should consider attending Portfolio Night 6! New York is sold out but you may still buy tickets for Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco or one of sixteen other cities. For more information and to see the full list of Portfolio Night 6 locations, where thousands of juniors will receive valuable face-to-face time with the best creative directors in the world, go here. Please purchase your ticket with plenty of anticipation! Every year most cities sell out before the event.

Thursday, May 8, 2008
@ ADC Gallery
106 West 29th Street, NYC

The study of motion design is essential for anyone entering the graphic design industry. Steven Heller and Michael Dooley present the first comprehensive look at course offerings from more than thirty leading design, illustration, animation, and computer art programs. Respected professors from prestigious schools, such as the California Institute of the Arts, University of San Francisco, Ohio State University, School of Visual Arts, Massachusetts College of Art, Rochester Institute of Technology, and many others, offer more than fifty syllabi packed with detailed information and class projects for this up-and-coming area of graphic design. Michael Dooley is a contributing editor for Print magazine and the co-editor, with Steven Heller, of The Education of a Comics Artist. Steven Heller is the art director of The New York Times Book Review and co-chair of the MFA/Design department of the School of Visual Arts. He has written or edited more than 100 books on graphic design and illustration. This book was released in February and is now available from Allworth Press.

You are cordially invited to meet, critique and recruit the 200 most promising graduating students selected from the best advertising and design schools around the country. The ADC National Student Portfolio Reviews will take place May 5 & 6, 2008. To RSVP as an *ADC* portfolio reviewer only, go here.






Design Review

Monday, May 5, 12-6 pm
Chairs: Carla Frank of O, The Oprah Magazine and Neil Powell

Advertising Review

Tuesday, May 6, 12-6 pm
Chairs: Wayne Best of TAXI Inc and Tom Christmann of Cliff Freeman

Reviewers will receive detailed information upon arrival outlining student specialty, seat location, school and contact info. One sample of work from each student along with their seat assignment will be posted on the entrance wall as you arrive.

Participating Schools:

Academy of Art University
Art Institute, New York City
Brainco
California College of the Arts
California State University, Long Beach
The College of Saint Rose
Columbia College of Chicago
The Creative Circus
Fashion Institute of Technology
Herron School of Art and Design
Kean University of New Jersey
Kutztown University
Maryland Institute, College of Art
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Miami Ad School
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
New York City College of Technology
Parsons, The New School for Design
Pennsylvania State University
Pratt Institute
Portfolio Center
Ringling College of Art and Design
Sage College of Albany
Savannah College of Art and Design
School of Visual Arts
SMU Temerlin Advertising Institute
Syracuse University
Tyler School of Art
University of Texas at Austin
University of Delaware
Virginia Commonwealth University

May 5 & 6
Lunch served from 12-3pm and cocktails at 6 pm.
@ ADC Gallery
106 West 29th Street, NYC

For questions call 212-643-1440 x 16.

Launched by the Art Directors Club and Moleskine®, The Undiscovered Letter was a creative competition developed to raise awareness about lettera27. The challenge was open exclusively to past ADC Young Guns, who were asked to conjure up the 27th letter of the alphabet. Participants were encouraged to do away with boundaries and interpret this concept freely.

27 finalists were selected. See and comment on their work here.

Take a break from your computer! Download, print and build your own pinhole camera, designed exclusively with Corbis images and illustrations. Check it out here.

Top CEOs tell how design has made a difference to their bottom line, and top designers explain how their best designs address corporate goals. Real case studies. Real problems. Real solutions. Plenty of opportunities to ask questions of speakers and trade with other attendees.

Robin Marino, President of Merchandising for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and Gael Towey, Chief Creative Officer, have joined @Issue's illustrious slate of speakers at this year's conference at The Times Center on Thursday, April 29. The two will speak about the intersection of business and design and how they are spearheading many new partnerships, expanding the Martha Stewart brand, and rolling out thousands of new products. For a complete list of speakers, go to the Corporate Design Foundation's website.

ADC members can attend for the discount price of $510.00. Two or more people from the same organization can attend for the Corporate Design Foundation member discount of $450.00. To register, send an email to admin@cdf.org indicating that you are an ADC member and provide information on who would like to register.

The mystery of advertising awards shows is revealed. Each week ihaveanidea.org's New York correspondent Brandon Burns will post an interview of one of the jury members from this year's ADC Awards, giving an uncensored peek at what really goes on, what the judges are thinking, and how they decide upon which works to bestow the prestigious ADC cube. To see Brandon's interviews, which will be posted weekly, go to the ADC's adblog.

Sara Blumberg Fine Art is sponsoring a series of pop-up galleries throughout New York City. The first location opened on March 25th and will run through April 15th with a show titled: Obsessive Methods of Expression.

floto+warner, members of the ADC Young Guns 5 class, will have large-scale inflatable sculptures made up of reconstructed holiday yard ornaments. The title of the piece is Holiday Patriarch and includes: a toy soldier, three wisemen and a pilgrim.

Three sculptures from the same series are currently on display at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN until August and will then be on display at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh until January 2009. floto+warner's bio can be found on the Walker Art Center's website here.

499 Canal Street (near Renwick)
March 25 - April 15
Show Hours 12-6, Tuesday - Saturday and by appointment
Email: info@blumbergfineart.com

Join some of the greatest inventors, designers, tech wizards, and artists of our time exploring the key role of play in creativity and innovation - in business, the arts, technology, and more. For information go here.

May 7, 8 and 9
Art Center College of Design
Pasadena, California

Email: conference@artcenter.edu or call 626.396.2357.

On Thursday, April 24 at 1:00 pm ADC member and photographer EJ Carr will participate in the new exhibition-with-a-twist "New York Exiles." Staged by Haydn Shaughnessy Gallery, this exhibition is the second to be staged in their stunning new virtual gallery Ten Cubed. Haydn Shaughnessy Gallery, apart from having a physical space in Kinsale Ireland, is a burgeoning designer and developer of virtual exhibition events and spaces and pioneers new ways to show and connect with art and artists.

Ten Cubed, based in Second Life and lauded for its unusual design values, will host New York artists EJ Carr, Susan Kaprov and Jimmie James. "It's a no brainer for the creative industry," says EJ. "Advertising is going digital and the new virtual gallery is all about digital visual culture." A room dedicated to the work of Jon Coffelt and his candy Harley will also feature in the exhibition. "We wanted to work with EJ to show off some of his extraordinary images of Ireland and a few hot fashion shots as well," says gallery owner Haydn Shaughnessy. The gallery - one of a small number globally to devote its programs to new media art - offers virtual and real art exhibitions to corporates looking to connect their brand to creativity and innovation.

"Virtual exhibitions allow us to explore the visual potential of digital technology," says Shaughnessy, a writer for the Irish Times. "And they allow us to connect globally. Come to your screen at 1pm on the 24th and connect with visual professionals from across the world. It's better than Starbucks! Or contact us and we'll give you a personal tour. Apart from three great artists there's a lot to learn here about digital perspectives and connectivity." Ten Cubed can be found by going here. For more info contact Haydn Shaughnessy at haydnshaughnessy@gmail.com.

Connecticut-based ADC member Brad Olsen-Ecker has published a book on cat cartoons. He has used the cartoons as promotional pieces and sends them to clients (animal lovers) for his company olsenecker.com. You may contact Brad at olsenecker@optonline.net.

A logo by ADC member Leila Singleton appears in David E. Carter's latest release, The Big Book of Logos 5. Singleton's design was selected for inclusion via the international Logo 07 competition.

Photographs by ADC member Lloyd Ziff are running in the April issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Lloyd's photographs of Cap Ferrat on the French Riviera are on pages 134-139.

Tony Adamic: Split Croatia
Sarah Aronowitz: NY NY
Shaun Baron: Philadelphia PA
Melissa Bensinger: NY NY
Ailyn Carmona: Lake Grove NY
Chia-Hua Chang: Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah GA
Yu-Yeon Cho: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence RI
David Chustz: NY NY
Juanita Dharmazi: NY NY
Brittany Dolence: Pratt Institute, Brooklyn NY
Melissa Farris: Brooklyn NY
Zoe Fedeles: NY NY
Orcun Gogus: NY NY
Josh Gomby: Rochester NY
Farrah Gross: Manalapan NJ
Giovanni Hernandez: Ridgewood NY
Elana Hershman: Brooklyn NY
Amanda Holt: Salisbury Mills NY
Fumiko Hosotani: NY NY
Jennifer Kaminski: NY NY
Jonathan Kaplan: Malverne NY
Bobby Kelly: Brooklyn NY
Inii Kim: NY NY
Minkwan Kim: Seoul Korea
Valerie King: River Vale NJ
Stan Kovics: NY NY
Christopher Lehr: Pratt Institute, Brooklyn NY
Victoria Manica: Toronto Canada
John Marques: NY NY
Raphael Milczarek: NY NY
Clarendon Minges: NY NY
Jason Mirabile: NY NY
Yoshichika Murakami: NY NY
Izumi Nakamura: Brooklyn NY
Frank O'Brien: NY NY
Thomas Olesen: Pratt Institute, NY NY
Leo Pike: VCU Brandcenter, Richmond VA
Nick Ridley: London UK
Bart Solenthaler: Upper Montclair NJ
Rene V. Steiner: Geneva Switzerland
Burkhard Sussenguth: Wuerzburg Germany
Lana Tesanovic: NY NY
David Tobey:NY NY
Keir Weinberg:Freehold NJ
Katharina Welin: NY NY
Judy Wert: North Salem NY
Martin West: Westfield NJ
Tong Wu: Baruch College, NY NY
Kyungmin Yang: Parson School of Design, NY NY

We regretfully note the passing of J. Robert 'Bob' Crozier. World War II veteran, art director and graphic designer, Bob began his career in advertising and publishing as an art director with the advertising agency Sullivan, Stauffer, Colwell, and Bayles, and later joined Ogilvy and Mather. In 1964 Bob started his own advertising and graphic design company, Bob Crozier and Associates, and worked closely with American Express and Boy's Life Magazine. In 1976, he staged a major retrospective exhibit of American illustration for the Society of Illustrators at The New York Historical Society, followed by the publication of his book 200 Years of American Illustration. In 1977, Bob moved his business to Washington, D.C., where he worked extensively with the Smithsonian Institution and other government agencies. Bob first joined the ADC in 1962 and was a Life Member. Bob passed away on February 28th and was 86. (Cape Cod Times)

ADC members - this is your space to share. The newsletter is published monthly. The deadline for submissions is the 15th of each month. Send news to regan@adcglobal.org with the subject line Newsletter.

The ADC is the premier organization for integrated media and the first international creative collective of its kind. Founded in New York in 1920, the ADC is a self-funding, not-for-profit membership organization that celebrates and inspires creative excellence, connecting creative visual communications professionals from around the world.

To promote the highest standards of excellence and integrity in visual communications for the industry and to encourage students and young professionals entering the field. In short, to provide "visual fuel."

To provide a forum for creative leaders in Advertising, Design, Interactive Media and Communications to meet, learn, participate, and explore the direction for these rapidly evolving industries.

Not Yet A Member? Join Now.
The Art Directors Club 106 West 29th Street New York, NY 10001 212.643.1440 www.adcglobal.org