Congratulations on 100 years of 7 - Ad Agebrandedcontent.adage.com/pdf/adcraft05.pdf · 2016. 1. 25. · A40. Adcraft is leaving a legacy for the future that is relevant and exciting—just

©2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

7

7Congratulations

to the Adcraft Club on 100 years of

excellence and innovation.

CONTENTS

DECEMBER 5, 2005 A3

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF ADVERTISING AGE

ADCRAFT CELEBRATES 100 YEARS OF BIG IDEAS

Welcome to the Adcraft Club of Detroit’s celebration of 100 Years of Big Ideas!

Adcraft is justifiably proud of its reputation as the largest and most vital

advertising club in the nation. In our market, “Adcraft” and “advertising” are

virtually synonymous.

The pages that follow chronicle the 100-year history of the Adcraft Club and

the history of Detroit’s dynamic advertising community, celebrating a century of

culture, community and advertising. You’ll see some amazing creative, and you'll

learn that here in the Motor City we are looking forward to a very bright future

for Adcraft and an equally dynamic future for the Detroit agency community.

Adcraft’s Centennial, and this section in particular, demonstrate to a national audience our pride in the

Adcraft Club, and in the work we all produce for the domestic auto industry and many other blue-chip

clients. We’re particularly proud that the auto industry is the largest ad revenue-generating industry in the

nation, representing 15% of the total advertising revenue in the U.S. And 63% of that revenue is generated

right here in Detroit.

Yes, the work is fantastic and we’re very proud of what we’ve done here in Detroit for the past 100 years.

But this celebration isn’t just about the past. I would invite you to read about the Adcraft Labyrinth on Page

A40. Adcraft is leaving a legacy for the future that is relevant and exciting—just like great marketing—and will

create a buzz in the Detroit community for decades to come.

Our future is bright. The Adcraft Club—and the Detroit advertising community—are poised for the next

100 Years of Big Ideas.

Michael WrightSenior VP-group account director, Cadillac, Leo Burnett Detroit

Adcraft president, 2005-06

A 4 19 05 HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Adcraft launches in Detroit amid the new-bornautomotive furor.

A 6 19 10 GROWTH AND THE GREAT WAR

Adcraft works to establish itself as Detroit under-goes massive growth.

A 10 1920 THAT ROARING DECADE

Despite early labor problems, the 1920s was a decade of expansion and change.

A 12 1930 THE DEPRESSION YEARS

The 1930s were bleak for Detroit, but Adcraftrallied despite the economy.

A 18 1940 THE SECOND GREAT WAR

Adcraft members do their share, as Uncle Samtakes over Detroit for the war effort.

A 20 1950 HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN

Detroit and Adcraft thrive as the country turns to TV, consumerism and cars.

A 24 1960 DECADE OF DISSONANCE

The 1960s was an uneasy period for the U.S., and Detroit was no exception.

A 30 1970 CONSOLIDATION IN MOTOR CITY

Takeovers and downsizing mark a decade of change in Detroit.

A 34 1980 THE EMPHASIS ON QUALITY

In a tough period, Detroit advertising faces mergers while its automotive clients take on the imports.

A 36 1990 THE CHANGING FACES OF DETROIT

In the last decade of the 20th century, the agencyworld continues to consolidate.

A 38 2000 ADCRAFT DEFINES A NEW ERA

As Detroit businesses disperse, Adcraft takes thelead as a unifying force for a new century.

A 4 0 THE FUTURE OF ADCRAFT

Marking its centennial, Adcraft creates a legacyfor the people of Detroit.

A 42 100 YEARS OF ADCRAFT PRESIDENTS

A look at a century of leadership.

Vanessa ReedGeneral Manager-Sales & Marketing

Paul AudinoAdvertising Director

Suzanne HermalynDirector-BusinessDevelopment

Karen EgolfDirector-Editor, SpecialProjects

Richard K. SkewsAssociate Editor

John McDonoughWriter

Julie ArmstrongResearcher

Jane AdlerProofreader

Barry KafkaArt Director

Jeanine DunnIssue Designer

Vickie DanielProduction Manager

Cover design: Andy Lazaris, JWT, DetroitDaimlerChrysler Corp. images: Copyright DaimlerChrysler Corp. Used with permission.

A4

n the opening decade of the 20th century, Detroit saw two key industries take root that would mark its reputation and direction for decades: automobiles and advertising.

On the automotive side, if the city had not first been named le Detroit (for “the straight”) in 1701 byFrench explorer Antoine Laumet de la Mothe Cadillac, it would surely have been christened Ford City by1910. In 1903, Henry Ford began building his first little two-cylinder jobs on Mack Avenue. That same year56 other companies took a flier on the flivver, and 27 conked out before 1904, all in the Detroit area. Mr.Ford, of course, puttered along with arduous practicality, and in 1905 began turning out his Tin Lizzys,backed by an advertising investment of $39,513. The Ford tide—along with a push from General MotorsCo., formed in 1908—would lift all boats in Detroit, including the city’s place as an advertising center.

Amid the automotive furor, the Adcraft Club was born in December 1905 to the tune of Gus Edwards’and Vincent Bryan’s “In My Merry Oldsmobile,” which celebrated (as well as advertised) the Detroit-

to-Portland trek that Oldsmobile waspromoting as part of the Lewis andClark Exposition that year.

Adcraft was the brainchild of 19-year-old Henry Ewald, then admanager for the Detroit & ClevelandNavigation Co. While attending thefirst meeting of the AssociatedAdvertising Clubs of America inChicago in the fall of 1905, he sawwhat the profession was making ofitself in Cincinnati, St. Louis and Chicago. He returned home, determined that the Detroit ad community mustorganize in a consortium of shared interests.

About 40 of the city’s leading admen met on Dec. 7, 1905. They would become the charter membership of theDetroit Adcraft Club, representing the four legs of the business: advertisers, agencies, media and suppliers.

Most advertising, like politics, was still local. But the industry was beginning to talk of itself as a science, not a trans-action. And the weekly luncheons of the Adcraft Club were where some of the more interesting talk was to happen.

DECEMBER 5, 2005

“Dear Sir: You are invited to attend a meetingto be held…on Thursday, DecemberSeventh, at Eight O’clock, P.M., to consider theformation of an Advertising Club in Detroit.”

—Invitation to the first Adcraft Club meeting

ADCRAFT FOUNDER Henry Ewald takes a spin in 1909 in a 1910 E-M-F car.

1905

ITHE BIRTH OF AN ERA


In the future, ads will pop up in our cereal bowls.Our dreams will be interrupted by commercials.

But we’ll still look to magazines when we don’t want to be found. magazine.org/readonREAD ON

A6

THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE:ADCRAFT AND SELF-REGULATIONSome of the first tentative, though premature,

steps toward advertising self-regulation were

taken by the Detroit ad community nearly 90

years ago when the Adcraft Club formed the

Vigilance Committee.

The notion that advertisers might have some

faint obligation to tell the truth about the products

they sold was a progressive idea of almost radical

proportions in the second decade of the 20th

century—something akin to backing child labor

laws, old-age pensions or the union movement.

But in the waning days of the Progressive Era, it

was being increasingly talked about.

In 1917, self-imposed honesty got a boost

with the formation of the American Association

of Advertising Agencies. But as a trade group,

the Four A’s was prohibited by law from forcing

ethics codes on its members.

In Detroit during that period, local advertisers

found it easy to make bold claims and extravagant

promises that were invariably either exaggerated

or nonexistent. This was especially common

among local retailers and cosmetics marketers.

In response, the Adcraft Club formed a Vigilance

Committee to write an advertising code of

conduct and persuade, not force, members to

comply. Those who didn’t might ultimately be

shamed into some sort of observance.

The problem, according to Adcraft historian

and former Executive Secretary Lee Wilson, was

that certain Adcraft members were among the

rogue advertisers and had little enthusiasm for

supporting a trade organization that was

undermining their selling methods or embarrassing

their owners.

It soon became clear that Adcraft was not in a

position to impose sanctions on its own. This

could only be done by an organization independent

of the industry it was to regulate. So in 1917 the

Adcraft Vigilance Committee was spun off and

became the first office of the Better Business

Bureau of Detroit.

uckraking killjoys such as Ida Tarbell may not have been welcome at Adcraft luncheons,but members were getting to know their Freud. In October 1911, W.A. Shryer spoke ata club luncheon about the mysteries of psychology and “the psychological lawsunderlying interest and desire” in advertising. Who said this ain’t a science?

Among other luncheon speakers in Adcraft’s new quarters at Grand River andWashington was Henry Ford himself, then celebrating his 10th year in business andhis millionth car sold. His topic on Feb. 18, 1913, was “The value of an idea in advertising.”Mr. Ford never made it clear exactly what that value was. But his trust in advertisingwas known to be erratic at best.

Mr. Ford was not the only agent of change in Detroit during the teens. In ways fewcould have

expected, the Great War that remadeEurope helped remake Detroit, too.Before World War I, much of thecheap labor that kept the factoriesexpanding had come from successivewaves of poor but eager Europeanimmigrants. But that immigration felloff sharply as Europe became miredin conflict and stalemate during thewar years of 1914 to 1918. Squeezedfor labor, factory recruiters headed to the South with as many one-way train tickets as they could carry andpromises of high-paying jobs in the big-city North. Their principal target: impoverished black sharecroppersand plantation workers. The pulling effect of such promises was accelerated in 1915 by the pushing effect ofa monstrous boll weevil plague and massive cotton crop failures.

It triggered the greatest single mass migration in American history, as hundreds of thousands of poor blacklaborers flooded north. Fewer than 6,000 African-Americans lived in Detroit in 1910. Within 20 years, thatfigure would surge twentyfold to 120,000.

As America entered World War I in 1917, Detroit factories became a center of war production. The AdcraftClub moved into Detroit’s Board of Commerce offices as membership fell off. But it never ceased activity.

M

DECEMBER 5, 2005

GROWTH IN A TIME OF GREAT CHANGE

EARLY ADCRAFT members (from left) George Slocum, Richard Cohn and Frank Martin stroll along the waterfront in 1914.

“The luncheons served in the café of theAdcraft Club are the best 40 cents’ worth youcan get in the city of Detroit....There isn’tanother 40 cents’ worth equal to it in theseUnited States.”

—Adcrafter, Jan. 21, 1913

1910

DECEMBER 5, 2005 A7


1905Ford

1927Lincoln

1928LaSalle

1915Cadillac Written by Ted MacManus, “The Penalty of Leadership” was ranked one of the top 50 ads of the 20th century byAdvertising Age.

1929Nash Ambassador

1915

1927

1905

19291928

1905-1929 THE WORK

VOGUE • W • GLAMOUR • ALLURE • SELF • JANE • TEEN VOGUE • GQ • DETAILS • MEN’S VOGUE • ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST •

CARGO • DOMINO • GOLF DIGEST • GOLF WORLD • GOLF FOR WOMEN • VANITY FAIR • GOURMET • BON APPÉTIT • CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER •

it’s a torrid

It’s not a subscription,love affair.There’s a connection

our readers have

with our magazines.

A connection

fueled by passion.

©2005 The C

ondéN

ast Publications, Inc.

HOUSE & GARDEN • BRIDES • MODERN BRIDE • ELEGANT BRIDE • MODERN BRIDE CONNECTION • LUCKY

WIRED • COOKIE • EPICURIOUS.COM • CONCIERGE.COM • STYLE.COM • MEN.STYLE.COM • THE NEW YORKER

DECEMBER 5, 2005A10

fter several years of relative inactivity, a reorganized Adcraft resumed publicationof the weekly Adcrafter magazine in 1923. The club reawakened to a series of seismicevents that would rock the nation, especially Detroit. Triggered at first by voraciouspost-war inflation that sent the buying power of Henry Ford’s famous $5 day of1914 plummeting to $2.40, labor was seething with discontent and frustration.

It was ironic, though hardly coincidental, that the world’s most industrializedworkforce would produce the most powerless labor movement. But this wasAmerica, where the freedom to make a contract made no distinction between theindividual worker and the all-powerful oligarch. Besides, frightened immigrantswho barely spoke English were hard to organize. But they could still get angry.

Stymied on all sides by management, government, the courts, police and hiredthugs, labor went for the nuclear option—the general strike. Between 1919 and 1921, for the first timein American history, whole industriesshut down as more than 4 millionworkers walked out. The finalshowdown might have happenedthen and there if recession anddepression hadn’t crushed the laboruprising by throwing millions out ofwork—10% of the workforce bysome estimates.

As labor licked its wounds,Henry Ford built the crowningmonument of the industrializedworld: the River Rouge plant justsouth of Detroit. When completed in 1927, it covered 2,000 acres and employed 75,000 men. Not tobe outdone, General Motors Corp. built the largest office complex in the world on West GrandBoulevard. Detroit prospered in labor peace, as Mr. Ford proved a generous despot, raising wages asFord sales grew. Then in 1926 he made the 40-hour, five-day week the industry standard. Laborblessed him.

There was always plenty to talk about at the weekly Adcraft luncheons, now being run by theclub’s first paid executive secretary, Merritt Chapman. How about that Alfred Sloan, dropping thewhole GM nut into Henry Ewald’s lap in 1922—the biggest ad contract ever, they’re saying. Andeverybody’s talking about the snappy slogan Mr. Ewald came up with for the GOP in 1924: “Keepcool with Coolidge.” As for Ford, it seemed the Old Man, after a parade of agencies for years, finallysettled down with N.W. Ayer in 1927.

Speaking of agencies, did you hear Ross Roy set up his own shop with the Dodge business lastyear (1926)? And with Chrysler taking over Dodge, he’ll get that, too. And don’t forget LouMaxon’s new agency (1927) with the Valet Razor business. Let’s see, who’s on the speaker’sdocket? Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover is coming; so is Henry C. Wallace, Secretaryof Agriculture.

But the speaker who really set tongues wagging was Julia Coburn, ad manager of LaSalle & Koch,the Toledo department store. On June 14, 1923, she became the first woman to speak at an Adcraftluncheon. It was an unprecedented event. The Women’s Advertising Club of Detroit was even invitedto attend—just this once, mind you—and cigars and rough talk were officially discouraged for the briefduration.

The year 1929 was Detroit’s biggest to that point. Auto and truck sales reached a record 4.3 millionvehicles that year. And thanks to Prohibition, illegal liquor profits beat out those of the automakers,and the producers didn’t even have to advertise.

Shortly after the Oct. 29 stock market crash, Adcraft abandoned plans for building its ownheadquarters. Instead, it moved into the Book Building, where it remained for the next 70 years.

DETROIT PICKS ITSELF UP AND ROARS ALONG

“Better advertising…will mean betterprofits to the advertiser, better jobs tothe advertising man, better volume forthe printers, because better has alwaysresulted in more.”

—E. St. Elmo Lewis, former Adcraft president, in the Dec. 4, 1928, Adcrafter

A

THE ADCRAFT BUILDING: Planned, then abandoned in 1929.

1920SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF ADVERTISING AGE

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www.aarpmedia.org.

DECEMBER 5, 2005

BRIGHT SPOTS LIGHTEN GRIM TIMES

A12

he decade of the Great Depression began with a note of irony as Henry Luce launchedFortune magazine at $1 a copy, or one-fifth a Ford Motor Co. worker’s daily wage. Thefirst issue in February 1930 expounded on the economic power of color, noting thateven Ford had recently surrendered to the challenge posed by General Motors Corp.’scolorful new Chevrolets.

But on the streets of Detroit, prospects were as black as an old Model T. By 1932,auto production had dropped to 1.3 million units from 4.3 million units in 1929.Joblessness swept the region like a plague: 75% of workers at Ford’s River Rougeplant—more than 56,000 men—were unemployed by 1932. The figures were equallygrim industrywide. Those who hung on found their wages cut from $35 a week in 1928to $20 or less four years later.

Detroit’s ad community was hit almost as hard. Rate wars and kickback deals put pressure on thenew 15% commission as everyone groveled for a buck. Campbell-Ewald’s billings dropped 70% from$26 million in 1929 to $8 million in 1938.

Amid the turmoil, things were looking brighter for the Adcraft Club, which got a sudden infusionof new blood in 1934-35 with the appearance of several fresh agencies. In the wake of a sweepingdecentralization, GM advertising was divided among Campbell-Ewald, which hung onto Chevrolet,and newcomers D.P. Brother & Co., which got Oldsmobile; MacManus, John & Adams, which tookCadillac and Pontiac; and Kudner Advertising, a carpetbagger from New York, which won Buick. Allset up in the GM or Fisher buildings.

Other shops came to Detroit through auto accounts and into Adcraft. For Plymouth, Chryslerhired J. Stirling Getchell Inc., which invited America to “look at all three.” Ruthrauff & Ryan gotDodge. And Young & Rubicam came to Detroit in 1932 for Packard.

There was plenty of talk at the Adcraft sailing outings, and some of it had nothing to do with cars.Some had to do with membership: Haley Bell of WCHB radio became Adcraft’s first African-American member.

People were also chatting about the powerful insight that won Lou Maxon the Gillette business in 1937.Men may have a surface vanity, he argued, but they are driven by ambition and competition. It followedthen that Gillette and sports were natural allies. To prove it, Mr. Maxon “bought” the 1939 World Seriesand Gillette was off and running, pulling itself up from a lowly 18% share to dominate its category.

TADCRAFEST: LURING THE GOLFERSOne of the most popular Adcraft events is the annual

Adcrafest, the club’s summer golf outing.

But Adcrafest didn't start as a golf event. In the early 20th

century, David Brown, who had been Adcraft president from

1917-19, owned People’s Ice Co., an ice farm along a lake

near Pontiac. Every winter his company would harvest and

store huge chunks of ice and sell them for use in pre-electric

home ice boxes. In July 1932, he offered his lake property to

the club's membership for a summer picnic and game day.

Adcrafest remained a picnic social until the mid-1940s,

when the board decided to convert it to a golf outing. The

first games were played at Western Golf and Country Club in

Redford, west of Detroit. By the 1950s, Adcrafest had moved

to the larger Detroit Golf Club, until it moved around 1990

to its current home, the Indianwood Golf and Country Club.

For its first 42 years, Adcrafest was a men-only play day

and operated under boys-will-be-boys rules. Most of that

ended when the courses were opened to women in 1974.

But competition to get into the event did not abate. “In the

’80s when membership was at it height,” says former

Adcraft Executive Secretary Lee Wilson, “we had to limit par-

ticipation to members only because we had too many

guests. That made Adcraft membership even more valuable,

and every May we'd get a big influx of new members, just to

get into the Adcrafest.”

With membership back down to more manageable levels,

guests are once again permitted. But Adcrafest remains one

of the biggest summer golf events in the state. THE ADCRAFT CLUB enjoys an outing in 1933 at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club.


A16 DECEMBER 5, 2005


1938Cadillac Fleetwood

1936Ford

1936Lincoln Zephyr

1932Plymouth

WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN?In 1933, a masked man on a fiery horse with the speed of light came thundering out of Detroit and for 21 years kept

riding coast to coast with a hearty “Hi-Ho Silver”—the Lone Ranger.

Not even the oldest Adcraft members today seem to recall the Michigan Radio Network, the seven-station hookup

anchored by Detroit’s venerable WXYZ, which aired the first “Lone Ranger” episode on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 1933.

The station had been acquired in 1930 by George W. Trendle, who wanted to sell local programming to Detroit

advertisers. He took the station independent in 1932 (from the CBS network), but had little to offer listeners or advertisers

until he decided to mount an original western.

The characters, the mask and the name—the Lone Ranger—were hashed out in a series of meetings with station

staffers and writer Fran Striker. From WXYZ’s library of classical music, they choose Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” as the

theme. Tonto appeared on the 12th episode so the Lone Ranger would have someone to talk to. This was radio, after all.

The Detroit show was a fast hit, becoming part of the bait whereby WGN in Chicago, WOR in New York and WLW in

Cincinnati joined WXYZ to form a fourth network in September 1934, the Mutual Broadcasting System.

In 1941, agency Blackett-Sample-Hummert bought “The Lone Ranger” for General Mills’ Kix and Cheerios brands. The

next year it moved to the NBC Blue Network, which became ABC after World War II. But the radio program continued to

be produced by WXYZ until the end in 1954.

1938

1936 1936

1932

1930 THE WORK

TM &

CO

PYR

IGH

T C

LASS

IC M

EDIA

INC

.

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fuel your marketing plan. Contact William Shea, VP Automotive Marketing Detroit, at 248-205-5722 or

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DECEMBER 5, 2005A18

he 1940s arrived with a record round of musical chairs as two of the Big 3 automakersshuffled agencies. It started at Ford Motor Co., which had cruised into the 1930s as No. 1and sputtered out a poor third. Everyone at Adcraft knew that someone would have to pay—and was pretty sure who would get stuck with the check: N.W. Ayer.

What made such rituals particularly interesting at Ford were the family intriguesinvolved—always grist for rich luncheon gossip. Did you hear old man Ford’s niece justmarried Harry Wismer from Philly? You know that Ayer refused Ford’s request to giveWismer a job. Too bad for Ayer, I guess. But good for Lou Maxon, who proved far moreaccommodating. Three months later, he ended up with both Wismer and the Lincoln-Mercury business. Hey, c’est la vie!

Before the end of 1940, the Ford Division went to McCann-Erickson.No one expected a similar shakeup at

Chrysler Corp. But two months later J.Stirling Getchell died, his agency folded andDeSoto and Plymouth were homeless. An illwind for Getchell proved a tropical breeze toAyer, which promptly picked up both brandsand was back in the car business, barely miss-ing a beat. Meanwhile, Ford dumpedMcCann and Maxon late in 1943 for J.Walter Thompson Co., which promptlyreturned to Detroit and Adcraft after a 24-year absence. McCann traded Ford forChrysler, and even Maxon ended up with some Ford dealer association business. All’s well that ends well.

But by then it hardly seemed to matter. There were no more cars to sell. Production of the last 1942models shut down in the spring. Detroit had only one customer now, Uncle Sam, and he was ready to buyeverything the town could turn out. For the first time, full employment was the norm.

Ford’s mile-long production line at Willow Run was the most colossal manufacturing weapon on earth.By 1945, 8,685 four-engine Liberator bombers had flown out over Grand River and taken a little bit ofDetroit to Berlin. Everybody griped about wage and price controls, but no one dared do without them.Even Henry Ford bargained with the United Auto Workers.

In 1946, Detroit saw its first new cars in four years, and its first TV sets ever as WWJ hit the airwaves.No wonder Arthur Godfrey drew a record 1,011 guests at an Adcraft luncheon in 1949.

TGEARING UP FOR WAR—AND FOR PEACE

“The world is hungry for what wehave, not only for wealth like ours,but for the freedom and enterprisethat produced our wealth.”

—Cecil B. DeMille, movie producer-director, in anOct. 23, 1947, talk to Adcraft

THE POWER OF ADVERTISING?Arthur Godfrey was always quoted as saying that he

wouldn’t endorse any product on his radio show that he

didn’t personally believe in. On display on the podium

that day were four of his favorite products—

Chesterfield cigarettes, Lipton tea bags, Glass Wax and

Nabisco Premium crackers.

Immediately following his speech, I was at his side, as

shown in the photo (above left).

I said, “Arthur, you claim that Glass Wax can be

used on anything. You always state, ‘Wipe it on! Wipe

it off!’ I took your advice. Look at me now—bald!”

Needless to say, Mr. Godfrey broke up. Good

Adcraft memory!—Adcraft member Ed Rossman recalling

media personality Arthur Godfrey’s April 22, 1949,appearance at Adcraft

ADCRAFT MEMORY

1940

FORMER ADCRAFT PRESIDENTS Charles Hughes (left), Henry Ewald (center) and George Slocum get together during Adcraft’s 42nd annual dinner on Dec. 4, 1947.

A19DECEMBER 5, 2005


1946Cadillac

1940Plymouth

1945Parke, Davis & Co.

1944Ford

1944Pontiac

1946 1944

19451940

1944

1940 THE WORK

fter a generation of denial and deferral, Detroit had a lot of catching up to do and plenty ofVictory bonds ripe for redemption. The worry was whether the postwar demand unleashedin the late 1940s could be sustained through the 1950s.

Among car brands, there was an early shakeout around the edges. Studebaker andPackard merged in an overture to oblivion. Hudson and Nash became American MotorsCorp. And Kaiser-Frazier just vanished. For the survivors, fewer brands to sell meant morebrand to advertise. Each October the fanfares would sound and the curtains part on nextyear’s “all new” models. Futuristic styling inspired by the famous P-38 aircraft used in WorldWar II and manifested in rakish tail fins gave an impression of motion—and the style becamemore extreme as the automakers pushed differences in each model year.

With TV emerging, advertisers got serious about broadcasting, with sponsors producingtheir own shows just as they had in radio. Kenyon & Eckert, hired by Henry Ford II in 1948,

made Lincoln-Mercury synonymous with Ed Sullivan. Ford celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1953 with ahistory-making TV special, and Chrysler joined with Bob Hope.

As automobiles increasingly became objects of fashion over function, Adcraft members debated the meritsof women selling cars on TV. But there wasn’t much to argue about. Hadn’t Julia Meade scored for Lincolnand Mercury? And didn’t Campbell-Ewald settle the question for good when it found the perfect personificationof Chevrolet in Dinah Shore?

In 1951, Harold Hastings celebrated his 25th year as Adcraft secretary-manager and brought a parade of pres-tigious speakers to the club, by now the largest in the U.S. A.C. Nielsen explained audience measurement. WalterRuther of the United Auto Workers finally addressed Adcraft. So did Bob Sarnoff of NBC; Bennett Cerf, the pub-lisher-panelist from “What’s My Line?”; Leo Durocher of the New York Giants; and “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz.The tab for a typical Adcraft luncheon then, says former Adcraft Executive Secretary Lee Wilson, was about $1.25.

Locally, J.L. Hudson opened America’s first suburban mall, Northland, in 1954, and office managersphased out the traditional half-day of work on Saturday mornings.

One area agency, which was launched in 1937, began to draw attention as it expanded on an unorthodoxmodel. W.B. Doner & Co. was a kind of federation of independent account execs, each sovereign over theaccounts he brought in as a “partner.” Its flexibility became a formula for quick growth, but one to bechallenged in the ’60s.

On a darker note, it was the decade of conspiracy theories in which advertising was as suspect as communism. In1958, Vance Packard’s “The Hidden Persuaders” purported to expose the Svengali techniques by which advertiserssecretly manipulated consumers’ minds, controlled free will and dictated desire. Ford’s marketing men may havewondered why their agency, Foote, Cone & Belding, had not shared such secrets with them that October when theyunveiled the Edsel, whose sales performance did more to prick Mr. Packard’s theories than all the reasonedarguments. If Ford couldn’t celebrate the Edsel, though, it could toast its 50 millionth car as the decade ended.

DECEMBER 5, 2005

HAPPY DAYS, TV SETS AND BIG CARS

A20

1950

ABOWLING FOR ADCRAFTThe Adcraft Bowling League has been around so

long—since 1925, to be exact—it finds itself today in

a somewhat awkward, even embarrassing position.

Once again this year, amid much celebration and

pride, one of the league's 15 teams will receive the

coveted and venerable Lew Houghton Championship

trophy, a large and imposing cup that has been

passed from one winning Adcraft team to another for

something like 50 years.

The hope is that no one will actually ask who Lew

Houghton was, because any information as to who he

was and what he did seems to have been mislaid

among the league's 80 years of history and tradi-

tions. He is known today only as a trophy.

“It is one of the great mysteries of the Adcraft

Club,” says Paul Gross, meteorologist at WDIV-TV in

Detroit and for nearly 15 years president of the

Adcraft Bowling League. “Being a historian, I’ve

sought out some of the old-timers and asked them.

But no one seems to know.”

The earliest Adcraft teams played at the Harmony

Club, Mr. Gross says, which was an old graphic arts

club with four or five lanes in downtown Detroit. Then

it moved to the Bob Lo Lanes on Woodward Avenue.

In the 1950s the games were played at the Riverside

Recreation center. The golden age, says Mr. Gross,

may have been in the late 1980s and early ’90s when

there were 24 teams in the league. That has dropped

to the present 15. Today the home of the Adcraft

Bowling League is the Hartfield Lanes in Berkley.

The games have evolved from “a boys night out”

affair every Thursday in the old days to a shared

experience today in which about 40% of the league’s

members are women. SHARING A LAUGH are (from left): Adcrafters Bob McKown and Johnny Nielan, guests Charley Randolph and Leo “the Lip”Durocher, club President Clark Stevens and Adcrafter Norm Sharrock.

DECEMBER 5, 2005 A21


G M P L A N WO R K S C O N G R AT U L AT E S T H E A D C R A F T C L U B O F D E T R O I T O N 1 0 0 Y E A R S O F S E RV I C E .

1954ChevroletWith Dinah Shore singing, “See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet.”

1950OldsmobileWith Mel Torme

1959PontiacWith Ray Bolger

1958Timex Corp.With John Cameron Swayzedemonstrating that a Timexwatch can “take a licking andkeep on ticking.”

1954Chrysler

1954

1959

1950

1958 1954

1950 THE WORK

To see how we’re stacked in your favor,call Jeff Hamill, SVP, Hearst Group, at 212.841.8351.

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76 million adults

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19 million men

DRIVEN.

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A range of 20 titles. Breadth of content. Unrivaled reach. The reasons to choose Hearst keep piling up. These are the magazines that connect with people’s lives, and connect advertisers to the largest monthly readership in America. Add targeted cross-platform marketing opportunities and the power to leverage The HearstCorporation’s media influence, and we have everything today’s advertisers could want.

f the decade of the 1950s was all harmony, the 1960s was a decade of dissonance. Having risen abovedepression and world war, the G.I. generation finally was rewarded with everything it had ever wishedfor—a good life of college education, rising prosperity, suburban seclusion and a more widely dispersedpurchasing power than any other people in history. Much of that money flooded into Detroit in the formof record automobile purchases.

But by the 1960s, many of the children of this new middle class were taking for granted what theirparents had fought to achieve. Instead, they threw the good life back in their parents’ faces in a revoltagainst what they saw as a boring bourgeois materialism that had led to the crisis in Vietnam. “The [Ford]Mustang was perhaps the last thing that Americans of all generations really liked,” wrote design criticThomas Hine.

As the decade turned, the basic look of automobile ads was changing. Idyllic illustrations, along with theillustrators who drew them, were fading. Photography was on its way in. Detroit advertising was prosperous andgrowing, and TV, now firmly under control of the three major broadcast networks, was swelling ad budgets.

Mary Wells brought plenty of glamour as well as business savvy to the advertising world in the 1960s, andDetroit was eager for a look. When she spoke at an Adcraft luncheon in November 1967, the turnout of 1,040broke the attendance record set in 1949 by Arthur Godfrey. Her agency had the feisty American Motors Corp.account. Yet she could not join the all-male Adcraft club. With more women coming into the profession, somemembers were quietly beginning to wonder whether this made any sense.

If advertising’s demographics were changing, so were those of Detroit, whose population was becomingsmaller and poorer. Suburban expansion inspired by prosperity in the 1950s was accelerated by race and class inthe 1960s, then became a flight after riots in 1967. The white and black middle class left the city, taking with itmuch of the ad community that had once been concentrated along downtown Jefferson Avenue.

Some venerable Detroit agency names also disappeared. Brooke, Smith, French & Dorrance was absorbed byRoss Roy in 1960 after 53 years, as was Zimmer Keller & Calvert in 1969 after 54 years. Maxon Inc. merged outof existence in 1966. And Leo Burnett Co. acquired D.P. Brother & Co. in 1967.

It was an uneasy decade, with more changes ahead. For the first time since World War II, Detroit found itselfin a two-front war against the Germans and the Japanese.

DECEMBER 5, 2005

DETROIT’S DECADE OF DISSONANCE

A24

IADCRAFT CHICKEN, ANYONE?Adcraft guest speakers at the regular luncheons

are a great reason to go to the luncheons, but we

used to have an added incentive to go in the

1960s and 1970s. Our incentive was a pool at our

table when lunch was served.

We would each put in some funds and then we

would try to identify the food that we were having

for lunch. The one with the most points won the

pool. Our scoring was as follows:

■ 5 points if you could tell what the main course

was after smelling it as it was being served.


was after looking at the food.


was after tasting it.

Admittedly there were some weeks when

nobody got any points, and we had to carry over

the pool to the next week.

The speakers at Adcraft luncheons as well as the

camaraderie among advertisers were great reasons

to go the luncheons. Obviously, the food was not

one of the top reasons for going.

—Adcraft member Don Kolke

ADCRAFT MEMORY

THE ADCRAFT OFFICE in the Book Building ran efficiently in the 1960s, thanks to the work of people such as Kay Nelson.

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4.

Ironically, adding radio gives your customers

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A new consumer research study by the Radio Effectiveness Lab found swapping out one of twoTV ads for two radio ads boosted brand recall by 34%. Replacing one of two newspaper ads withtwo radio ads almost tripled recall.* Talk about a clear case for synergy. For the full report citing the benefits of adding radio to your mix go to http://www.radioadlab.org. Or email us at [email protected]. We’ll turn you on to the power of radio advertising.



1968Pontiac GTO

1968Ford “Ford has a better idea”

1964Chevrolet“Chevy stands alone”

1964Chrysler

1968Dodge Charger

1968

1968

CongratulationsAdcraft

Investor’s Business Dailycongratulates you on

1000 yearsof excellent service

to the Detroit advertising community.

www.investors.com/ibdadvertising

1964

1964

1968

1960 THE WORK

For Advertising Opportunities Contact Todd Siegel, SVP Advertising Sales 212-822-8681

Congratulations Adcraft Club for 100 years of great ideas.

ENTERTAINMENT THAT MOVES. 24/7.

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hen, by the 1970s, one spoke of Detroit, one meant the Detroit metropolitanarea. While Adcraft stayed put at 1249 Washington, its members increasinglywere coming to the luncheons from Troy, Bloomfield Hills and Southfield.

If Ralph Nader had shaken up Detroit in the ’60s, a consortium of oil sheiksnearly brought it down in the ’70s. Just as the Big 3 automakers werebeginning to show proper respect for names such as Volkswagen, Toyota,Datsun and Volvo, they were clobbered by the first of two oil price shocks thatvastly enhanced the appeal of the small, fuel-efficient imports.

Detroit remained the third-largest marketing town in America as theautomakers fought for their survival. Yet there was some consolidation throughthe decade.

Among agencies, Interpublic came to Detroit in 1972 with its acquisition of Campbell-Ewald.MacManus, John & Adams merged withD’Arcy in 1970, and Ross Roy bought up Gray& Kilgore in 1974.

On the auto side, American Motors Corp.bought out Kaiser-Jeep in 1970. Henry Ford II ledthe charge to rebuild downtown Detroit aroundthe $337 million Renaissance Center, whichopened in March 1977 with high intentions and along road ahead. Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co.President Lee Iacocca became as famous as hisboss. When the two men finally parted, it set off asequence of events—between July 1978 and March1979—that shook the town.

In November 1978, Mr. Iacocca signed on torun Chrysler Corp., then teetering on the brinkof Chapter 11 bankruptcy. He acted quickly and publicly, summarily firing Young & Rubicam andBBDO, then dropped the whole $120 million bundle into the lap of Kenyon & Eckhardt. K&E, in turn,was obliged to dump Ford corporate and the Lincoln-Mercury division. When the music finally stopped,Y&R had Lincoln-Mercury; Wells, Rich, Greene got Ford corporate; and BBDO was on the sidelinesbut soon won back Chrysler’s Dodge division. It was the biggest account shuffle in history at the time.

WOMEN JOIN ADCRAFT—AT LASTToday the Adcraft Club of Detroit boasts five former

women presidents from the last seven years. But until

1974, when women were first invited to join, the club

was strictly a stag affair, except perhaps on Secretary’s

Day or when a woman speaker was scheduled.

It wasn’t the case, however, that the decision to dispose

of such a medieval viewpoint was greased by any liberal

social enlightenment. “I had no ax to grind for the

women’s lib movement then,” recalls Lee Wilson, who

joined Adcraft in 1950 and served as executive secretary

from 1960 to 1997. “What occurred to me was that we

could pick up some extra dues.”

Mr. Wilson began quietly making his case to include

women in 1967, the same year Mary Wells’ new agency,

Wells, Rich, Greene, won the American Motors Corp.

business. “But the guys on the board were older than I

was,” he says, “and much more traditional and macho.

Their view was the girls had their adclub. It was very

much a generation thing.”

But Mr. Wilson won a powerful ally in David Gillespie,

who was then president of Detroit’s Kenyon & Eckhardt

office, which was handling the Lincoln-Mercury business.

“When Dave and I decided what to do,” Mr. Wilson

says, “we took the president and VP of the Women’s Ad

Club to lunch. We told them our plans and asked would

they mind. We assumed we’d kill them off as their eligible

members would come over to us, leaving them with a

lot of secretaries and elevator operators. But that

didn’t happen—at least not right away.”

In order to avoid the publicity that might attend to a

“first” woman in Adcraft, the plan was to invite seven

women into the club with as little fanfare as possible.

One of those was Marce Haney, who in 1974 operated a

major Detroit talent agency. “I was not an activist in the

usual sense,” says Ms. Haney, who still works in the

business at 83. “I was busy with my business....When

the invitation finally came, it seemed like quite an honor

at the time.

“It also had a very positive impact on my company,”

she says. “The networking was invaluable. You always

met someone at the luncheons, and Adcraft was very

close-knit and mutually supportive.”

DECEMBER 5, 2005

READJUSTING FOR A NEW ECONOMY

A30

W“We waste energy; we wastetrees; we waste everything thatGod gave us. I think perhapsthis energy crisis is going tobring us back to a more rationalviewpoint.”

—John DeLorean, former VP, General MotorsCorp., speaking to Adcraft on Dec. 14, 1973

POPULAR SPEAKERS in the 1970s included (from left) sportscaster Howard Cosell (1971), auto exec John DeLorean(1973) and comedian Jonathan Winters (1974)


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1973General Tire

1979Chrysler 300

1974Little Caesars

1984FTD

1985Ford Mustang

1978Big BoyWith RodneyDangerfield

1973

1979

1974

1984

1985

1978

1970-1989 THE WORK

Look what you started. Happy hundredth, Adcraft.

he 1980s would see Lee Iacocca become the country’s first CEO superstar, and certainly oneof the most actively involved CEOs in overseeing his company’s advertising. He personallyapproved many individual ads and filmed 61 TV spots in 10 years—the first ones rudimentary,the later ones very professional.

By the end of 1983, Chrysler Corp. repaid its bailout loans—seven years ahead of schedule.Despite this bright spot, it would be a difficult decade. Within 10 years, 50,000 Detroit

autoworkers watched their jobs disappear as robotics took over the production line. By the endof the decade the population of the city proper was half the 2 million it had been in the 1950s,devastating the urban retail and tax base. Detroit went from being America’s fourth-largest cityin the 1940s to ninth by the end of the 1980s. Yet Adcraft membership peaked at around 4,200in the late 1980s, fueled by an expanding metro area whose growth was pushing past 4 million.

In a rare show of frankness, automobile advertising faced up to the reality of the challenge fromimports. “Quality” became the decade’s busiest buzzword. In its famous corporate campaign for FordMotor Co., Wells, Rich, Greeneasserted that “Quality Is JobOne.” General Motors Corp.echoed the theme with “GMPuts Quality on the Road.”

It was a decade of further con-solidation and mergers withinthe Detroit ad community. Somewere unusual, even convoluted.In 1983, K&E was bought byLorimar, a TV production com-pany famous for “The Waltons,”“Dallas” and “Knots Landing.”It then acquired Bozell & Jacobsand combined its two agenciesinto Bozell Worldwide. Chrysler stayed with the merged agency, but it was the end of the line for K&E.WPP Group acquired J. Walter Thompson Co. in 1987, and two years later added Ogilvy & Mather, bothFord agencies.

But Henry Ford II would not live to see the new setup. He died in 1986. Also to pass from the scene:American Motors Corp., acquired by Chrysler in 1987 because it wanted the Jeep division.

DECEMBER 5, 2005


ADCRAFT THRIVES AS CITY REGROUPS

A34

1980

TADCRAFT PM: STAYIN’ ALIVEBack in the days of the three-martini lunch when the

grown-ups gathered at the luncheons, schmoozed each

other and scribbled their deals on napkins, few worried

about the future of Adcraft, where its members might

come from or how they would be recruited. It was

assumed that if you were in advertising in Detroit, you

were in Adcraft.

But in the 1980s, as the town began to feel the first

effects of Japanese competition and the shockwaves of

contraction began to register in the local advertising

community, the question of Adcraft’s future suddenly

became something that no one could take for granted.

For the first time since the Depression, the possibility

loomed that young people might not be coming in as fast

as older members were leaving.

The answer was Adcraft PM, formed in 1982 as a

subcommittee of the club’s Education Committee. The

name derived from the clock and was intended to suggest

useful hours after work.

In the beginning, it targeted potential young Adcrafters

the way frats rushed potential pledges on campuses—

through social activities. But while partying for the future

of Adcraft may have been a lively means to a worthy end,

more recently PM has been working to refine and expand

its mandate.

“We feel PM’s become over the past five years too

much of a party image,” says Eric Kracht, 27, the immediate

past chairman of PM. “We would like to be something for

everybody, by which I mean not to discriminate on age at

all. Our purpose is not to be a hangout for the young. It’s

to bring young people into PM, help them build contacts

with more senior people and ultimately get them to sign

on as Adcraft members.”

Adcraft PM also has a charitable side. Through its Read-

Aloud literacy program, members spend one hour each

month reading to first graders in Detroit schools. For the

past two years, Adcraft PM has also been coordinating

Project Playground, a project in which members renovate

a playground in Detroit.

Says Mr. Kracht, “It’s not just about the parties. PM’s

about the identity of advertising in Detroit—and very

much a part of Adcraft.”

“In the past 79 years, 200 auto companieshave come and gone, but no matter, thead business kept growing and growing. Itseems you have more staying power thanyour clients. There has to be a lessonthere—I don’t know what the hell it is.”

—Lee Iacocca, chairman, Chrysler Corp., speaking to Adcrafton Dec. 14, 1984

LEE IACOCCA accepts Adcraft’s $10,000 check for the Statue of Liberty Fund from club President Harvey Willens.

uring the 1990s, Adcraft luncheons not only commanded attention, they continued tobreak attendance records—even Lee Iacocca’s. The turnout for George Editor in ChiefJohn F. Kennedy Jr. was so big it had to be moved to the Detroit Renaissance Center toaccommodate the curious and the stargazers.

There was also another spate of remarkable mergers and consolidations thatwould reshape Detroit. Ross Roy became part of Omnicom in 1995 andchanged its name to In-ter One Marketing Group.In 1997, there was plenty oftalk about Bozell World-wide, which had con-

sumed K&E in the 1980s. Now it wasbeing swallowed up by True NorthCommunications, the holding company ofFoote, Cone & Belding. But names such asTrue North and Bozell passed throughMotown’s history too quickly to take root.

On the other hand, who would havedreamed that Chrysler Corp. might betaken over by Daimler-Benz? Out of this vast reorganization, a new agency brand was born in 1998,PentaMark Worldwide, created by BBDO to handle its new Chrysler business.

As new names came in, however, Adcraft said farewell to two legendary nameplates that embodiedthe history of the American car. Chrysler announced the phase-out of Plymouth in 1999, and fouryears later General Motors Corp. did the same for Oldsmobile, celebrated in song the same yearAdcraft was born.

Adcraft ended the 20th century as the largest adclub in America, but with a significantly smallermembership than it had in the 1980s. Still, the club was 2,500 strong—and a significant force in Detroit—as it entered the 21st century.

DECEMBER 5, 2005

NEW NAMES, NEW PATTERNS EMERGE

A36

DAN EYE FOR TALENTA new generation of TV and film talent was emerging as

stars—people Adcraft members had turned down for jobs

when they were in Detroit. John DeCerchio, vice chairman-

chief creative officer at Doner, remembers his less-than-

perfect track record in the 1990s and before: “Kevin

Bacon came in for an Art Van commercial. It was a

George Washington Day sale and Bacon was up to play

Washington. We rejected him. There was Tim Allen, who

was always trying to get into Highland Appliance

commercials, and we were always turning him down.

“A couple of years ago I ran into Tim and said I feel so

dumb for not putting you in that Highland spot. He said,

‘Oh yeah, it just ruined my life. Every morning I wake up

wondering where I might be today if I’d gotten that

Highland gig.’

“Once Jay Leno came in for a Little Caesars Pizza radio

spot. He’d been on the ‘Late Show’ with Letterman a couple

of times and came highly recommended, but I said no.

Then there was Kate Capshaw, whom I rejected only to

see turn up starring in the sequel to ‘Raiders of the

Lost Ark.’ ”

Not all talent found Detroit so picky. Farrah Fawcett

received about $1,000 a spot for a Mercury Couger

campaign. When she went on to “Charlie’s Angels,” her

replacement was Rachel Ward, who became a star in the

TV miniseries “The Thornbirds.” And Laurence Kasdan

had a successful career in the Doner creative department

before going on to write “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and

“Return of the Jedi” and direct “Body Heat” and “The

Big Chill,” among other theatrical releases.

“I’m speaking not as a politician, butas a magazine editor. And if I dothat right, I hope to someday endup as president—of a very successfulpublishing venture.”

—John F. Kennedy Jr., editor in chief, George,speaking to Adcraft on April 21, 1995

ADCRAFT MEMBERS present Adcrafollies, a spoof show in the 1990s that sprang from the club’s Spring Frolic, anannual event that began in the 1930s.

TIM ALLEN’S first TV spot, for ABC Warehouse.

1990

A37DECEMBER 5, 2005


1990Michigan Departmentof Public Health

2003BuickWebcast with TigerWoods

2003Cheerios

1990

2001

1994 2004

2003

2003

19962003

1990-2005 THE WORK

2005

2001General MotorsCorp.

2003Serta

1996Dow

1994Jeep

2004Health Alliance Plan First HDTV spots shotand aired in Detroit

2005Ford Mustang

he first years of the new century seemed to finish the work of agency convergence begunin the 1970s and ’80s. In addition to Interpublic’s absorption of True North/FCB and thedisappearance of Bozell, Young & Rubicam became part of WPP and sibling agency to J.Walter Thompson Co. and Ogilvy & Mather. The final coup de grâce came in 2002 whenPublicis acquired Bcom3 along with its principal assets, Leo Burnett Co. and D’Arcy. Thenew parent promptly shutdown D’Arcy, thus liquidatingthe last vestige of TheodoreMacManus’ name as an activeagency brand.

If the agency side has con-solidated, however, the ad business alongwith Adcraft’s membership has dispersed. In1972, there were nearly 30 agencies inDetroit proper; today, there are around 10,plus General Motors Corp.’s huge presencein the Renaissance Center.

On the other hand, the count in Troy hasgone from one shop in 1972 to 21 today. BigBeaver Road had become what JeffersonAvenue or Grand Boulevard were a coupleof generations ago.

With the diaspora of media, agenciesand support services in the Detroit metroarea, Adcraft has assumed a role itsfounders could not have anticipated 100 years ago. “Adcraft is incredibly important to the area,” saysformer Adcraft President Bud Liebler. “We are a one-industry town with OEMs, Ford, GM andChrysler fighting each other.

“Then,” he says, “you have Adcraft, where everybody can come together and forget their parochialinterests and say we’ve got to do something as a community. Adcraft pulls that together. … You feela part of something; you are not out there alone.”

DECEMBER 5, 2005

A UNIFYING FORCE FOR A NEW ERA

A38

ADCRAFT PUTS EMPHASIS ON EDUCATION INITIATIVESContrary to the cliché, advertising people are made, not

born. So it follows that the future of the business

depends on education, not accidents of birth. Largely on

this rather pragmatic bit of common sense, Adcraft was

formed in 1905.

In 1925, Adcraft set up its first school of advertising in

the City College of Detroit. But it took another 30-odd

years of practical experience and evolution before the

elements of the successful advertising education began to

come together in the late 1950s and early ’60s. Today,

says Keith Price, an Adcraft member since 1981 and director

of sales and marketing for AutoWeek, Adcraft educational

programs target both membership and the larger community

through two basic initiatives.

“First,” Mr. Price says, “a study program was formed [in

1965] with Northwood University of Midland, Mich.,

where in the spring there would be a 15-week series in

which college kids and young professionals could take a

crash course in all the disciplines of advertising. There

would be opportunities to visit a TV studio, a newspaper

and an ad agency to discuss account management,

research, media and media interactions. Each year about

50 to 75 people go through the program.”

The second initiative started about the same time as

an outgrowth of the Adcraft Foundation. This involves

scholarships awarded to Michigan college students studying

advertising and marketing. “We give away about $25,000

a year,” Mr. Price says, “usually five to seven scholarships

varying from $3,000 to $6,000. This is always done under

the Adcraft Foundation, and committee members get

together and determine criteria—grade point averages,

community involvement, AAF involvement and so on.

“We look for well-rounded students. It’s like in the

business: I’d rather hire a B student who gets the jokes than

the A student with the untied shoes. There are essay

components, too, and emphasis is placed on professors’

recommendations. We also look to the professor for valida-

tion of economic need, which of course plays a role, too.”

Another Adcraft initiative, Back to School, concentrates

on continuing education for club members with active

careers at any level in the profession.

AMONG FAVORITE ADCRAFT activities are its croquet outings.

T “This is a different kind of war... Itis a war on the festering notionthat we are unworthy infidels....Itis a war at home in which bio terroris an elusive and deadly enemythat exposes not just our personalvulnerabilities, but also the inade-quacies of our health system andclumsiness of our most vaunted lawenforcement agencies.”

—Tom Brokaw, “NBC Nightly News,” speaking toAdcraft on Feb. 1, 2002


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big

success.

Here’s

to

another

100.

DECEMBER 5, 2005


ADCRAFT CREATES LEGACY FOR DETROIT

A40

THE FUTURE

ADCRAFT SEES BRIGHT FUTUREThe Adcraft Club is in the midst of changes more sweeping

than any it has faced since the arrival of network

broadcasting in the late 1920s. But broadcasting, like

publishing, was a top-down enterprise in which a handful

of agencies, advertisers and media proprietors determined

the content the country would read and hear. The new

digital platforms, on the other hand, are bottom up,

meaning that anyone can get into the game, a reality that

could remake not only the size but also the character of

Adcraft membership in the next decade.

According to Bob Guerrini, Adcraft executive director,

present membership stands at just more than 2,600,

admittedly a decline from a decade or two ago before the

local marketing community underwent a sharp consolidation

and contraction. But that was also before the world

began transforming itself into strings of zeros and ones.

“A whole new technology is gathering that is changing

advertising,” says Mr. Guerrini, “and I expect Adcraft to

reflect that change. Google and Microsoft have been in

Adcraft since the day they opened their Detroit offices.”

But these are the giants of the realm. The real impact is

likely to come from below, says Kevin Brown, managing

director of Ford Motor Media and a member of the

Adcraft executive committee.

“The reality,” Mr. Brown says, “is that with all those

digital forms out there, virtually anyone can create

content. That’s the new fact of life. Five years from now

that will be even more entrenched.”

Detroit is in the middle of a what could be a decisive

decade. What people were saying in 2000 about what

was coming five years down the line, Mr. Brown says, is

here now. He sees in all this a rare opportunity for Adcraft

to expand its vision beyond being just a place-specific

club—meaning the Detroit area. “In this global world

we’re in,” he says, “we’re doing business on behalf of

southeastern Michigan clients with a pretty extended

network of people all over the country and world. I don’t

think there’s any reason for the Adcraft Club to restrict its

membership to people who are living here. So as the club

expands its mission, its purview and its outreach, we have

a chance to expand the vision of what the membership

is all about.”

“One hundred years of great advertising is an incredibly unique andvaluable asset. It is evocative of memories of family, friends andindelible moments. We will use the Adcraft Centennial to unlockthose memories…to celebrate the creativity of this community…toremind ourselves of how much we have contributed to contemporaryculture…and perhaps most importantly, to leave a legacy forDetroiters to enjoy for decades to come.”

—Peggy Daitch, chair, Centennial Committee, on plans for Adcraft’s celebration

o mark its centennial, the Adcraft Club is planning a special project for the city and thepeople of Detroit. The Legacy Project is Adcraft’s gift to the Detroit community for 100years of doing business in this community.

According to Adcraft, this project is an opportunity for the organization, its past andpresent members, to thank Detroit and to give something back. It is also an opportunityto represent Adcraft’s future in Detroit by doing something that will survive for at leastanother 100 years.

For its Legacy Project, Adcraft will work with the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy tobuild the Adcraft Labyrinth on the city’s new five-mile riverfront. The exact location isstill being finalized. “We will strive to sercure the best location, one that will provide acontemplative feeling but still be easily seen and accessible,” says Bud Liebler, chairman

of the Adcraft Legacy Project.Mr. Liebler says Adcraft is in the process of finalizing a design that will allow visitors to walk through

the labyrinth in peace and solitude and will be “a tribute to the vigor of the right brain with its powers ofintuition, creativity and imagery.” The design will be 60 feet in diameter and landscaped with lighting andappropriate seating. The labyrinth is expected to be completed by spring 2006.

“In addition to thanking Detroit for the first 100 years, this Adcraft Legacy Project is a great way to lookforward to the next 100 years and beyond,” Mr. Liebler says. “It’s a great gift for Adcraft to give the city.”

TADCRAFT’S LEGACY PROJECT will be an Adcraft Labyrinth, similar to this one, on Detroit’s new riverfront.

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Point is the

monthly magazine

focused on

marketing at

the C-level,

taking a

provocative look

at the

big issues

and debates that

drive marketing

today

Point comes polybagged with Advertising Age the fi rst Monday of every month

For more information, contact your sales representative or Paul Audino,

Advertising Director, at 212.210.0280 or [email protected]

Did you get our Point?


1906 J.W.T. KnoxFrederick K. Stearns Co.

1907 E. St. Elmo LewisBurroughs AddingMachine Co.

1908 J.W.T. KnoxFrederick K. Stearns Co.

1909 - 1910 William R. OrrDetroit Saturday Night

1910- 1911 Frank W. FarnsworthJ. Walter Thompson Co.

1911-1912 William C. RadcliffePete Marquette Railway System

1912-1913 Charles A. HughesHudson Motor Car Co.

1913-1914 Harry A. JonesHannan Co.

1914 Joseph MeadonJoseph Mack PrintingCo.

1914-1915 Lee AndersonAdvertisers Inc.

1915-1916 Henry T. EwaldCampbell-Ewald Co.

1916-1917 Frank EastmanGeneral Motors Corp.

1917-1919 David A. BrownPeople’s Ice Co.

1919-1920 Harvey CampbellCampbell-Trump

1920-1921 Lynn B. DudleyCampbell-Ewald Co.

1921-1922 Joseph B. MillsJ.L. Hudson Co.

1922 C.C. WininghamHudson Motor CarCo.

1922-1923 J. Fred WoodruffCampbell-Ewald Co.

1923-1924 Frederick DickensonHupp Motor Car Co.

1924-1925 Walter K. TowersPaige-Detroit Motor Car Co.

1925-1926 Ward H. MarshMcKinney, Marsh & Cushing

1926-1927 Charles W. BrookeBrooke, Smith & French

1927-1928 Clinton F. BerryUnion Trust Co.

1928-1929 Ralph L. YonkerJ.L. Hudson Co.

1929-1930 William R. EwaldCampbell-Ewald Co.

1930-1931 Charles MacMahonFirst National Bank

1931-1933 John B. GaughenCapper Publications

1933-1934 George M. SlocumAutomotive Daily News

1934-1935 Leo FitzpatrickRadio Station WJR

1935-1936 Gordon K. MacEdwardZimmerman-Post

1936-1937 Edward R. “Ted” GraceGrace & Bement

1937-1938 Joseph J. HartiganCampbell-Ewald Co.

1938-1939 Hal G. TrumpFred M. Randall Co.

1939-1940 Howard O. WardChrysler Corp.

1940-1941 W. Colburn StandishWalker & Co.

1941-1942 David C. MurrayFortune magazine

1943 F. Lee JohnstonAdvertising Services

1943-1944 Jesse W. FleckDetroit Times

1944-1945 E.A. “Bud” SchirmerCrowell-Collier Publishing Co.

1945-1946 Robert F.G. CopelandArthur Kudner Inc.

1946-1947 Elliott ShumakerDetroit Free Press

1947-1948 Charles B. FieldCurtis Publishing

1948-1949 Dolph H. OdellGeneral Motors Corp.

1949-1950 Charles B. LordDetroit Times

1950-1951 Henry G. “Ted” LittleCampbell-Ewald Co.

1951-1952 John P. St. ClairLife magazine

1952-1953 Ben R. DonaldsonFord Motor Co.

1953 N.F. Shad LawlerNash-Kelvinator Co.

1953-1954 William G. PowerChevrolet Motor Division, GM

1954-1955 Pete WemhoffAutomotive News

1955-1956 Clark H. StevensSawyer-Ferguson-Walker Co.

1956-1957 Norman W. SharrockCampbell-Ewald Co.

1957-1958 Worth KramerRadio Station WJR

1958-1959 John E. NielanHearst Advertising Service

1959-1960 Wendell D. “Pete” MooreDodge Division, Chrysler Corp.

1960-1961 John S. PingelRoss Roy

1961-1962 Toby S. DavidCKLW-TV

1962-1963 John R. BrowersFord Division, Ford Motor Co.

1963-1964 E. Dawson “Duke” FisherJ.L. Hudson Co.

1964-1965 Robert E. AndersonBatten, Barton, Durstine &Osborn

1965-1966 Thomas B. AdamsCampbell-Ewald Co.

1966-1967 Robert VanderKlootVanderKloot Press

1967-1968 Gail SmithGeneral Motors Corp.

1968-1969 Frederick K. CodyLook magazine

1969-1970 Watts WackerD.P. Brother & Co.

1970-1971 Robert J. FisherFord Division, Ford Motor Co.

1971-1972 Ernest A. JonesD’Arcy-MacManus & Masius

1972-1973 Richard J. McCarthyReader’s Digest

1973-1974 David J. GillespieKenyon & Eckhardt

1974-1975 Richard D. O'ConnorCampbell-Ewald Co.

1975-1976 Peter A. DowChrysler Corp.

1976-1977 Rod BurtonBurton Advertising

1977-1978 John J. MorrisseyFord Division, Ford Motor Co.

1978-1979 John C. “Jack” RyanLeo Burnett Co.

1979-1980 Donald J. TeasdaleGeneral Motors Corp.

1980-1981 Theodore T. TeegardenD’Arcy-MacManus & Masius

1981-1982 Michael M. CareyTime magazine

1982-1983 James L. ScorgieHiram Walker Inc.

1983-1984 Paul L. JohnCampbell-Ewald Co.

1984-1985 Harvey WillensWillens+Michigan

1985-1986 Richard T. FlynnPeople magazine

1986-1987 Val CorradiNewspaper AdvertisingBureau

1987-1988 Bruce P. AndrewsBozell, Jacobs, Kenyon & Eckhardt

1988-1989 James H. BerlineBerline Group

1989-1990 Peter C. VetowichRoss Roy

1990-1991 William A. PowerYoung & Rubicam

1991-1992 R.H. “Ham” Schirmer Lintas: Campbell-Ewald

1992-1993 Richard P. MonleyBetter Homes & Gardens

1993-1994 John VanderzeeFord Motor Co.

1994-1995 Philip GuarascioGeneral Motors Corp.

1995-1996 S.M. “Skip” RobertsN.W. Ayer & Partners

1996-1997 Richard D. ScottBusinessWeek

1997-1998 Jan Daniel StarrOgilvy & Mather

1998-1999 A.C. “Bud” LieblerDaimlerChrysler Corp.

1999-2000 Peggy DaitchCondé Nast Publications

2000-2001 Susan KiltieESPN the Magazine

2001-2002 Grace GilchristWXYZ-TV

2002-2003 David MartinBBDO Detroit

2003-2004 Linda Thomas BrooksGeneral Motors Mediaworks

2004-2005 Christine MacKenzieDaimlerChrysler Corp.

2005-2006 Michael WrightLeo Burnett Detroit

PRESIDENTS OF THE ADCRAFT CLUB OF DETROIT


1905-2005

CHEVROLET PONTIAC BUICK CADILLAC GMC SATURN HUMMER SAAB X

Thanks for a hundred yaers

of reminding us

that advertisng is a craft.

onlyGM.com

©2005 GM Corp. All rights reserved. The marks of General Motors and its divisions are registered trademarks of General Motors Corporation.

Happy 100th, Adcraft. There’s still some work to be done.

“Step into my shoes...”

After 30 years of marriage, Mary Garborg and her husband Rolf had never danced a single

step. The strides they took to learn were huge... but how they touched their instructor's life

was even more enormous. It’s a story they tell in Guideposts. And it’s just one example of

how Guideposts’ readers uniquely share in the amazing reality of others by stepping into their shoes.

Each month Guideposts rivets nearly 8 million readers like no other magazine – engaging them

with the real-life experiences of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Told in their own

words, these moving accounts let readers see the many faces of inspiration in a way no other

magazine can. It’s the ultimate reality experience – and, what’s motivated millions to make

Guideposts America’s #1 Favorite Magazine for the seventh straight time.*

no other magazineENGAGES READERS

quite like GuidepostsJust ask Hyundai. Last year they said, “Hyundai's Nurses Care contest showed we were able to forman alliance with Guideposts that reached a tangible connectivity to our potential customers.” Ofcourse actions speak louder than words, so this year Hyundai signed on to do the program again!The total reader response to date is over 500,000!

Want more information about how your brand can develop successful programs that reachGuideposts' highly engaged readers? Contact Joe McHugh in Detroit at 248-399-5430 x 165 [email protected]; or contact Associate Publisher, Jim Sammartino in New Yorkat 212-251-8169 also [email protected]; or visit www.guidepostsmedia.com.

Guideposts Salutes Detroit's Adcraft Club on your 100th Anniversary!

*Source: MRI, Spring 2005

Ryan & Alexandra McReynolds,August 2005, Husband and Wife

Tiffany Fiacco, June 2005Young Writer's Contest winner

Kenny Warns, September 2005Firefighter

Patrick Borders, January 2004Stay-at-home Dad America’s Source for Inspiration

®

Documents

Congratulations on 100 years of 7 - Ad Agebrandedcontent.adage.com/pdf/adcraft05.pdf · 2016. 1. 25. · A40. Adcraft is leaving a legacy for the future that is relevant and exciting—just