Arts & Entertainment, Science & Tech, Business
Anatomy of a Campaign
Lesson time 11:08 min
Get behind-the-scenes breakdowns of the Polaroid “See What Develops” and the Budweiser lizards campaigns.
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Topics include: The Evolution of a Campaign: got milk? • Case Study: Polaroid
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Advertising icons Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein teach you how to break rules, change minds, and create the best work of your life.
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- Sadly, there's not enough campaigns anymore. A campaign is something you look forward. Each one gets-- it feeds on the next-- better and better and better. You can say Geico right now is the only really long running campaign in America that I can remember. But a campaign should be something where everything speaks to the same idea. But it just gets better and better and better. And the public really feels connected to it. I think clients should do more campaigns than one-offs. A one-off is what it is. It's-- OK, it could be a Super Bowl commercial. It could be amazing and 900 million people are going to look at it. And you still want to do that. But a campaign is something, you know, I kind of really respect that because it's a voice. - Yeah, I think the problem with one-offs is that the ripples that go out around it dissipate quickly. - Yeah. - And you're left with a silent pond. And we like things where those ripples actually turn into other ripples and turn into other ripples and just keep going. - I will say, sometimes you don't know you have a campaign. You fall into it. And I know I'm speaking for my partner because he did the lizards. And I'm not sure they knew it was a whole campaign to start with. - Initially, it was just a crazy idea. They were-- they had this campaign called the frogs. And there were like three or four commercials with frogs going, bud wei ser. And they couldn't figure out what to do with that. Once you did it, there was no more you could do. We had to do it again. And so I was I was in St. Louis. And they told me they were going to kill the frogs. And I was like, it would actually be fun to kill the frogs, have some characters-- - So they came up with idea-- - Yeah, really. They came up with the idea in that sense. It's like listening to the world around you is the most important thing. August Busch IV said to me, we're going to kill the frogs. And so I said, oh, that's a good idea. So I was on the plane. I came back. And I told these guys excitedly that we should come up with some characters. I suggested raccoons who would try to kill the frogs on the Super Bowl. And they wouldn't really succeed. The would be like, don't worry. And these guys said, no, we should use lizards. Lizards are cold-blooded. They're mean. And they would be the ones to kill the frogs. - Bud - Wei - Ser - And so we cast the lizards first to be kind of like "Goodfellas", like Scorsese characters. And they talked like this, (THROATY VOICE) and then, you know, what are we going to do when we see the frogs? They sounded like they really were going to kill the frogs. So we finally had these two guys come in that were like, you know, they were like Jewish Catskill comedians, right? - Those frogs-- - Bud. - --are going to pay. - Weis. - Er. - Let it go, Louie. Let it go. - They're funny. It doesn't sound like they really will kill them. And they can ...
About the Instructor
As the minds behind the “got milk?” campaign, the Budweiser lizards, and countless other ads that have permeated pop culture, Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein never stop reimagining the possibilities of advertising. Now they’re sharing how they make the beautiful and edgy work that’s seen by millions. Learn how to come up with great ideas, tell funny and compelling stories, and dazzle at your next pitch or presentation.
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Jeff Goodby & Rich Silverstein
Advertising icons Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein teach you how to break rules, change minds, and create the best work of your life.
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