Creative Revolution

The creative revolution from 1954 – 64 was the start of a whole new generation of communication and visualisation of a product/services advertisement.  Creating a form, beauty, concept and idea for communication with the audience. There were a few key people in this revolution, Bill Bernbach, Helmut Krone and Doyle Dane Bernbach; both of which I will talk about below.

Before the creative revolution there were commercial artists who stuck and worked to one formula for designs. Keeping an image squared to the top, having a headline describing the image, a logo at the bottom, small three column text and an image showing the all American dream, keeping a very male dominated focus etc. The imagery was very basic and undemanding yet simplicity can be good sometimes; as it did sell!

Bill Bernback was one of first to start the revolution; knowing that himself and the public knew the advertisements were depicted of lies; he acted upon it.  He brought the idea to the revolution; made it clear that its key to have idea or concept otherwise there’s no communication.  Starting with his very bold VW car advertisement; cutting out the all American dream and switching it with a small cropped image. The’ think small’ campaign was a revolutionary idea, consisting of large amount of white space, a cropped image, and a very different concept. The idea of ‘think small’ – shows that it is affordable, uses less petrol etc; but also being a slight insult to the Americans, telling them to think rather than their big thought.

Helmut Krone another at the forefront of this revolution, he was also part of the VW brand advertisements. With his rule breaking concept of; not having headlines, no logos, no product, lots of white space, headlines as captions mixing up the rules. But the idea and execution of the advertisement itself exaggerated quality and understanding of audience. It is clear to say that his concepts were a breaking point and all of the designs are still being used 40 years late and talked about today!

Doyle Dane Bernbach understood his audience, targeted a particular and made the communication simple. He went beyond the obvious American dream and took a risk. His work uses wit to reflect on the image used, rather than state the obvious, creating an obscure outlook on advertisements of a product.  Looking through his imager it is clear to say he found what wasn’t being done and acted on it, this which we should all be trying to act on today.

Looking at the creative’s in this revolution it is clear to say they broke the rules and their styles, concepts and idea have all been influential on today’s advertisements. There revolutionary ideas have shaped the way we choose to approach an idea. Now knowing of all these concepts and revolution breakers I will definitely take them into consideration and help them to influence the way I think and choose to advertise in the future.