Finally; a planner!
(Well, maybe my third, although Paul Feldwick and Sarah Carter weren’t talking about their careers.)
Creatives operating the seventies hated planners.
‘They ruined the business’ and ‘they took all the fun out of advertising’ being their most common complaint.
As they see it; planners stole half their job.
Their instincts were replaced by the data obsessed views of these Oxbridge types.
Clarity became more important than cut through.
They get accused of sanding off the edges and idiosyncrasies of their creative work.
Therefore destroying Creative’s winning lottery tickets.
You can’t accuse Laurence Green of any of the above.
Skoda ‘Cake’, Sony ‘Balls’, Cadbury’s ‘Gorilla’.
(I could go on.)
He’s wears his intelligence lightly, using it to simplify and explain, not impress.
Regardless of the agency or creatives, the ads are simple, engaging and human.
That can’t be a coincidence.
Or could it? I asked him.
Hope you enjoy it.

Laurence’s first ad (aged 15).

ABBOTT MEAD VICKERS.
Parker Knoll.

Molson.

Rolling Rock.

J WALTER THOMPSON.
(Nothing to see here.)

LOWE HOWARD-SPINK.

Flowers.

Stella Artois.

Weetabix.

PART DEUX – ‘FALLON AND BEYOND’ FOLLOWS NEXT WEEK…