A note from Lee Clow

Aug 25, 2008

In the early ’80s, two young and talented guys influenced by this culture set out to,yet again, change our expectations of what is creative, what is advertising? I’m sure that back then their ambitions weren’t that high-minded. It was 1984 and we (Chiat\Day in L.A.) were having a pretty good year. Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, now proprietors of their own advertising agency, wanted to have breakfast. I think that because I was older they thought maybe I was wiser about passionately running a creative agency. The guys I met didn’t need much advice. They had all the right motives. They wanted to do great work.

They wanted it to be honest and smart. They had been mentored by Hal Riney, one of advertising’s great storytellers (who’d be writing this tribute if he were still here). They wanted to live up to his standards. They wanted to do beautiful, funny, intelligent, new and interesting things. They didn’t want to become an “advertising agency” with guys in suits calling the shots and telling their clients what they wanted to hear.

25 years later they’ve done all those things. Maybe more.

Most people know and admire the famous “Got milk?” campaign. Funny, smart, strategically brilliant. But I still remember the Mill Valley Film Festival, a documentary-style conversation with Mill Valley residents from the butcher to the auto mechanic about art and film. And the “Chevys Fresh Mex hand-made today” commercials, long before homemade commercials on YouTube. And the beautiful black & white Norwegian Cruise Lines campaign. I remember being personally offended when a new marketing person unceremoniously took the account away and went on to do very ugly, very ordinary advertising.

Between Jeff and Rich, they create the words and pictures that make our business admirable— how to inspire their agency to present a brand, how to engage an audience, how to use media on behalf of a client.

If you’re a creative person, Jeff very often says stuff you should write down and carry in your wallet, like “Don’t do things people won’t notice” or “If you don’t fuck up, you’re not doing things that are hard.”

Well, for 25 years now we’ve been noticing. And, no surprise, the work they’re doing now that breaks out of television and print is just as smart, just as influential and challenging to our business as the work that’s gone before.

Two creative guys in a city that might be one of the most creative cultures on the planet with the passion to, as I’ve heard them say, be “interesting” have created one of our industry’s most famous brands. Goodby Silverstein.

For more Goodby, Silverstein & Partners coverage:
A Note from Lee Clow
Just regular guys: Silverstein and Goodby
Q & A with Jeff Goodby
Q & A with Rich Silverstein
Meet the Partners
The Client is Always Right
25 Years