NZ Marketing, New Zealand
01 Feb 2014
Provided for client's internal
research purposes only. May not
be further copied, distributed, sold
or published in any form without
the prior consent of the copyright
owner.
General News, page 25 - 1,207.43 cm²
Magazines Business - circulation 2,547 (Bi-Monthly)
ID 228299623
BRIEF 247PR(W)
INDEX 1
The art of
PERSUASION
What can advertising tell us about ourselves? Plenty, writes PeterAlsop, who has
just released Promoting Prosperity, a new book with designer Gary Stewart that pays
homage to New Zealand's advertising and design pioneers.
PAGE 1 of 4
NZ Marketing, New Zealand
01 Feb 2014
Provided for client's internal
research purposes only. May not
be further copied, distributed, sold
or published in any form without
the prior consent of the copyright
owner.
WHAT DOES ONE \N R ITE about a book
about images? After all, images also
talk, as they've done for 32,000 years,
and, as the phrase goes, they often say more than a
thousand words. However, for all the advertising in
New Zealand's past, the written record is surprisingly sparse. It's high -time to sow sonic seeds and,
according to arts commentators Jim and Mary Barr,
the planting time is right (even if overdue).
"Now that the harriers between design and
the visual arts are easing, this is the perfect time to
take another look at what used to be called commercial art."
Promoting Prosprriiv is 'another look', hopefully a comprehensive and compelling one while
General News, page 25 - 1,207.43 cm²
Magazines Business - circulation 2,547 (Bi-Monthly)
ID 228299623
BRIEF 247PR(W)
INDEX 1
PAGE 2 of 4
recognising such investigations are a journey and
not a destination. The hook's eye -candy is, well,
sweet (my conflict acknowledged), but the hook's
tt research essays also underscore that every word
has its day. The research extends New Zealand's art
history and, using advertising as a mirror, deepens
understanding of New Zealand's economic and
social foundations and associated early drive for
prosperity.
Amongst the key historical developments illustrated in the book are the building of industries
like tourism and farming; the conception of export
markets to benefit from international trade; the
introduction of electricity and radio; and historical
events such as Sir Edmund Hillary's trip to the
NZ Marketing, New Zealand
01 Feb 2014
Provided for client's internal
research purposes only. May not
be further copied, distributed, sold
or published in any form without
the prior consent of the copyright
owner.
General News, page 25 - 1,207.43 cm²
Magazines Business - circulation 2,547 (Bi-Monthly)
ID 228299623
BRIEF 247PR(W)
INDEX 1
13 a
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PAGE 3 of 4
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spark plug).
You will also observe the fruits of a range of
social policies and campaigns to help foster an
egalitarian and public -spirited population, such as
promoting good nutrition, saving, road safety and
smoking cessation.
A range of stunning war- related images also
remind us that the price and prize of freedom -the
very heart of prosperity- required well -honed advertising, such as recruitment drives, pleas for financial
support and the fostering of patriotic public morale.
In spite of two world wars, the Depression and
our relative isolation from the rest of the world, New
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Zealand's development was rapid and, by anyone's
standard, entrepreneurial and impressive. It is even
more remarkable how New Zealand, starting behind
international peers as the world's youngest country,
would quickly generate some of the highest incomes
and wellbeing benefits in the world. We weren't
known as the 'Paradise of the Pacific' for nothing.
Amongst the research essays are a deeper history of advertising agencies; insights on the crossover of fine and commercial art; amusing musings
from Dick Frizzell; the significance of the Quoin
Club; and the inspiring design legend of the Railways
Department. On the latter, government domination
of outdoor advertising, across multiple decades, is a
counter -intuitive fact that takes many by surprise.
In today's multi -media world, it's also easy to
forget that outdoor advertising -the book's core
creative Fuel -was once 'the crescendo of publicity'. Even back then, contemporary advertising
principles and concepts were top -of -mind, even if
(desirably) missing today's corporate hoopla. More
broadly, seductive slogans and compelling copy
pepper the book's images. Yesterday's copywriters
prized word productivity; saying a lot while saying
a little, something critical in the distracted reality
within which commercial art must work.
Ultimately, though, it's the adept integration and
composition of words and images that matters most.
This is the domain and art of the graphic artist, who
is able to link reason with instinct, the literal with the
metaphorical and the cerebral with the emotional.
ALL BLUR
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NZ Marketing, New Zealand
01 Feb 2014
Provided for client's internal
research purposes only. May not
be further copied, distributed, sold
or published in any form without
the prior consent of the copyright
owner.
General News, page 25 - 1,207.43 cm²
Magazines Business - circulation 2,547 (Bi-Monthly)
ID 228299623
BRIEF 247PR(W)
INDEX 1
PAGE 4 of 4
At advertising's best, such distinctions dissolve; an
amorphous fusion that transcends boundaries and
beams a memorable message. You know it when you
feel it. Such is the mystique of good advertising, good
art and, for that matter, the art of life; magic that
words, no matter how good, can never fully capture.
Kevin Roberts, Saatchi & Saatchi's worldwide
chief executive wrote the book's foreword and calls
the book "a treasure trove of illustration, painting,
typography, copywriting and studio production -a
wonderful celebration of Zealandia and its foundational graphic glory. Andy Warhol's Campbell's
soup cans could have been New Century Salt, just
one example of beautiful illustration and painting
in this book."
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Promoting Prosperity, which features about
750 images and it essáys across 440 pages, is available from www.pronrotingprosperity.co.nz with a
to percent discount and free postage within New
Zealand. Alsop and Stewart's first effort, Selling
the Dream: The Art of Early New Zealand
Tourism, can also he purchased with a discount at
www.sellingthedream.co.nz.
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