THE
ART  OF
MADNESS

I’VE BECOME INCREASINGLY FASCINATED WITH GEORGE LOIS, OFTEN HAILED AS THE ‘ORIGINAL ADVERTISING MADMAN’. BORN ON 26TH JUNE 1931, HE PASSED AWAY LAST YEAR AT THE GRAND AGE OF 91.

LOIS STANDS AS ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL FIGURES IN THE HISTORY OF ADVERTISING. WITH HIS LARGER-THAN-LIFE PERSONALITY AND GROUNDBREAKING CAMPAIGNS, HE REDEFINED THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT ADVERTISING COULD ACHIEVE.

FROM ‘62 TO ‘72, HE CHANGED THE FACE OF MAGAZINE DESIGN WITH HIS NINETY COVERS FOR ESQUIRE MAGAZINE. INITIALLY INTERPRETED AS LOUD AND PERCEPTIVE STATEMENTS OF THAT TIME, THE COVERS HAVE SINCE BECOME ESSENTIAL ICONOGRAPHY OF AMERICAN CULTURE.

HE LATER CREATED MANY SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGNS FOR PEPSI, VOLKSWAGEN, ESPN AND TOMMY HILFIGER AND WAS CREDITED FOR LAUNCHING THE ICONIC MTV WITH THE UNFORGETTABLE TAGLINE “I WANT MY MTV” UTTERED BY THE LIKES OF MICK JAGGER AND DAVID BOWIE. DURING THE PITCH LOIS SUPPOSEDLY SAID: “NOW, ALL YOU SONS OF BITCHES AROUND THE COUNTRY ARE GOING TO BE SAYING, ‘I WANT MY MTV ‘ ".

SO WHAT DOES ANY OF THIS HAVE TO DO WITH PSYOP? IRONICALLY, HAD THE CAMPAIGN FAILED THEN PSYOP WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN BORN. ALL FIVE FOUNDERS LEFT MTV IN 1999 TO FORM PSYOP, IN A CONVERTED BAR IN THE EAST VILLAGE NYC. 24 YEARS LATER, ALL FIVE ARE STILL DIRECTING WORK AND REMAIN RESOLUTE IN PSYOP'S MISSION TO PERSUADE, CHANGE AND INFLUENCE GLOBAL AUDIENCES.

THROUGHOUT HIS REMARKABLE CAREER, LOIS CHALLENGED CONVENTIONAL WISDOM, PUSHED BOUNDARIES AND AIMED TO BREAK NEW GROUND WITH EVERY CAMPAIGN. HE BELIEVED THAT MARKETING SHOULD NEVER BE MEDIOCRE OR FORGETTABLE; INSTEAD, WORK SHOULD EVOKE EMOTION, PROVOKE DISCUSSION, AND CREATE A LASTING IMPRESSION.

LOIS FAMOUSLY DECLARED, ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS SHOULD BE POISON GAS: “…BRING TEARS TO YOUR EYES, UNHINGE YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM, AND KNOCK YOU OUT!’. HE WAS A FIRM BELIEVER THAT GREAT WORK REQUIRED A RELENTLESS DEDICATION TO THE CRAFT AND A REFUSAL TO SETTLE FOR ANYTHING LESS THAN EXTRAORDINARY.

IT IS OFTEN SAID THAT GENIUS AND MADNESS ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN. UNORTHODOX METHODS, AUDACIOUS IDEAS, AND RELENTLESS PURSUIT OF PERFECTION OFTEN TEETERS ON THE EDGE OF MADNESS.

JASON BAGLEY, FORMERLY ECD AT WIEDEN + KENNEDY, RECENTLY SAID IN AN INTERVIEW WHILST DISCUSSING LOIS: “ALL GREAT ART, AND ALL GREAT ADVERTISING ARE PUSHED RIGHT TO THE EDGE OF MADNESS. AND THE ONLY WAY TO FIND THAT EDGE, IS TO GO PAST IT.”

IT IS PRECISELY THIS PROXIMITY TO MADNESS THAT HAS FUELLED THE FIRE IN PSYOP’S CREATIVE WORK FOR SO MANY YEARS. NOT JUST IN ICONIC CAMPAIGNS LIKE MTV ‘CROW’ OR COCA COLA ‘HAPPINESS FACTORY’ OR TRAVEL OREGON ‘ONLY SLIGHTLY EXAGGERATED’ OR INDEED IN MANY OTHER NOTABLE CAMPAIGNS BUT IT’S RIGHT THERE IN OUR GAMES MARKETING WORK TOO.

THE CULT GAME, I LOVE YOU COLONEL SANDERS, A FINGER LICKING GOOD DATING SIMULATOR (ILYCS), WHICH PSYOP CREATED IN 2019 SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN GIVEN A GREEN LIGHT. THE ENTIRE CONCEPT WAS SIMPLY BONKERS. “WAIT. WHAT? YOU WANT TO TURN THE COLONEL INTO A SUPER-SEXY ANIME CHARACTER AND THEN HAVE PEOPLE TRY TO WOO HIM IN A DATING SIMULATOR?” I MEAN THE ANSWER TO THAT PITCH SHOULD HAVE BEEN A RESOUNDING NO! YET THE GAME HAS HAD ALMOST 1 MILLION DOWNLOADS AND IS STILL PLAYED AND STREAMED THREE YEARS AFTER LAUNCH. THE FANS TRULY APPRECIATED THE LOVE THAT WENT INTO THE ART, WRITING, DESIGN AND THE MUSIC.

I’M VERY PLEASED THAT THE RESPONSE TO THE PITCH WAS A POSITIVE ONE BECAUSE WITHOUT ILYCS IT’S UNLIKELY THAT WE WOULD HAVE GONE ON TO MAKE ‘HOOKED ON YOU’ FOR BHVR OR LOVERWATCH WITH THE TEAM AT BLIZZARD FOR OVERWATCH.

OUR GAMES CLIENTS CONTINUE TO GIVE US PERMISSION TO CREATE EXUBERANT FILMS WITH PLENTY OF CREATIVE LICENSE WHEN IT COMES TO THE BIRTH OF MADCAP WORLDS AND THE CHARACTERS THAT INHABIT THEM. THANKFULLY THEY ALSO ALLOW US TO CHALLENGE THEIR IDEAS. WHY CREATE A 3 MINUTE FILM IF YOU CAN TELL A BEAUTIFUL STORY IN A :90 OR A :60? ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT A 3D TRAILER? MAYBE IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE 2D? MAYBE IT’S AN INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE THAT THE FANS WILL STILL BE PLAYING AND STREAMING AND TALKING ABOUT FOR YEARS TO COME. AND IN ADDITION, THE REALLY NICE THING IS THAT A LOT OF THESE GROUNDBREAKING PROJECTS DON’T COST AN ABSOLUTE FORTUNE TO CREATE.

BACK TO LOIS. WHILST DUBBED THE ORIGINAL ADVERTISING ‘MAD MAN’ HE RAILED AGAINST THE TV REPRESENTATION OF HIS INDUSTRY FROM THAT TIME:

“MAD MEN IGNORED THE DYNAMICS OF THAT PERIOD OF 1960’S COUNTERCULTURE. A NEW CREATIVE GENERATION—A REBELLIOUS COTERIE OF ART DIRECTORS AND COPYWRITERS WHO UNDERSTOOD THAT VISUAL AND VERBAL EXPRESSION WERE INDIVISIBLE, WHO BRIDLED UNDER THE OLD RULES THAT CONSIGNED THEM TO SECONDARY ROLES IN THE AD-MAKING PROCESS DOMINATED BY NON-CREATIVE HACKS AND TECHNOCRATS.

IT WAS A TESTY TIME TO BE A CREATIVE LIKE ME WHO HAD THE RAGE TO COMMUNICATE AND CREATE ICON RATHER THAN CON. AND, UNLIKE THE TV MAD MEN, WE WORKED FULL, JOYOUS DAYS: CREATING NEW IDEAS, "COMPING" THEM, STORYBOARDING THEM, SELLING THEM, PITCHING THEM AND THEN DIRECTING THOSE COMMERCIALS.”

I SAY LET’S STAY REBELLIOUS. LET’S NOT BECOME SECONDARY TO TECH NOR TECHNOCRATS. LET’S CARRY ON RAGING TO COMMUNICATE THE MAD IDEAS. LET’S CONTINUE TO BREAK THE RULES AND CREATE THE ICONIC WORK. AND LET’S CELEBRATE THOSE WHO WANT TO EXECUTE THE MOST OUTLANDISH IDEA IN THE PITCH DECK.

THOSE DUAL JET ENGINES OF CREATIVITY AND COURAGE WILL CONTINUE TO PROPEL OUR WORK FOR MANY YEARS TO COME.