The 2006 Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show and Lecture Series, slated for June 8 at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, will reflect a changing industry landscape. In terms of the AICP Show, what a difference a word makes–or make that the lack of a word.
The annual AICP Show’s longstanding description changes from “The Art & Technique of the American Television Commercial” to “The Art & Technique of the American Commercial.” The deletion of the word “Television” reflects the fact that for the first time the AICP Show will become thoroughly inclusive of work that appears in nontraditional media such as cell phones, iPods, PDAs and computer screens. Across nearly all AICP Show categories, this fare will be eligible for recognition alongside TV and cinema commercials.
Thus the AICP Show’s Technique (Visual Style; Dialogue or Monologue; Humor; Tabletop; Cinematography; Animation; Editorial; Graphics; Visual Effects; Original Music; Sound Design; Musical Arrangement; Production; Production Design; and Talent Performance), Concept (Agency Art Direction; Copywriting) and Specialty (PSA; Low Budget; Spec Spot; Student Commercial) categories will be open to commercials spanning traditional (TV, cinema) as well as nontraditional media (computer monitors and small screen outlets).
While several other major industry shows have set up separate categories and/or awards to recognize new media content, the AICP Show is billed as being the first to honor work for all outlets virtually throughout its competition. Alternative media spots will be competing against and can potentially be honored alongside commercials for TV and/or the cinema across the Show’s Technique, Concept and Specialty categories.
Only in the AICP Show’s Advertising Excellence categories will there be differentiation between emerging media spots and ads for TV or cinema. The previous Excellence categories–Advertising Excellence/Single Commercial, Advertising Excellence/Campaign and Advertising Excellence/International–will remain restricted to spots that run on television or in movie theaters. However, a new category–Advertising Excellence/Nontraditional–will be devoted exclusively to spots appearing on media other than TV or theaters.
Mindy Goldberg, president/co-owner of bicoastal Epoch Films, is chairwoman of the ’06 AICP Show & Lecture Series. The AICP Show will be presented as a gala evening affair at MoMA. Now in its 15th year, the AICP Show was established in cooperation with MoMA. The honored commercials are made part of the permanent archives of MoMA’s Department of Film and Media.
LECTURE SERIES
As alluded to earlier, the morning Lecture Series at MoMA also reflects an evolving industry. Yes the event will put directors in the spotlight as it has for most of its existence over the years. However, this time around, the presentation will be atypical with directors Stacy Wall of Epoch Films and Hank Perlman of Hungry Man putting their own special bent on the proceedings.
The longtime friends and former colleagues (at Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore.) are staging a game show extravaganza described as half Wheel of Fortune, half Elvis Costello’s spinning songbook.
The program will include a wheel, the segments of which will hold clues to stories about the directors’ careers in advertising and will introduce spots they directed individually as well as those that they wrote together. Audience members will be picked to spin the wheel and vie for prizes.
Goldberg related, “This year’s Lecture Series is a good model for the direction in which our industry is moving. It will be a fun and captivating combination of entertainment, film and marketing.”
