Perspectives and reflections on the industry’s past, as well as several new wrinkles, will mark a three-day celebration (6/11-13) in New York commemorating the 10th annual Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show & Lecture Series.
The AICP Show, The Art & Technique of the American Television Commercial, kicks off the festivities on Monday evening, June 11, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
As earlier reported (SHOOT, 1/26, p. 1), the Met represents a change in venue for the AICP Show premiere screenings and gala industry reception. Extensive renovations at the event’s perennial site, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, have temporarily closed that museum’s sculpture garden, prompting the move of the AICP Show to the Met. But as in years past since its inception in 1992, the AICP Show will continue to have its spots—honored for their artistic quality and originality in 22 craft categories—incorporated into the permanent collection of MoMA’s Department of Film and Video. MoMA curator Larry Kardish will address the industry gathering at the Met gala The annual AICP Show compilation of spots has become known worldwide simply as "America’s Reel."
Jon Kamen, co-proprietor of bicoastal/international @radical.media is the 2001 AICP Show chairman. Kamen was the national chairman of the AICP in ’92, when the first show was produced. "Who would have thought that an advertising awards program could even survive without a trophy?" quipped Kamen, who said that the 10-year anniversary represents "a proud moment."
The Association of Music Producers (AMP)—which maintains a strategic alliance with the AICP—also figures in the celebratory proceedings. Composers from different AMP houses will score the party, creating musical pieces that will play in and capture the spirit of different areas of the Met, including the Temple of Dendur in the Sackler Wing, the Carroll and Milton Petrie European Sculpture Court and the Great Hall. During the AICP Show, several of the Met’s galleries will be open to attendees, the prime attraction being the scheduled exhibit "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years—Selections from the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum."
AICP president Matt Miller noted that the Kennedy exhibit, billed in some circles as "Camelot comes to television," seems an apropos parallel to the retrospective nature of this year’s AICP Show and Lecture Series on its 10th anniversary. Following the Monday screenings and reception at the Met, there will be an AICP Show After-Party held at the Manhattan nightclub SPA.
On the afternoon of Tues., June 12, an AICP Show Flashback—a screening of the spots honored in the first AICP Show (’92) from MoMA’s permanent collection—will be held at MoMA’s The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1. Also slated for Tuesday are a golf tournament and an AICP Members-Only Congress during which AICP members and associate members, as well as AMP rank-and-file, can engage in dialogue and ask questions of AICP officers.
LECTURE SERIES
The annual Lecture series remains at its familiar venue of The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1. Four speakers are slated for Wed., June 13, including two noted directors: Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international hungry man, and Charles Stone III of Storm Films, Brooklyn.
Buckley won the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award as best commercial director of 1999 and was a nominee earlier this year for the DGA best spot director of 2000 honor. Stone, of course, is the helmer behind a nation of television viewers exclaiming "Whassup!" based on his much-lauded Budweiser campaign for DDB Chicago. Last year, the original "Whassup!" campaign won the Grand Prix at the Cannes International Advertising Festival (SHOOT, 7/14/00, p. 1).
Speaking of DDB: The agency’s worldwide chairman, Keith Reinhard will be an AICP Lecture speaker. His talk will center on the legacy of ad industry creative legend Bill Bernbach, the "B" in DDB. On the occasion of the AICP Show’s 10th anniversary and as the AICP enters its 30th year, Reinhard will reflect on the past, looking back at Bernbach’s influence and achievements, and their profound impact on advertising, which can still be felt today.
The fourth scheduled speaker is Richard Saul Wurman, information architect and founder of the acclaimed TED conference, which brings together luminaries from the fields of technology, entertainment and design. Plans call for Wurman to be accompanied by some visionary-type friends during his Lecture Series appearance to illustrate how the cross-pollination of disciplines shapes creative pursuits and society.
Sandwiched between two morning and two afternoon Lecture Series speakers will be a luncheon at The China Grill, hosted by the Film Offices of the Hawaiian Islands.
DINNER AND
A MOVIE
Wrapping the three-day proceedings will be a Tenth Anniversary Dinner set for the evening of Wed., June 13, at MoMA. Already, this event is sold out.
Playing during the dinner will be all 10 years of AICP Show-honored commercials. And to mark the AICP’s 30th year, a documentary on the Association is currently in the works and is slated to debut during the dinner. Included in the documentary will be interviews with many of the early AICP pioneers, preserving on film their industry recollections and insights.
As evidenced by the sold-out closing dinner, tickets for the AICP Show & Lecture Series figure to be hot commodities. Add to that the fact that the Met capacity is some 1,500 people– about 20 percent less than the MoMA attendance limit for the AICP Show. (However, the Met theater is larger than that at MoMA and can accommodate all 1,500 attendees in two screening sessions. At the MoMA venue, a number of guests had reception-only tickets and didn’t attend the screenings.)
This year, the AICP isn’t mailing out invitations to the Show and Lecture Series. Instead, those interested in buying tickets have to access the AICP Web site (www.aicp.com), download order forms and then mail the filled-out paperwork, with payment, to the AICP. Among the available packages is a tour pass, which covers not only the AICP Show in New York, but also tickets for all domestic stops in the AICP Show road tour, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Minneapolis, Winston-Salem, N.C., and Honolulu. (Additionally, the AICP Show annually travels to cultural venues in Europe and Asia.)
CURATORIAL
COMMITTEE
At press time, nearly all seats on the AICP Show Curatorial Committee had been filled. The Curatorial Committee assesses AICP Show judging results, administering rules to ensure that deserving commercials are properly honored. For instance, explained Miller, a commercial cannot be honored in the Show more than three times. If the judging results yield more than three honors for a single spot, the Curatorial Committee decides which excess category or categories that entry should be eliminated from, and what other spot or spots should replace it.
The Curatorial Committee also checks on such details as air dates, to make sure that all entries qualify. If not, the Curatorial Committee can disqualify a commercial.
The current AICP Show chairman and the two immediate past chairpersons automatically serve on the Curatorial Committee. This year, that would be Kamen and his two predecessors: Roberto Cecchini of bicoastal/ international The Artists Company, and Carol Case of bicoastal GSP4. Also with designated seats on the Curatorial Committee are the current AICP chairman and vice chairman, as well as the immediate past chairman. Those officials are AICP chairman Alex Blum of bicoastal Headquarters, vice chairman Alfred Califano of bicoastal OneSuch Films, and ex-officio chairman Frank Scherma of @radical.media.
The AICP Show board of governors invites another 14 people—from different segments of the commercialmaking community—to serve on the Curatorial Committee. Other confirmed Curatorial Committee members thus far are: Florence Babbitt of Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco; Andy Berlin of Berlin, Cameron & Partners, New York; Rick Boyko of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, New York; Hank Corwin of bicoastal Lost Planet; Bob Giraldi of bicoastal Giraldi Suarez Productions; Lyle Greenfield of New York-headquartered Bang music+sound design; John Hegarty of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York; Mitchell Kanner of The Idea Bridge, Santa Monica; Chuck McBride of TBWA/Chiat/Day, San Francisco; Steve Neely of FCB, San Francisco; and Fred Raimondi of Venice, Calif.-based Digital Domain.
