Classic Nike Print Ads, Burt Bacharach and Blackcurrant Tango ‘St. George’: The Work That Made Toby Barlow
The co-founder, CCO, and CEO of Lafayette American, Toby Barlow has worked with a range of clients, including Mazda, Amazon, Netflix, Ford, Owens Corning, BorgWarner, and McClure’s Pickles.
Toby sat down with LBB to discuss classic DDB work, his proudest work with Ford, and the Nike print ads he keeps revisiting.
The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
I’m old enough to have seen some of the classic DDB work, including the ‘I can’t believe I ate the whole thing’ spot. That one stuck.
The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…
‘Goodby, Berlin’. Silverstein made a trailer for the Mill Valley Film Festival that filled me with love for advertising’s possibilities. It’s a great example of what Goodby was referencing when he talked about ‘highest common denominator advertising.’ Lines from that spot still make me laugh.
The creative work that I keep revisiting…
There was a Nike running print ad that Jerry Cronin wrote and David Jenkins art directed.
The copy was:
He's fat and he's soft. And he's wearing your clothes. And he's gotten too old. And he was born on your birthday. And you're afraid if you stop running, he'll catch up with you.
Just do it.
I’ve never seen any copy anywhere that I was better than that.
My first professional project…
My first partner - the amazing Harvey Marco - and I did an ad for a local Bay Area news station and used the Burt Bacharach song ‘Do You Know the Way to San Jose.’ It was a fun spot asking people in San Francisco how to get to San Jose. It was surprising how few people knew how to get there.
The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…
Almost all advertising makes me feel this way. This is the fury that drives me.
The piece of work that still makes me jealous…
Has anyone ever done anything better than the Blackcurrant Tango ‘St. George’ spot? No. Nobody in the history of the world has ever done anything better than the Blackcurrant Tango ‘St. George’ spot.
The creative project that changed my career…
I wrote a lil’ retail campaign for Saturn cars that helped introduce Jim Gaffigan to the world. He was so great. Suddenly, all sorts of doors opened up for me.
The work that I’m proudest of…
When I was working on Ford a multi-million dollar Cadillac spot hit the air starring a smug and arrogant Neal McDonnough.
I hated it.
So we did a shot by shot remake for $50k starring a charismatic activist named Pashion Murray. It was all about sustainability and community, and it weirdly just hit the zeitgeist’s bullseye.
The press on it went through the roof. I liked the message, I liked how nimble we were making it, I liked how I got it approved (long story), and I liked the impact.
I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…
In the early days of the internet, a lot went down that I still regret. My brilliant partner Marc Klein and I got roped into doing campaigns for both Barnes & Noble and Prodigy Internet that got way out of hand.
It was about a 10 month period there where the pressure was really high; timelines were way too short and nothing turned out the way we wanted it to.
As Cher would say: ‘if I could turn back time…’
The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
I live in a constant state of excitement about every project. I am endlessly and desperately running from hate to love. As Godard and Anna Karina said:
'Away, away, says hate.
Closer, closer, says love.'
