Tag Archives: Chris Gilbert

The Mystery of the Pimped Ad

Pimp My Ad poster

If you’ve walked through Art Center recently, chances are you’ve seen posters for Pimp My Ad.

The first poster that caught the Dotted Line’s attention was designed by second-term Advertising major Chris Gilbert and was a visual nod to William Bernbach’s classic 1959 Volkswagen ad campaign.

Printed on larger stock than most anything else adorning the College’s hallways, the poster featured a black-and-white photograph of, well, a “pimp hat,” paired with copy about a campus group whose existence was no longer a mystery.

Pimp My Ad, which borrows its name from MTV’s popular car customization show Pimp My Ride, is a weekly art direction workshop in which Advertising majors have their work critiqued informally by Advertising Department Acting Chair James Wojtowicz, guest speakers like Art Center Advertising alumnus Zhorab Gevorkian and, most importantly, their academic peers. Continue reading →

Ad Legend Visits Campus

Last week Art Center welcomed advertising superstar Lee Clow, chairman and global director of TBWA\Worldwide, to speak about his work and ideology. Student Chris Gilbert was there and provides this first-person account:

“Whereas old-school advertising had the tendency to err towards the condescension of ‘talking down to’ or ‘talking at’ their consumers, Lee spoke of the need to instead engage and stimulate the minds of the consumers, and the need for ads to be clever and he emphatically reiterated the fact that ‘creativity [in advertising] is now an imperative.’”

Read more and check out Chris’ great blog at chrisgilbertdeisgn.com.