Creative Crackdown, Denver Art Museum

By / January 9, 2008 /

The first art exhibition from the world famous Louvre arrived at the Denver Art Museum. While these treasures speak for themselves, the stories based around them were even more compelling. Stories of tyranny, deception, adultery, and murder (among others) affected both French royals and their craftsmen. This campaign via Integer teased patrons with partial stories where the juicy stuff would only be revealed at the DAM.

Comments

Lifter Baron January 9, 2008

I think they are clean, which

I think they are clean, which to me is a relief. I would expected there to have been three pages of copy on it or six typefaces. The limited color palette helps keep it distinct and thangs. Im just not sure it helps people gather interest. Its kind of hokey, or like there isn’t anything that makes me think, “shit, that looks like i need to get there and see it before it goes back to France!”
hack boy January 9, 2008

“Stories of tyranny,

“Stories of tyranny, deception, adultery, and murder (among others)”

That line in your description of the campaign is a thousand percent more intriguing than anything in any of these ads.

The art direction is enough to make me look at the ads, but nothing in them makes me want to go see the exhibit, which is a shame because the topic for the campaign is rife with opportunity.

Put this in the “Denver advertising popped up to the catcher, again.” file.

P.S. What’s with the angled DAM logo falling off the page? It seems entirely out of place to me.
ian t. nordeck January 9, 2008

nice. the use of color in

nice. the use of color in these is beautiful. the marie antionette is my favorite and all of them would grab my attention for a second glance and thorough read. although, this is the first time i’ve seen any of these. where were the ads placed?

the type lock up of the artisans & kings and subhead are really nice. however, i don’t see the same elegance in the headlines. the headlines feel flat and uninteresting compared to the other type treatment. breaking the headlines into three lines bothers me for some reason. it doesn’t feel natural and some of the breaks are awkward. queen’s bathing chamber is really small, especially in comparison to the others. as lifter mentioned the ads are very clean and uncluttered and the restraint is to be commended, but based on the subject matter i expected a little more flourish to the headlines.

i love the dimensional quality of the outdoor. really nice. but i always question the idea of headline and subheads on outdoor. do most viewers have enough time to observe and absorb both as they fly by while on a phone call, drinking coffee, freshening up makeup and dealing with screaming children in the back seat? never mind the other 3 levels of information. for the most part, we put too much messaging on billboards. this one has a headline, a subhead, the date, the exhibition title, what the exhibition is, and the museum logo. that is a lot to ask someone to absorb in a very short time. but if this is placed in a location that the traffic has to stop frequently (traffic light or common gridlock) then it works. i saw an article a while back that talked about billboards in los angeles and how they are getting away with putting entire paragraphs on them because no ones moving any where anyway. in l.a. traffic you’ve got nothing but time to kill. i haven’t seen this up so i don’t know what the location conditions are but in general i think it’s too much.

i love that the ads are not necessarily about the art work, but rather the stories behind them. i think that is really compelling and was very smart. nothing against the dam but i think i’d rather see these in the louvre, just because it’s the louvre.

nice work. thank you for sharing it and allowing all of us to throw our ten cents on the table.
Pearly P January 9, 2008

“That line in your

“That line in your description of the campaign is a thousand percent more intriguing than anything in any of these ads.”

Hilarious, I thought the same thing.
jc January 9, 2008

The creative is fine. What is

The creative is fine. What is missing is the “campaign” part. After looking at the creative I actually wanted to find out more. I wanted to follow the intrigue. It would have been nice if there was a website that had some more fun and intriguing facts about the show (and from there I could buy tix). Anyway.. the creative is fine, what “creatives” forget is that the whole piece has to do something (generate ticket sales). This will do that, but it could have been better if there was an engaging website that these ads directed me to.
CreativeManDenver January 9, 2008

hello?….the outdoor is a

hello?….the outdoor is a complete failure, and oh..I get it, the story is BEHIND the art….

😉

boy, the interns should have known better.
ian t. nordeck January 9, 2008

Jc – nice point about the

Jc – nice point about the call to action, or lack there of.
hack boy January 9, 2008

Ian—
I would disagree about

Ian—

I would disagree about a “call to action, or lack there of.” Just Because they don’t say “COME TO THE MUSEUM!” doesn’t mean the work lacks a call to action.

Despite the shortcomings of this campaign people, including myself, have mentioned, I will give them credit for assuming the viewer can make the leap between “there is a cool exhibit at the DAM” and “Come see the cool exhibit at the DAM” all by themselves. (Kudos for not bringing out the big stick.)

AND JC—
A website? Get off your butt and go to the museum to learn something. That’s the whole point.

Just one man’s opinion.
ian t. nordeck January 9, 2008

hack
i don’t believe in

hack

i don’t believe in designing for the lowest common denominators in our society and i didn’t mean they had to say come to the exhibit and guess what it is at the museum. just another vehicle to get more information about the exhibit that might persuade someone on the fence to go.

as you stated, this is one man’s opinion and in general i don’t get very excited about this style of art and based on the art alone i’m not all that interested in seeing the exhibit. i’ve seen a ton of this stuff at museums and it just doesn’t get me excited. that’s just me. but, the idea of the stories behind the work is compelling. “stories of tyranny, deception, adultery, and murder” now that i wouldn’t mind learning some more about, especially when it is attached to stuffy art work. that’s what was great about art history, the stories, not memorizing title, who did it and when. and that is mostly what i associate with museums. great work but often not a lot of depth or background. just who did it when and what the title is.

great campaigns build utilizing a multitude of media and options. each giving you a little more insight or a little more mystery. i believe that was the point jc was making and i still agree. and you can disagree.
The Denver Egotist January 10, 2008

Let us first state that we

Let us first state that we have no affiliation with the agency or the creative team involved in the development of this campaign. Let us follow that up by saying this work has a good chance of landing in Archive magazine, The Denver 50, as well as many of the major ad annuals next year (mark our words).

We’d like to extend a hearty invitation to anyone who thinks this isn’t top-shelf work to send their own samples our way because you must have one incredible book. And we should really let the team at Integer in on your brilliance.
hack boy January 10, 2008

I beg to differ as to the

I beg to differ as to the potential for this work to end up in Archive, There are no naked penises or breasts, nor do any swear words appear in the headlines.

I can’t speak for the Denver 50, as that was one show that stood for something beyond just pretty pictures. (Way to go NDAC, let’s hope you keep challenging the industry.)
justinpaluch January 10, 2008

First one threw me off a bit.

First one threw me off a bit. I thought they were all taking on a different meaning because of the obscured text. I think the others fit the campaign better, because they don’t work without the missing text, so they’re a little more intriguing.

The only other thing that I have an issue with is the amount of text on the billboard. It may not be an issue on the real thing, but on a monitor, the pertinent information gets lost. I wouldn’t have taken away what I needed to as I drove by it.
Randall January 10, 2008

I’d agree hack boy.. the

I’d agree hack boy.. the outdoor has too much information on it. At least, they didn’t clutter it up with all of the sponsor logos so hats off to whomever was presenting that work.

I like the concept of ‘storys behind the art’.. an interesting angle considering this is an exhibit of selected works from the Louvre.. and what angle did they have without any of the famous pieces from the museum that would never be on loan for a tour.. I supose the campaign wouldn’t have credibility if it was touting the work from the Louvre without the Mona Lisa. Venus de Milo or the Virgin and Child.

Back on track… so concept wise.. good angle.. interesting stories about the artifacts from the once-palace museum. I sat in the focus groups for the campaign when I was Integer a year ago.. And back then, it seemed the campaign was going to focus on the kings that controlled the palace, etc. So, through all of that, the stories about various aspects of that history proved to be worthy of exploration.

The gag of not showing part of the headline behind the art object and then reading the subhead about “stories behind the art” is a little “get it.. get it”… Cheap trick.

I get the idea of unknown stories.. and I like filling-in my own words to complete the sentences… the 3-D framed art was nice on outdoor to get attention.. but would prefer stronger visual executions of this concept without the literal visual “behind the art” gag.

The type treatment around the exhibition name is delicate and nice. Very nice work with the ornamentals. Clasy.

Colors are soothing on the eye. No reason for slanted logo on print ads when everything else is formal. Don’t like smaller headline text on ‘queens bathing chamber’. Too hard to read.

About call to action discusion… “discover” is the call to action. duhhhh

TIG. In my 11 years there, there’s been some great work on various clients. While they aren’t really known for being an ad shop, they do decent work when it comes-up from time to time. A few good eggs up there still. Hats-off to this creative team for the effort. Some wiggle room for improvement for sure.. but decent showing.
ian t. nordeck January 11, 2008

egotist,
i thought the

egotist,

i thought the point of the crackdown was to provide critical insight and critique of the work being shared in the interest of bettering each other and the denver design community as a whole. i have no interest in this feature becoming a lovefest or licking the boots of others. that’s what agency of the year is for.

i’ve said it before, my mom telling me i’m a great designer doesn’t do a damn thing to improve my skills as a designer. good thoughtful criticism of my work does. when someone points out to me how my best work could have been better is where i make strides at actually becoming the amazing designer my mother thinks i am.

also, i was one of the first to share my work on this site and i look forward in sharing the evolution of that identity when it is completed. as long as this feature remains about constructive criticism of the work.
hack boy January 11, 2008

Randall—
I do agree, it was

Randall—

I do agree, it was a “decent showing” for coming from TIG, for being a client in Denver, for (FILL IN THE BLANK).

But enough of this glad handing crap. When are we going to stop making excuses?

This was a client and project with great promise. Hell, there are so many potential conceptual angles to approach this from it’s dizzying. Let me ask you, would you have been happy if you were working on the project and this was the result? I wouldn’t be. I’ll go back to my very first comment, the best writing on this campaign was in the description of it by the Egotist.

We have broken it down, and I thought were very constructive about the criticism. But let’s not pretend this is great work, even for Denver. This is the type of work that keeps us from being taken seriously in the industry.

Let’s suck less. Isn’t that the whole point of the Egotist?
David Stone January 11, 2008

I walked by one of these ads

I walked by one of these ads posted in LoDo and was baffled by it.

These ads strike a balance between working too hard and not hard enough.

Keep it simple next time.

I am going to mark your words, Egotist, on the award-winning potential of this campaign. I don’t think U.S. show judges are heavy into visual puns.
The Denver Egotist January 11, 2008

Ian. We’re expressing our

Ian. We’re expressing our opinion just like everyone else, not ripping on the process going on here.

We also wanted to quickly remind people that this site is a two-way street. It’s easy to breakdown work behind an anonymous disguise (we do it too, yeah, yeah). But it takes a large sack to put your work up in front of the entire town to have it dissected. Just trying to get more work flowing through our little venue here.
Alan Bucknam January 11, 2008

I won’t speak to the print

I won’t speak to the print stuff, because I didn’t happen see a heck of a lot of it around. But the one nit I will pick with the outdoor campaign is that the billboard didn’t mesh with the message used in other outdoor being used by the museum: those lightpole banners along Speer Blvd. Those are admittedly tiny, but are crammed with images, text, and info on dates, etc…and it carried none of the conceptual traits over from the rest of Integer’s campaign. Since the lightposts along Speer are used by a lot of other cultural facilities, perhaps the DAM did them in-house, and didn’t coordinate with Integer (in which case: shame on them for missing an opportunity to more tightly integrate their marketing). If they were done by Integer, well, then shame on them for slacking off and not pushing the concept into the smaller, more challenging spaces of the lightpole banners. A great use of those smaller areas (and even using smaller sequenced print ad buys in the same publication, say) would be to use snippets of text, as in the full-page print pieces, and break them down sequentially, only telling part of the story as per their Big Idea. Unfortunately, one reason the billboard doesn’t work is that good outdoor usually has to be created as if you only have three seconds to see and process the message. Because, at 60MPH, that’s all the time your audience will take.
Oh Now I Get It January 21, 2008

I passed the Outdoor and was

I passed the Outdoor and was like, “huh?”

Thanks Egotist for ‘splaining it.
Randall Erkelens January 24, 2008

Hack – I live by the suck

Hack – I live by the suck less motto. Really. Anyone from Integer that has ever been under my direction will tell you that.

I’ve been in the One Show, CA and Archive. I have the right to call this stuff out. Just because I didn’t tear Integer a new asshole, doesn’t mean I’m lickin’ their butt. I’ll try to focus on what I think the campaign could have done better.. Would I be happy personally? No, I would have tried to make it better. I was the CD on DAM for many years while at TIG. Through the tenure, we put together some decent work for various exhibits. And while we always try to make every campaign the best it can be, sometimes, we fail. Sometimes, they’re decent. Sometimes their better than decent. Sometimes their great. The best we can do is keep pushing ourselves to do great work. Nuff said.