Here’s another example of the importance of bringing your advertising people in early in the process. I recommended these two-third page verticals as a format because they were especially suited to the client’s offerings and they were an excellent space buy. The magazines could put nothing but editorial content next to us, so we were the exclusive advertiser on the page but at a cost of just a 2/3 page rather than a full. In copywriting and art direction I deliberately used a very “editorial” style to take full advantage of the situation with excellent results. Westrex was the only client I ever had who had academy awards in their lobby—honest-to-goodness “Oscar” statuette academy awards. The fact that they were for achievement in film sound—and dated from the late 1920s—did not diminish my awe one bit. Have you ever seen the phrase “Western Electric Noiseless Recording” in the credits of an old movie? That was them.

What: Copy, design, illustrations, production art
For: 2/3 page vertical ads: "New analyzer dramatically increases sound track quality and consistency" and "Improving the Photographic Sound Track"
Client: Westrex, division of Litton
When: Early 1980s