Publicis

The agency, not the Groupe. Well, kind of the Groupe... but we'll get to that in due time. Headquartered in Paris, France, Publicis was established in 1926 by the founder of modern French advertising, Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, Publicis is a worldwide advertising bohemoth. After a a world war, some major French account wins, and a company fire, Maurice Levy was named successor and took over the company. Publicis acquired more and more companies, and lost partnerships on their way (True North) to near global advertising domination. Now it boasts agencies in more than 60 countries worldwide. It's impressive list of clientele includes Coca-Cola, Nestle, HP, Whirlpool, Zurich, L'Oreal, and Becks. And to think it all started out with Marcel whose father complained had left him "to go and sell hot air."


Publicis (Brussels). True. This ad speaks to the health benefits of drinking milk without you realizing it. Yes, I was just told that I need to start thinking about the future of my bones and drink more milk, but was I aware of it? Nope, and that's the beauty. What's more is that it effortlessly conveyed that message without boring me with the details.

The following is a Got Milk? ad that I feel tries to do what the Publicis ad did, but paled in comparison:


Goodby (San Francisco). Perhaps it works because it is targeting a different audience? All I know is that its message is the same... but relied on slap-stick humor instead of a clever, thought-provoking concept.