Once upon a time, New York really needed their own creative Avengers.
(Side note, I thought it scheduled for Saturday so you are getting 2 today)
It was the 1970s and New York was a shit hole.
Decaying and nearly bankrupt it had to do something.
Tourists were not flocking there.
Broadway wasn’t the place to be.
Apparently, there were “murderers everywhere…”
So in 1977, the New York State Department of Commerce turned to advertising to save the city.
They assembled their own Avengers.
They chose Wells, Rich, and Greene advertising firm to come up with a plan.
They then hired graphic designer god, Milton Glaser.
Naturally, they then used jingle extraordinaire Steve Karmen to write a song.
Glaser got to work fast designing his first iteration in a taxi ride.
I ❤️NY was written on a piece of scrap paper.
After playing with the font and stacking it, the design was complete.
Karmen then penned the I ❤️NY song which was pushed on TV & Radio.
Finally, Wells, Rich, and Greene created ads with people talking about why they love New York.
They also produced merchandise to be sold all across the city.
This renewed New York’s appeal and tourism soon re-appeared giving merchants and the council the money to re-invest.
It was a resounding success and turned New York’s fortunes.
Mary Wells Lawrence recently passed away.
She was one of the first women copywriters to be a board leader and all the more impressive in the 1960s.
She coined “Plop-plop, fizz-fizz. Oh, what a relief it is!” for Alka Seltzer and re-imagined Braniff Airlines as colourful and joyous in contrast to their metallic demeanour.
She once famously quipped, “The best advertising should make you nervous about what you’re not buying.”
She was of course right.