Creative Department Series, 1980s-2003 and undated, bulk 1997-2002

Extent:

62 boxes

Scope and content:

In 1994, Backer Spielvogel Bates renamed itself Bates Worldwide and embarked on a project to create a new corporate brand identity as a global advertising agency. The new branding emphasized the creative aspects of advertising. It was a way of reinvigorating the concept of the Unique Selling Proposition (USP), Bates's traditional advertising philosophy--every successful product inherently contained a unique or compelling idea (or proposition) that made the product attractive to consumers, and successful advertising identified that unique idea and linked it to a consumer's life needs. This project led to the creation of a Global Creative Board and inaugurated an annual internal creative competition known variously as "Best of Bates" or "Bates's Best," the first awards for which were given during the Worldwide Management Meeting in 1996. The Creative Department was charged with coordinating this yearly competition and helped in the selection of entries for various industry-wide awards competitions.

The Creative Department Series includes entry forms, memoranda, print advertisement proofs and photocopies, slides and printed material. The series dates between 1980s-2003, but most of the materials date from 1997-2002 and document the Creative Department's coordination of internal and external awards competitions, in particular the annual "Best of Bates" program. It includes a significant portion of international advertisements; however, the files do not represent the total output of Bates Worldwide offices. Rather, they reflect what Bates's various international offices considered their best work for the period covered herein. They provide a glimpse into some of Bates's international campaigns and creative output for clients such as Arnott's department store (Ireland), Audi/Volkswagen, Caltex, Camel cigarettes, Heineken, Le Meridien hotels, Land Rover, Nokia cellular phones, Pfizer, Royal Mail of Australia, Seat automobiles, and Thames bottled water. Many of the submission forms (some are still attached to the submitted item) for these competitive entries include a description of the USP that informed the advertisement's design. In addition, the series contains general files pertaining to other Creative Department operations and activities.

The series is organized into three subseries-- Creative Binders , Print Advertisements and Office Files --that reflect the various formats of materials in the series. Both the Creative Binders Subseries and the Print Advertisements Subseries contain examples of advertisements entered into competitive events, which are present in varying formats--slides, proofs, tear sheets, and photocopies. There is some redundancy to the container list: because of the various formats it was not feasible to house all materials pertaining to a specific client together. Thus, portions of the container list repeat client names.

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