resurgence in the time honored “tease-and-reveal” posters—an image that
runs without words for two weeks and then with words for another two, or
more. The most innovative example from this renaissance has been nynex’s
1995 series for the New York Yellow Pages Business Directory, created by
Chiat/Day/Mojo and based on various riddle/puns of arcane Yellow Page
entries.
The fulcrum of this year-long campaign was a series of quirky
photographs, such as one of a blue rabbit and another of Barbie and Ken
wearing nurse and doctor outfits, originally posted without text (not even
the nynexlogo), then replaced by another poster with the same image and
also a caption and the slogan, “If it’s out there, it’s in here:nynex.” The
caption was a painfully forced pun. For example, the blue hare illustrated
“Hair Coloring” and the nurse Barbie and doctor Ken illustrated “Plastic
Surgeons.”
The degree to which the pun strained was actually the mark of its
success. The initial posting of the first billboard displayed a huge blue
rabbit in repose; the second posting showed rectangular portions of the
same rabbit missing; and the final posting showed all but a small portion of
the rabbit’s head and ears with the title “Hair Removal.” The print
campaign, which also appeared as television commercials directed by
Godley and Creme, ran in bimonthly cycles with six different concepts
presented throughout the year, offering the public a titillating game of wits.
nynex’s campaign, which echoed the Big Idea advertising
concepts of the 1960 s, was built on a simple premise: when smartly applied,
even dumb humor has incalculable appeal, and the more esoteric the better.
Although the sport of deducing the riddle could easily have backfired by
overwhelming the message itself, the year-long barrage of ubiquitous
posters and commercials gave the nynexYellow Pages total recognition
among consumers.
The graphic design in this series was transparent. Like masterful
serial ads that came before it—Levy’s Jewish Rye Bread and Volkswagen—
the nynexcampaign was photographed and filmed for TV against a white
seamless backdrop. The idea was the only focal point. The single line of
sans-serif typography echoed a heading in the Yellow Pages and was
effectively balanced with the nynexlogo. The campaign totally dominated
the New York streetscape, but its handlers knew when to stop. As
delightful and provocative as it was, it ceased before it became trite.
tuis.
(Tuis.)
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