This weekend, I saw Art & Copy, a fantastic documentary focused on advertising. While I have to confess that I’m an advertising geek – I especially love reading about it – I can say that you don’t have to be a Mad Man or Mad Woman to appreciate Art & Copy. It’s great storytelling and I know you appreciate a well-crafted tale.

Directed by Doug Pray ((SURFWISE, SCRATCH, HYPE!), the movie focuses on inspiration and advertising as art. Mr. Pray introduces viewers to talents like Mary Wells Lawrence, Phyllis K. Robinson, Lee Clow, George Lois, the men who founded Weiden + Kennedy and more. It was fun and motivating to hear from people who created well-known campaigns like “Just Do It,” “Got Milk?” and “I Love NY.”

You don’t have to be an advertising nerd or even work with design or words to appreciate Art & Copy. My honey – who does not work in or around advertising – loved the documentary. If you do work in or around that mad, mad world, you’ll be inspired to produce better work. I’ll definitely be asking myself if I’ve done my very best work for my clients. Every time.

Not a lover?

Can’t stand advertising? I personally detest those awful pop up ads on TV. Please, please make them go away! (I’m especially talking to you, Bravo.) According to Ad Age, it looks like we may be in for more. Okay, small rant aside, if you hate advertising, then be sure to read Doug Pray’s Director Statement (it’s below the synopsis).

Women Are… Where?

Art & Copy showcases the accomplishments of Mary Wells (her memoir A Big Life (in Advertising) was published in 2002) and Phyllis K. Robinson, a writer who was in the center of the creative revolution in the 1960s. But only two of the 11 featured “giants” are women. I would love to see Doug Pray do a second film, such as “Art & Copy: The Women in Advertising.”

Writer Erin DeJesus wrote an amazing article for BUST magazine about Mad Women, profiling and interviewing women who were breaking ground in advertising. It’s an insightful look at how advertising was far more accepting of women than other industries in the 1960s. Be sure to check it out. I’m sure to be posting more about women in advertising here. Stay tuned!

More Art & Copy

If you’d like to learn more about Art & Copy, check it out online and on twitter.

If you’re local to Denver, Art & Copy is playing through September 3. Check out the Denver Film Society for showtimes.