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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With Barbara Lippert
Aired August 31, 2002 - 08:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, Dan, do we have everything we need for this meeting?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all right here, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is your data backup as reliable as it should be?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't worry, sir, he told me everything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ours is. Bright Store Storage software from Computer Associates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: All right, that's definitely one of my favorites. That was a Computer Associates International advertisement. It is nominated for an Emmy Award, believe it or not. The Emmy Awards include a category for best commercial, an honor that can mean, of course, some big bucks for the winner.
Barbara Lippert of "Adweek" magazine joining us from New York to take a look at some of the nominees this year.
That was one of my favorite ones. I remember when I saw that one for the first time and...
BARBARA LIPPERT, "ADWEEK" MAGAZINE: It's hilarious. It's for backup storage technology. Now, what could be more dull? And here it's this wonderful anti-technology slap, you know, kick in the face kind of commercial.
CALLAWAY: What makes that one such a good commercial, just the humor in it or the fact that...
LIPPERT: It's, I think that the Emmy judged will really like it because it's really the most like a sitcom itself, you know, the idea that it's, there's such, there's a real story line, you know, and it's so unexpected.
CALLAWAY: You know, one of my problems with some of these commercials that are so good is I often forget what they were for, you know? The commercial sort of takes over, but you lose what the advertisement was for. LIPPERT: Absolutely, and some of the Emmy judges are going to be, of course, judging just on your basic television qualities...
CALLAWAY: Oh, are they?
LIPPERT: ... which are the casting and story line and production. But to get attention, you need such a great visual and great production that right now the stakes are much higher than they've ever been.
CALLAWAY: And we have a few of those commercials that were nominated. That one was called Amnesia. I think, let's show Nail Gun. This one was for Fox Sports.
LIPPERT: Yes.
CALLAWAY: This is another humorous one.
LIPPERT: That's pretty hilarious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another chance to (UNINTELLIGIBLE). The Yankees are champions of baseball.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: You know what I liked about this one was you had to wait for the last, the last part of the commercial to really get it, you know? Right when he pops up and you realize...
LIPPERT: There's, yes.
CALLAWAY: A little punch at the end.
LIPPERT: There's a real payoff. That's a payoff that you want to see. A lot of those sports ads are great and they are consistent winners at all the other ad awards all year. So I'm not sure this is the one that's going to win the Emmy.
CALLAWAY: Oh, really?
LIPPERT: Yes.
CALLAWAY: What do you think is going to win this year?
LIPPERT: Well, I think the ones that are closer to it. I think the Computer Associates is great. The Nike is great. It's just so beautifully done. And the other one that I think is going to win is the Visa one, because it touches on what happened on 9/11, but not in a way that's opportunistic or tasteless...
CALLAWAY: Yes.
LIPPERT: ... in a way that's really, that really is empowering and suggests hope. CALLAWAY: Well, yes. It was definitely an emotional commercial. And, you know, we just can't play all of them. But we do want to play this one and let people get an idea, if they don't remember this one.
LIPPERT: It's like a...
CALLAWAY: It's called Broadway Tribute. Let's roll it.
LIPPERT: And a lot of the commercials at the time were just CEOs talking about how they feel. This was trying to bring people back to Broadway. People hadn't come to New York for a while. So it was doing something very specific.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fly with us to Broadway. Remember me to Herald Square. Tell all the gang at 42nd Street that I will soon be there. Whisper of how I'm yearning to mingle with the old time throng. Give my regards to old Broadway, and say that we'll be back before long.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: And you think that one's going to be the winner?
LIPPERT: Well, it's all about human...
CALLAWAY: It's hard to argue that.
LIPPERT: It's all about human yearning. And if they want to acknowledge what happened on 9/11 and they want to acknowledge a commercial that really worked in a specific way and wasn't about Visa, then I think they'll vote for it. And it really brings tears to your eyes.
CALLAWAY: Yes, it does. And everyone that -- we watched it just a couple of days ago and everyone was like oh, it was so good.
LIPPERT: And also...
CALLAWAY: And, you know, I haven't seen it in a while.
LIPPERT: ... during...
CALLAWAY: Barbara, I wanted to ask you just quickly about that one. It came out so quickly after September 11.
LIPPERT: Yes.
CALLAWAY: It was beautifully shot, black and white, Judy Collins singing. How did they get that together so quickly?
LIPPERT: Absolutely. They had a lot of the footage for previous Visa spots. They did a previous Visa spot about using your Visa card to go to the theater. So they just reconstituted it basically and then they used this George M. Cohan song, which is so great because we had heard so much about god bless America. This is completely different. And then Judy Collins' slow, mournful version of it really updates it but keeps the human yearning in it.
CALLAWAY: It came out within two weeks of September 11, right?
LIPPERT: Absolutely, and, you know, I guess the funny thing is that Broadway producers didn't like it. They thought it was way too mournful and funereal and they wanted people, you know, dancing like in "Cats" or "42nd Street" to get people back. But I think this is much more beautiful and human.
CALLAWAY: You know, this is your business.
LIPPERT: Yes.
CALLAWAY: "Adweek" magazine. Let me ask you, did you notice a big change in advertising shortly after September 11 and have we gone back to the way things were before or have you seen a big change in the way advertising is done?
LIPPERT: I think, unfortunately, I think we've gone back to the way it was before. You see many gerbils attacking men's legs and that kind of humor. But I think the biggest effect of September 11 on the industry is that people lost a lot of work and that clients are getting scared and that the creative won't be as good, people won't take as many risks, because they're more worried about the bottom line.
CALLAWAY: All right, Barbara Lippert, thank you for being with us.
Quickly, when are the awards going to be handed out?
LIPPERT: September 14.
CALLAWAY: All right, we'll be waiting.
Thanks for being with us.
LIPPERT: Thank you.
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