Regional

Lewis and Roca

Corporate Print Advertising Campaigns

These full-color print ads are from the multi-year ad campaign we created for the law firm of Lewis and Roca while I was VP/ECD of E.B. Lane in Phoenix, AZ. The way this entire campaign came about happened after our initial meeting with the Director of Marketing, Kristen Gunlock (Campbell) -- who also happened to be one of the smartest (and fun) marketing directors I've ever met. Todd Bresnahan, then Sr. VP, Director of Client Services at EB Lane and I were having a conversation in the hall regarding Lewis and Roca, he'd picked up on the fact that all law firms say they want something different, but then they all seem to use the same stock images of "Blind Justice". Todd's thought was that if L&R were really looking for, or open to a new approach, could I come up with something that exemplified how L&R worked with business leaders and business owners. Something that was inspirational and at the same time created a leadership position through execution. Could I come up with something that said "stability" but at the same time address the fluidity of change and how a law firm had to flow with business needs and changes of their own clients.

I said the perfect imagery would be the work of Alexander Calder using his mobiles or stabiles. Not only did Calder invent an entirely new category of art -- the mobile and stabile, Lewis and Roca actually owned one of his mobiles. Calder's status as an artist and the balance and harmony he created with his work and the continual changes the art would make as it moved became the perfect visual representation for our Lewis and Roca concepts. The big question became, would the Calder Foundation allow us to use his work to promote a business?

The only way to find out was to place a call to them and explain what I was thinking of doing and how I would like to use Calder's work. They were very open to the idea and gave me open access to all of his images to create the print campaign. I negotiated the usage through Artist Rights and the Calder Foundation in New York for the usage of three Calder images per year, with a starting period of three years.

Needless to say, when we presented the work to Kristen, she loved it and set up a second meeting with the managing partners. They also approved the conceptual approach pending the outcome of the Calder negotiations, which I had already been obtained in principle their consent and fee structure. Better to know that you can do what you've promised before you find out you can't.

The only problem along the way was that the majority of slides we had access to through the Foundation were all shot in the open with trees, bushes, bird crap, and buildings all around the majority of sculptures. All of these things needed to be removed and a neutral background would be created (also by me) so that the beauty of the sculptures could play out and the copy my partner Mark Itkowitz would write could be be easily read.

I spent a morning outlining the first image "Blue Feather" and create the type of background that would be just as beautiful as the art, but that I could control along with allowing me to add multiple shadows and a surface for the artwork to sit on. Below is what I created and what Lewis and Roca approved and supported for the few years I was at E.B. Lane.

  • Lewis and Roca
  • E.B. Lane
  • Financial
  • Michael Pitzer
  • Mark Itkowitz
  • 2004
Lewis and Roca print ads 1
Lewis and Roca print ads 2
Lewis and Roca print ads 3
Lewis and Roca print ads 4
Lewis and Roca print ads 5