No need to make this more complicated — or prolonged — than it needs to be. This is my last column for the legendary Ruth L Ratny and her reelchicago.com.  Nearly two y...

On a chilly but clear Thursday night in the Windy City, a couple of hundred ad people convened on the top floor of the Museum of Broadcast Communications for the 2103 Chicago Ad...

It’s that time of year.  The time when so many advertising professionals — creatives in particular — start salivating at the thought of all the awards they will colle...

Life is good.   Sometimes anyway.   We’re on record — repeatedly — as having found life to be especially good when viewing the TV commercial work that has been t...

The debate goes on.  At least in our mind. Was it the right thing to do for Corona Extra beer, its Chicago-based importer and distributor Crown Imports and ad agency of rec...

So the goodbyes have been said.  The tributes presented.  An era has ended. Late last week, bona fide Chicago broadcasting legends Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson sign...

One thing that always warms our heart is seeing superior talent recognized and rewarded. Genuine talent. Not the mediocrity that often gets far more credit than it deserves in t...

These haven’t been the best months in the history of McGarryBowen.  Though most of the bad news of late has been coming out of the ad agency’s New York office, the...

When?  When?  When will the madness end? We’ve watched for years, decades — an eternity it seems — as Chicago has continued to grapple with that most pressing of...

It’s taken what seemed like an eternity  — well, close to it — for Cramer-Krasselt/Chicago to debut its first ad campaign for new client St. Louis-based Panera B...

It’s happened.  After more than a week of intense media speculation — both locally and nationally — Larry Wert made it official Wednesday afternoon. Wert is leaving h...

Please pay attention.  WBEZ-FM (91.5), Chicago’s classy public radio station, is just doing what it needs to do.  And that is draw as much attention as possible to i...

They always come in to town with expectations.  Great expectations that they will do great things.  Make a mark in Chicago.  Expand their footprint.  All the...

Super Bowl 2013 is history.   A game that began looking as if it would be a rout, ended a thrilling — dare we say unforgettable — football game. But how about the 2013 ...

Can it only have been a year since Downtown Partners/Chicago began working on the Illinois Lottery account? My, how time flies. And how dramatically so much has changed — for ...

Who hasn’t noticed?   Walgreens is undergoing a major sea change.  A sea change in operations.  A sea change in image.  And most definitely a sea change in...

It’s a basic axiom.  If advertising campaigns don’t get refreshed, they usually get stale.  And when ad campaigns become stale, that usually means consumers become...

It certainly cannot claim to be the world’s largest ad agency.  Or even the largest in Chicago.  But no matter.  Schafer Condon Carter/Chicago can now boast of ...

Just when things seem darkest, a ray of light often materializes to indicate all is not lost.   And sure enough, that is what has happened at Cramer-Krasselt/Chicago. ...

It isn’t always on our radar screen in quite the same way some other local ad shops are, but, as it turns out, there’s lots happening at ESW Partners/Chicago these days...