The PolitiVids Power Panel

This seems like something interesting, if you’re interested in a discussion on politics from the perspective of advertising executives.

Politivids (www.politivids.com), the new website featuring political videos across the spectrum – from campaign-backed to PAC-backed to home-made viral – today announced the beginning of its Politivids Power Panel composed of six of the most influential and effective advertising executives of the last several decades.

• A New York Times Best Selling Author who has headed up the creative departments of two of the largest worldwide ad agencies
• A person cited as one of the top five trendspotters in the world.
• The acclaimed Creative Director at Hal Riney, Y&R NY, and JWT NY, responsible for some of the most provocative advertising of our time.
• The Co-Founder of one of the hottest West Coast agencies.
• A Phd who has headed up the Research and Creative departments at Y&R and who now holds a prestigious Chair at the University of Minnesota.
• An advertising legend who was named one of Ad Age’s Top 100 People of the Advertising Century.

“The idea is simple,” said Roger Chiocchi, the founder of the site and a long-time advertising exec himself. “Let’s see how the political ads of this election cycle stand up to the scrutiny of the very best our industry has to offer. Although, in many ways political ads are their own genre, when push comes to shove, it’s still advertising. So let’s see what the best have to think.”

Each week from now until the election, the website will have the Power Panel rate two spots – one Democratic and one Republican. Each panel member will give a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” to each advertisement and then give a few lines of rationale. “This really isn’t about the political content of the ads,” Chiocchi explained, “but how they stand up as pure unadulterated advertising. It’s sort of the clash of two different cultures within the overall genre of advertising, but that’s what makes it interesting.”

The Politivids Power Panel consists of the following six individuals:

• Ted Bell – Former President of Leo Burnett and Worldwide Creative Director of Y&R. Bell is now an author of nine consecutive New York Times bestselling novels and Writer-in-Residence, Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University in England.
• Helayne Spivak – An acclaimed Creative Director, Helayne lead the Creative Departments at Hal Riney, Young & Rubicam NY, Ammirati Puris, Lintas New York and JWT NY. Helayne has created national campaigns for Sears Burger King, UPS, Sanyo, Kodak and a United States president, among others. Recently, Helayne was recently named the new Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter.
• Marian Salzman – Named one of the world’s top trendspotters, Marian has been CMO at JWT Worldwide, Worldwide Director of TBWA’s Department of the Future and Director of Consumer Insights and Emerging Media at Chiat/Day. She currently serves as CEO of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR North America.
• Lee Kovel – An award winning creative director who has worked at McCann NY, JWT NY, Y&R NY, and Lord Dentsu & Partners, Lee has been a partner in Kovel/Fuller Los Angeles for 13 years, a private agency with over $90 million in billings.
• John Eighmey – Currently the Raymond O. Mithun Chair in Advertising at the Universtiy of Minnesotta’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, John previously served as Director of Account Research Services at Y&R NY and SVP Manager of Creative Services
• Dick Lord – Named one of the Top 100 People of the AdAge Advertising Century, Dick co-founded Lord Geller Federico & Einstein, where he masterminded memorable campaigns for Tiffany, Steinway and IBM (the iconic Charlie Chaplin campaign) among many others.

The first week’s reviews are already in. According to Chiocchi, the panel was asked to rate a Romney spot entitled “Be Not Afraid” – which expounds upon his trip to Poland and ties in some religious issues – and an Obama Ad entitled “America the Beautiful” – where an off-key Romney sings while the viewer sees messages of his offshoring of jobs and his offshore accounts. “The results were a blast,” said Chiocchi. “Definitely, their ratings did not come out as I would have expected.”