See our film for the New York Bankers Association:

When we were asked to write and produce a video for the 125th Anniversary of the New York Bankers Association, we asked CEO Mike Smith whether we could make the piece not only about what happens when rivals work together for the common good, but to advocate for what we call “fervent moderation.” To our delight, Mr. Smith and his Public Affairs Director, Karen Armstrong, said: “Yes, that’s exactly the message needed right now.” The film was shown to great acclaim at the NYBA convention last week. And the featured guest speaker, Doris Kearns Goodwin, remarked several times about why the film resonated. The author of “Team of Rivals” should know.

Respect for other people’s views makes for civil discussion. Civilized discussion makes for problem-solving. Problem-solving makes for progress. Our message to the body politic of our nation: Moderates, speak up, Fervently!

On September 23, 2019, Greta Thunberg, gave an impassioned speech at the United Nations Climate Action Summit. We created this piece not only to celebrate Greta’s valor, but also to encourage young people everywhere to stand up for what they believe.

Toward that end, the animator Mei Li and the writer, A.D. Woods are making their piece available to schools and conservation groups for use on social media and for projection at assemblies and special conferences. For information, e-mail here.

If you are as moved by Greta’s plea for the planet, please share this with your friends and colleagues.

©2019 AD Lubow and Mei Li.

Again in the spirit of our 25-year quest to do some good for the Earth, with Dakoit Pictures, we’ve co-written a documentary on the three years it took to plan, design and build the new Mountaintop Arboretum Education Center in the highest part of the Catskill Mountains. We salute Larry McCaffrey, Byron Knief and the other Board Members who made this beautiful building happen. Please enjoy this 7-minute short version of the film.

Over the course of our 25 years, AD Lubow has promoted so many of the greats in music and dance — from The New York Philharmonic to American Ballet Theatre to Tilles Center for the Arts— hailing stars of the stature of Anne-Sophie Mutter, Kurt Masur, Renée Fleming, Misty Copeland, Diana Vishneva, Natalia Osipova, Mikhail Baryshnikov and so many others.

This week, as a kind of anniversary gift, the world-renowned Juilliard String Quartet performed Benjamin Britten’s 3rd Quartet for us and our guests at our Fifth Avenue office, staying around for a lively Q&A discussion afterwards. We are deeply honored and so very thankful to this transcendently talented group of artists. We urge you to attend their concerts whenever you get the chance.

A New Team Member You Should Know About —
The Animator, Mei Li

We opened our doors 25 years ago with the motto: Advertising that Moves People. Ever true to that credo, we’re proud to announce that the brilliant animator and illustrator, Mei Li, has joined our team. To understand the depth of her talent and the range of her emotion, all you have to do is view her award-winning animated short: The Blue Butterfly.

To see more of Mei Li’s work, please see her sizzle reel here.

Please also enjoy the animated multimedia book that she created with agency creative director, Arthur Lubow. “Suo Gan: A Welsh Lullaby for the World” is now available on the iBooks store.

If you want to add true meaning and emotional depth to your films and social media, please email Arthur Lubow to begin the conversation. Our team promises to create something truly special for you and your organization. After all, if you want to move products and services, first you have to move… people.

Our entire firm congratulates our managing partner, Nico Marcellino, for seeing to it that his father’s unfinished opus was finally published.

Only when an author is a Fulbright Scholar, a celebrated book jacket and classic rock album designer, the most talented of painters and illustrators, a succinctly witty writer, a lover of history, and the ultimate connoisseur of the food and culture of Venice… do you get a book as exquisite as this. To top it off, the volume comes with its own story within a story. Fred Marcellino was in the process of creating this beautiful book when he died. He had completed the text, page layout, and half the illustrations. It is a testament to the love and respect of his publisher, agent and family to have commissioned Eric Puybaret to pay homage to the artist he so admired by completing this book, gifting one final Marcellino treasure to the world. One only hopes that publishers of children’s literature will from here on aim for this standard.

Amazon
Apple Books

For three years before September 11, 2001, our agency had the privilege of working for The New York Philharmonic. This was a highly successful time for the orchestra, thanks in large part to brilliant programming by Welz Kauffman and the influence of James Timm, then a rising star in arts marketing just at the beginning of his career. Mini-festivals within the season proved to be highly effective. One was organized by Kurt Masur around the remarkable virtuoso, Anne Sophie Mutter. Another provided a forum for a dozen contemporary composers. New music doesn’t often result in ticket sales. But this one did. The series sold out. Everything was going fine until 9/11. That’s when terror emboldened fear. It’s worth remembering that the City in the days and months that followed crawled into itself. Even paid ticket holders stopped coming to NY Phil performances. Motorists crossing the major bridges breathed a sigh of relief every time they made it to the other side. In public places everywhere, National Guard members were armed with machine guns and dressed in camouflage in order to, ironically enough, stand out and be noticed. It’s uncomfortable to remember all this. Still, we must—especially those in the Arts, because, after all, it’s the job of artists to embolden courage through understanding. It’s our job to find harmony through contrast and dissonance.

The New York arts world is a community that, like the City itself, is built on strength through diversity. Just see the beauty of the collaboration between Wynton Marsalis and Kurt Masur back in 1999. We were so pleased with this. It proved that New York is a community and a state of mind that will always be great as long as people with talent from everywhere in our country and the world still want to be part of it, and fear not the noises. On this sad day of remembrance, let us not fall victim to anxiety. And let us never fear and never forget that the Arts and its resounding celebration of beauty and human understanding—wherever found—is the clearest path to peace, as Shakespeare would voice in all of us:

Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again. And then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again.

We hope you’re starting to see a pattern imprinted in our 25 years. We’ve always been moved by the innate goodness and wonder of children. Along the way, we developed the idea of 3D Branding whereby readers of print ads are invited to view an online video that goes deeper into the subject and brings the ad to life. An early full-page in The New York Times featuring Regis Philbin revisiting his school in the Bronx was one of the first examples of this technique, now so standard today. The photo, by agency VP Anne van der Does, goes beyond any conventional group shot; it probes straight into the hearts and minds of each child; and tells its own story. The telling and touching video takes it from there.

To see the innovative way we are celebrating the wonder of childhood these days, tune in next week. We’ll have something special to show you.