Hasta La Ideas

To mark its 50th birthday, D&AD is delving into its archive to highlight significant pieces of work that have featured in the awards. We will be publishing one a week. This time, we have a press ad from 1970 that established the reputation of an ambitious new agency on London’s Charlotte Street

The Pregant Man, an ad for the Family Planning Association, will forever be associated with Saatchi & Saatchi – the agency even named its in-house pub in honour of the piece of work that did so much to establish its creative credentials. But the ad was not actually created under the Saatchi & Saatchi name at all. Jeremy Sinclair, who has worked with the Saatchis for over 40 years, wrote it while still at Saatchi & Saatchi forerunner, Cramersaatchi.

CR’s October 2010 issue featured a major profile on Sinclair, who began working with Charles Saatchi fresh out of the advertising course at Watford Art School. “I left there clutching my portfolio and my diploma in advertising writing and got a job with Charles,” he says. “He ran a creative consultancy called Cramersaatchi, with his art director, Ross Cramer. In 1970, Ross went off to become a commercials director. Charles brought Maurice in from Haymarket, and Cramersaatchi became Saatchi & Saatchi.”

Before then, however, Sinclair and his art director Bill Atherton came up with the idea for Pregnant Man – which gave Saatchi the opportunity to show off his flair for PR. The ad was only ever intended for use in doctors’ waiting rooms, but Saatchi ensured it got wider coverage. “He sussed getting PR through advertising,” says Sinclair in our piece (which subscribers can read here). “The Pregnant Man became famous not for being an ad, it became famous by getting editorial. Charles worked that out early on. By getting it into Time magazine it (and we) became famous.”

It alsow won a Yellow Pencil at the 1970 D&AD Awards. The photographer, by the way, was Alan Brooking

Related Content

Read the first post on this series, on Barrie Bates’ 1963 A union, Jack! poster, here

And the second post, on Derek BIrdsall’s covers for Penguin books, here

And the third, on the Go to Work on an Egg ad campaign here

And on the 1966 British Rail identity here

1968 Doctor Who titles here

D&AD’s 50-year timeline of landmark work is here

The 50th D&AD Awards are open for entry until the February 1

CR in Print

If you only read CR online, you’re missing out. From the meaning of beans to the power of love, the February issue of Creative Review features our 20 favourite slogans of all time and the stories behind them.

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK,you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.