The key factors that gave rise to the ‘golden age’ of advertising in the 1950’s and 1960’s were the expansion of the middle class, economic prosperity, and the development of a consumer-based society. Moreover, the evolution of our means of communication (press, radio, cinema) was of considerable importance with the appearance of the television in the 1950’s.
In the world of printed matter, photography replaced illustration providing images with greater detail and a higher capacity for persuasion. The photographers Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon or Alexey Brodovitch form part of the history of advertising photography.
In those days, advertising turned into the main source of television network funding through the advancement of program sponsorship and the appearance of the first advertising commercials.
Over the years, a regulatory framework was established to ensure consumer protection, as well as ethical self-regulation when producing televised and photographic advertisements. New and successful sales strategies have been developed and little by little a socio-cultural evolution has taken shape, highlighting a more progressive discourse, market fragmentation and the appearance of new roles that dissociate stereotypes created in previous decades.
Costume design for television advertising has been one of the first activities that we developed professionally. Prior to thinking about opening the studio we were already working on styling for advertising spots.
Work in advertising is quick compared to other jobs in the audiovisual sector. The execution of an advertising spot usually takes ten to twenty days depending on the number of locations and characters, including pre-production (creation, search and making of the clothing), shooting and post-production.
The intention of a commercial is to connect a certain social sector with a product in order to generate the sale of the same. The development of the characters must be precise and clear, leaving no room for doubt. A commercial must be succinct and aesthetically appealing because many times it does not last more than 30 seconds.
Throughout the many years we have been working in this sector we have met people from different countries and traveled to many cities. Advertising, in general, is a fairly international sector where teams from different backgrounds meet to work. Frequently the same commercial is shown in several countries and a multicultural team provides a fresh and original appearance to the creation of the commercial.