Off The Shelf - John Hegarty

Yesterday evening I attended Off The Shelf by John Hegarty. He covered many interesting and valid points during the lecture, but several points stuck strongly in my mind. 


Firstly was all his work for Levi's jeans. He focussed on the idea tat 60 seconds can change anything and everything, and as for one particular advert, where there is a man in a laundrette in boxer shorts, I was surprised to just how much this could effect a society. At the time of the advert launch, Y fronts were the preferred mens choice on underwear, but as this was classed as indecent exposure, boxers had to be worn for the advert to air. And because the attractive man in the advert was wearing boxers (which at the time were seen as American and outdated) they suddenly came back into fashion, and still are today.


Similarly, the Black Denim campaign by John Hegarty for his account with Levi's is one that I really love, the image I find is so powerful and something at the time that was possibly risky, innovative and something that hadn't been done before.

Hegarty spoke about how he wanted to answer the brief given to him by Levi's, but doe it differently.. the focus was on the fact that the jeans were black, so this is what he focussed on.

Focus Group and Research

I found it interesting that Hegarty spoke about his beliefs that focus groups and research don't create good, creative solutions to briefs. He claimed that throughout all his work, if he had carried out research and taken the idea to focus groups none of them would have been successful, but his intuition told him that they would work. I found this interesting as throughout my education I have constantly been drilled with the idea that more research will always lead to greater success.

Throughout the lecture Hegarty showed us many other interesting pieces of his work, as well as example of work which he felt were great too.

Another interesting advert he showed was a K's shoes advert. Where there was a woman with a crashed porshe, and a woman pouring food over a moans head. These adverts contradicted many before it. They showed women as strong minded, successful and clever, compared to the usual patronising adverts previously used. 

Finally, Hegarty spoke about creating space for a brand and how many copy cat ideas there are out there. About how competitive the creative world is and how much hard work needs to be put in. Over these recent weeks I feel I have began to become much more aware of the advertising world and how dedicated and unique me and my ideas need to be in order to be successful! 

Hegarty spoke about how important it is to follow opportunities rather than money. I think this is true, I feel that its better to get experience doing placements and getting a good job eventually rather than settling for something with less prospects and something I dont really want to do. Its nice to hear someone say that you dont have to come straight out of University and into a Full Time job as this is something I think many of us are concerned about. 

As I'm sure he intended, the image which stuck in my mind most after this presentation was this 60 seconds of advert, Hegarty had been continually returning to this concept and I feel this advert completey sums it up..