Huey Partners Design Wren’s Nest Advertisements
Written on July 11, 2008 at 10:45 am, by Lain
For longer than I’ve been alive Joel Chandler Harris has had terrible marketing.
Once one of the most popular authors in the country, his name is largely forgotten. And if it’s not forgotten, it’s derided. And if it’s not derided, well, only then is it revered.
It’s a different story now than, say, in 1908 when Harris’s obituary referred to him as “the most beloved man in America.” Surprisingly enough (to us), few disagreed.
The good news is we have a great story to tell. Huey Partners, the ad firm responsible for our logo and brochure, has developed some advertisements to help us get the word out.
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What do you think?
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Amber Suitt
Program Director
Lain Shakespeare
Executive Director
16 Comments to Huey Partners Design Wren’s Nest Advertisements
These are awesome! Very informative, respectful of both JCH supporters and critics, and not at all pushy with the message being sent. I call that a success.
My one critique is that the smallest font on each of the images might be a little hard to read – although that may have just been the result of viewing them on this computer.
These tread a fine line, as they should; they’ll certainly get noticed, and hopefully get some people in to the Wren’s Nest. My only quibble is with the Uncle Remus illustration on the first ad; it’s frighteningly garish and cartoony, and doesn’t totally mesh with the premise of JCH respecting his narrator. Of course, that goofy photo of JCH makes it pretty hard to imagine that he had ulterior motives.
Fantastic work, the only thing I would add is your address and phone number. Perhaps this is already being accomplished by printing them off on Wrens Nest letterhead, but its information that should probably be there. The more way’s people have to contact you, the more likely they are to do so.
These are terrific – and should generate a lot of interest. What are we going to do with them – given our huge advertising budget.
Ronni, that is an excellent question. We’ve got about three or four large poster size prints of each. And all sorts of computer files, but, um, I don’t know. Our budget for advertising currently stands at $0.
Kirk, I always forget about phone numbers. Good lord. We might be able to change that, but probably not. Will remember for next time a great ad agency makes free posters for us!
David, that bothers me too, sort of. On one hand, that picture of Uncle Remus was the primary illustration of Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings in 1880. On the other hand, Joel Chandler Harris disliked the picture for the same reasons you do. On the third hand, there aren’t too many other images of Uncle Remus from that era. On the fourth hand, the way I rationalize it is that by presenting it, it gives us an opportunity to talk about it rather than sweep it under the rug. That said, it’s not perfect in my opinion, either.
Scotty, the posters are quite large. Hopefully if they’re printed anywhere the ads will be quite large, too.
I didn’t read the whole thing, but I like the headlines. Eye catching and provocative.
How about some guerilla marketing?
The last one is potentially offensive. It implies that a nationally known and revered civil rights organization went after Joel Chandler when based on the ad, they criticized a movie. If you want to redeem Chandler’s image, throwing mud at others isn’t the way to do it.
As product of communication, very fine work! Unfortunately, the critics of Mr. Harris’ work will never be won over by this campaign, however cleverly devised.
The fact is our culture has forever labeled the “Old South” as evil and his work will be forever tarred (forgive the pun) by association. I’m afraid we are not so easily fooled into taking a sophisticated view of history, much less literature.
As for me, I’m going to see Br’er Rabbit and Friends at the Atlanta Puppetry Arts Center and then heading over to the birthday party at the Wren’s Nest. Yes, we may even break bread with the peddlers of hate at the old Harris home. May God forgive me for indoctrinating my son with the insidious racism perpetuated by Mr. Harris.
As penance, perhaps I shall make my 2 year old sit through a documentary about the horrors of American slavery – that’d rub that catchy Zippty-Bluebird-whatever, Disney nonsense out of his little racist head.
On sincere note, thank you for preserving and for trying to rehabilitate the public image of these wonderful stories and their author (recorder?). Mr. Harris and the Wren’s Nest are a treasure to be remembered by Atlanta, the New South, and by the United States.
Thanks, Kim. Great reply.
I always struggle with the word author, because while Harris put his own artistic touch on the stories, the stories themselves are as old as time.
Usually I settle on saying something like “Harris penned the stories,” which is the least false distinction I can come up with.
Thank you for the work you’re doing. I think dialoging with the black community is key; especially refuting Alice Walker’s vitriolic and grossly unfair demonization(note that she never bothers to engage with the stories and texts themselves). I find that most of the resentment towards Uncle Remus comes from the Disney movie, as well as the general image of him as someone who was happy and subservient in the system of slavery. But when you engage with the texts themselves you realize how subversive they are, and the fact that he is representative of slaves who used the folk tale to express both their anguish and determination. I think that when black people realize that these are accurate folk tales, and that Harris’s Uncle Remus uses the tales as a subversive means of survival in a brutal, unjust system; then much of the hostility could fall away and the tales can be appreciated for what they are.
I was told by my Grandmother (Ivey) that we were related to Joel Chandler Harris, and she said her family was ashamed of him as he had a liking and the eye for women. Back them it was not acceptable to have a roving eye. My Great Grandmother was a Harris. I have been trying to research Mr. Harris and ran across a book called “GHOSTS OF ATLANTA”, by Reese Christian, and the last chapter of the book talks about the Wrens Nest being haunted. Is this true?
Having looked at the ads, I don’t see anything out of the way or offensive – not to me, at least. The civil rights industry and their ruling “warlords” might be another story, however. They wait, with chips on their shoulders, to be offended at the least little thing.
I hope I live long enough to see the day when a given civil rights “leader’s” every utterance with not be greeted with cowed worshipfulness and they themselves will no longer be held beyond reproach, as they indeed are in this day and time. In many ways, they represent a new tyranny of thought.
But I digress…
For too long, I have witnessed the derision of Joel Chandler Harris and his writings. He preserved tales which sprang from the oral tradition – tales which might not have been preserved or recorded had he not done so. For his use of “slave dialect” in his stories, he is castigated by the same hypocrites who insisted only a few years ago that “ebonics” was a valid form of oral communication.
Good luck, folks on your efforts to restore the reputation of one of the South’s greatest writers. I hope also that the Wren’s Nest can garner a greater following than it has had in years past. It is past time for Atlanta to realize what a historical asset it has in its midst!
Has the Wren’s Nest sponsored a conference on Joel Chandler Harris and Disney’s Song of the South? (Preferably with webcasts of the various lectures and panel discussions, which could be posted after the fact on YouTube.) You could get a sizable state or federal grant for hosting such a project, and perhaps the Walt Disney company might lend a print of the film for strictly scholarly purposes. A symposium would raise national visibility for Wren’s Nest and Harris (especially within academia) at very little cost — and as for presenters and attendees, most of them will travel on their own dime anyway.
Tim, that’s a great idea and something we’ve been mulling over for the fall.
In short, we haven’t done anything like that, but I have participated in a symposium about Harris and Song of the South at Clark-Atlanta University. It’s about time for us to give it a shot.
Lain,
About ten years ago I began looking for a copy of ‘Song of the South’ which I remembered seeing when I was a child in the 1960s. I was able to purchase a vhs copy that had been released by Disney in England. As I watched it once again just last week it seemed to me from the clothing that the ladies wore that the movie was set during Reconstruction. From the few scenes where the adults were interacting they seemed to be trying to get along with each other in their changed social environment.
Yes, the former slaves sometimes found themselves unable to leave their former masters and they were still there working on the same farm that they had been slaves on.
The adults remembered this former condition. Relationships don’t change overnight and sometimes they never do. But they seemed to be showing each other respect and seemed to be trying to adjust.
The children, being children, didn’t understand what the big deal was. Children don’t see differences unless adults point them out. They just want to play with each other.
I plan on watching the movie again, this time with an even more critical eye on the adults to see if I can find what all the criticism was.
When my own daughters were children I went out of my way to find Joel Chandler Harris’ work. They are beautifully presented and offer hope to any reader who will listen to them and give them a chance to speak to them.
I am a proud Georgian and am proud to have Joel Chandler Harris as a part of my heritage. And I am proud to know that his descendant is taking care of his grand pa’s legacy. You go boy! I’m sure he is smiling down on you and your efforts.
[...] Huey + Partners surprised us with these awesome print advertisements, it was clear we had to use them [...]