A Short (Animated) History of Marketing

One possible candidate for screening at the next Typophile Film Fest could be A Short History of Marketing, a motion graphics piece that was just popped up on the internet, on Motionographer amongst others. It explains the history of marketing – from the relatively simple olden days which saw few brands and simple USPs, to the current situation of sensory and mental overload where the consumer is incessantly bombarded with advertising. This resulted in the radical shift from advertising acceptance to outright rejection.

A short history of marketing from Michael Reissinger on Vimeo.

The yellow, black and white (hmmm, remind you of anyone? ;) animated movie uses a hodgepodge of different typefaces, from funky vintage display faces over computer system fonts to crappy freeware stuff. So although this motley crew does fit the animation style, there are some cringe moments for the discerning type lover when for example squooshed Optima, Charcoal and some bastardized Cooper Black make their appearance. So it's a bit of a mixed bag: nice fun animation style with groovy music and fresh use of typography, but not all the typefaces are very good.

The short film was directed and illustrated by Michael Reissinger, Creative Manager with Deli Pictures, a Hamburg, Germany based motion graphics company. It was created for the European agency network Scholz & Friends. Originally a stand-alone advertising agency, Scholz & Friends gradually evolved to become a network of agencies capable of spanning the entire spectrum of communication instruments, from advertising, public relations, dialogue, online, events, architecture and design, right through to TV productions.

See the video here.