Hal Riney

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Hal Patrick Riney (born July 17, 1932 in Seattle , Washington , † March 24, 2008 in San Francisco , California ) was an American copywriter , art director and producer of the 1972 Oscar-nominated documentary Somebody Waiting . He was considered one the leading copywriter in the United States and has even worked for US President Ronald Reagan .

Life

Born in Seattle and raised in Longview, WA , Hal Patrick Riney was the son of a cartoonist , writer , newspaper publisher, actor, businessman, gamer and teacher. After graduating from the University of Washington in 1954 and then serving public relations in Italy for two years with the United States Army , his career began in the advertising industry. He started at BBDO in San Francisco, where he worked from the post office until 1965 to become chief art director. In 1968 Riney rose to the position of creative director of the advertising agency. Two years later he hired the well-known American songwriter Paul Williams to write a song for the Crocker National Bank . Immediately afterwards, the Carpenters recorded the song We've Only Just Begun and published it that same year. The themed wedding-themed commercial was finally shown for the first time in the late winter of 1970 and was intended to draw the attention of young people in particular to the bank, which was also running an advertising campaign in this direction to match the song. Previously, the bank spoke out against a conventional jingle , as it was already heard in most commercials at the time. Riney joined Ogilvy & Mather in 1976 and helped rebuild their West Coast site from scratch. In 1984 Riney, known for his distinctive and deep voice, created the two commercials Morning in America and Bear in the woods , which were part of the television commercials produced for Ronald Reagan in the 1984 US presidential election . The copywriter was also responsible for the voiceover for both spots .

After creating an advertising campaign for Bartles & Jaymes ( E & J Gallo Winery ), for which Hal Riney wrote 143 different commercials within three years and thus set a record in the advertising industry, he retired from the advertising industry. It soon came to the fore again when the Saturn Corporation was launched. In addition to his work in advertising, Riney acted for years as a public address announcer ( stadium announcer ) for the San Francisco 49ers . Furthermore, the founder of the still existing and important advertising agency Publicis & Hal Riney was voted 30th of the 100 people of the 20th century by Advertising Age magazine . In 2001 he was inducted into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame . Over time, Riney has worked with his own agency for many well-known brands and companies, including Sprint Nextel , Crocker National Bank, Perrier mineral water brand, Alamo Rent A Car car rental company , Henry Weinhard's beer brand , First Union Corporation , the Subway fast food chain and the E & J Gallo Winery. In 1998 the agency was finally sold to Publicis Groupe .

After he had withdrawn more and more from the advertising industry until the end, Riney died on March 24, 2008 in San Francisco of the consequences of his cancer . His successful career lasted almost 50 years. Among other things, Riney was nominated in 1972 for the documentary short film Somebody Waiting alongside Woody Omens and Dick Snider as a producer for the Oscar in the category Best Documentary Short Film. In the end, however, the film could not prevail against Centinelas del silencio . In addition to hundreds of awards Riney received for his campaigns and commercials, he won a total of 19 Clio Awards . When Advertising Age magazine announced the 100 best advertising campaigns of the 20th century, they included three campaigns staged by Riney (in positions 37, 44 and 88). According to reports, Riney is said to have founded no fewer than 28 different advertising agencies in the course of his career, most of them with great success. Riney, who enjoyed success in New York , Chicago , San Francisco and Cannes , was inducted into the Creative Hall of Fame as early as 1994 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hal Riney on Advertising Age's website , accessed January 26, 2011
  2. ↑ Hal Riney on the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame website , accessed January 26, 2011
  3. ↑ Elliott, Stuart : Gobble, gobble, gobble: Another independent (Riney) is bought by a biggie (Publicis); New York Times (May 12, 1998)
  4. ^ Hal Riney, US ad executive, dies at 75 , accessed January 26, 2011
  5. ^ SF ad man Hal Riney dies , accessed January 26, 2011
  6. ↑ Hal Riney on the website of The One Club ( Memento from December 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Riney, Hal
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Riney, Hal Patrick (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American copywriter, art director, advertising director, and Oscar-nominated film producer
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Seattle , Washington
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 2008
Place of death San Francisco , California