it’s mourning again in america

hal_riney

Not everyone will remember the 1984 re-election campaign of President Ronald Reagan but it featured not only one of the best made political commercials ever but simply one of the most effective commercials of any kind ever made.

It was made by a San Francisco ad man named Hal Riney, who owned Hal Riney & Partners, and some other prominent ad men who were part of the “Tuesday Team” who helped ensure Reagan and Bush were reelected that year.

Besides the fact that Riney and his partners did amazing work for clients like General Motors and Gallo Wines (great interview on the campaign here from KCBS-AM), he was among one of the great voice talents ever to breath into a microphone. He was one of two ad men that I would qualify as outstanding voice talents (the other being Ferdinand Jay Smith from Jay Advertising).

Hal Riney died today at age 75. His creativity and his voice are but two small parts of his legacy.

I’d be happy with just one of them.

One Response to “it’s mourning again in america”

  1. I always know I’ve made an important post when something similar pops up on my friend Bob Souer’s blog: http://bobsouer.com/blog/2008/03/27/rest-in-peace-hal-riney/

    For those of you who don’t know, Bob’s blog has become a must read for everyone in VO.

    Take a moment to check it out and subscribe.

    Best always,
    – Peter