Joe Pytka - Creative Hall of Fame

Career

Joe Pytka is creator of some of the best and most well-known television commercials ever made. Pytka has directed more than 5,000 ads for some of the world?s largest corporations, and earned many awards and nominations including three Directors Guild of America Commercial Direction Awards and 15 nominations. Over the past three decades, his stylized images have wedged themselves into the American consciousness, and his commercials for clients such as Budweiser, Pepsi, McDonald’s and NFL have aired more than 30 times during the Super Bowl telecast. Those include Madonna?s infamous Pepsi commercial, ?Make a Wish,? a frying egg demonstrating ?This is your brain on drugs,? Ray Charles? ?Uh-huh? for Pepsi, Bo Jackson?s ?Bo knows? for Nike, among many others. As a filmmaker, Pytka directed Let It Ride starring Richard Dreyfuss, and the hit Space Jam with Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. He?s also made music videos such as The Beatles ?Free as a Bird,? John Lennon?s ?Starting Over,? Michael Jackson?s ?Dirty Diana? and ?The Way You Make Me Feel.”

Selecting highlights from a library of over 5,000 commercials is no easy feat, but here we present several of Joe’s favorite picks from his prolific career.