Know These Faces? Give Yourself Credit

In the age of celebrity, it isn’t enough to be a household name. If you’re really famous, you can be identified without a name tag.

Like David Geffen--billionaire, philanthropist, mansion-dweller, former music mogul, one-third of the three-headed DreamWorks brain trust. There he is, gazing down from a billboard in Hollywood. Behind his photograph, a subtle background of money-green American Express wallpaper covers the giant rectangle. To his left are the words, “Are you a member?” To his right, “Cardmember since ’69.”

I know it’s David Geffen, I think as I drive by, but who else will? American Express, which has designed a new outdoor advertising campaign around well-known people in a variety of professions, doesn’t expect everyone to readily identify the card-carrying icons they’ve chosen. “We wanted interest and intrigue,” says spokeswoman Emily Porter. “Being recognizable is important, but being almost recognizable also plays into the mystique we wanted to create.”

Are you a member? The subtext of the question is, this talented, accomplished person who’s so celebrated that we don’t even have to tell you who he or she is, belongs to our club. Are you a member? Are you important enough, successful enough? Do you belong?

Well, who wouldn’t want to belong, to be in the company of such greatness?

And just who do they think we won’t mistake for someone we sat next to in 10th-grade homeroom? Halle Berry and Tori Spelling. Magic Johnson, Peter Fonda, Edward James Olmos and Tommy Lasorda. So far, so good. But it might take an “Entertainment Tonight” addict to recognize director Martin Scorsese, actor-rapper Ice Cube or television writer-producer Steven Bochco. Even if you can’t recall his name, Bochco, whose billboard is near CBS studios on Beverly Boulevard, just looks prosperous, in a well-groomed, confident, Master-of-the-Universe way. “The image and the power of the photograph is very important,” American Express’ Porter says.

In this company town, it isn’t surprising that entertainment-industry hyphenates look familiar. Faces from the worlds of arts and advertising can be harder to place. Frank Gehry’s billboard was situated at 4th and Hill streets downtown to be close to the Museum of Contemporary Art, whose visitors presumably know world-renowned architects by sight. But who would pass a billboard in Marina del Rey and know that the man on it, who’s been a member since ‘82, is Lee Clow, chairman of the Chiat Day advertising agency? American Express figures Clow is known to people in his industry. And no, Chiat Day wasn’t involved in this campaign. It was the brainchild of American Express and its agency, Ogilvy & Mather. They won’t reveal celebrities who didn’t make the cut. Consider the possibilities: sure, Jerry Springer and Linda Tripp could have been included, but fame seems more suited to the campaign’s purpose than infamy.

Several billboards include hints. Tiger Woods leans on a golf club. The top of a basketball crowds into Lisa Leslie’s shot, and a basketball’s also visible on Magic Johnson’s billboard. Oscar De La Hoya was photographed bare-chested, with wrapped fists. Duh. Maybe he’s a boxer.

Los Angeles and New York are the only cities where you can play name that cardholder. Less than half the celebrities are on view on both coasts, including Clow, Gehry, Woods, Geffen, Scorsese and Leslie. Someone thinks New Yorkers are more likely to be impressed by tennis star John McEnroe, fashion designer Vera Wang, theater director Julie Taymor, actress Patti LuPone and director Spike Lee. But only Angelenos get to see Magic, Olmos, Bochco, Fonda and Berry.

You’d think that anyone famous enough to be considered for a billboard would be, well, famous enough. Think again. Once the billboards went up, Amex got calls from a number of prominent folks volunteering to be photographed for the next round.

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So how famous, or, at least, how identifiable, are those in the American Express campaign? See for yourself. But if you need their name tags, see below.

1. Actress Tori Spelling

2. Basketball player Lisa Leslie

3. Music and movie mogul David Geffen

4. Architect Frank Gehry