NEW YORK – Subtlety is the cardinal concern of the latest work from Arnell/Bickford Associates, which has made a new print ad for client Donna Karan Hosiery that is so wispy it has no logo. 

The ad, a black-and-white photo of Rockefeller Center in the evening mist, has only a small copy line at the bottom: “By Invitation Only 24th Floor.” This week, which is market week in the hosiery industry, the agency is using W and Women’s Wear Daily to showcase the logoless ad. The curious reader of the ad may find further information by scrutinizing the tiny print where the photo credit usually goes. There is a photo credit, to the agency’s executive creative director, Peter Arnell. We’re also told the location in question is the Donna Karan New York Hosiery Showroom and that the ad is by Arnell/Bickford. In last September’s Vogue, the agency ran a gatefold dominated by a beautiful photograph of two bare legs. That was its first effort for Karan, a licensee of Hanes Hosiery Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C. Arnell expressed certainty the new piece would appeal to the sophisticated audience it aims for. “If they know Donna Karan’s image, then we can never let down people who are waiting for a surprise,” he said. Chuckling, he added: “It’s a major movement. First, we had ads without products. Now we have ads without logos. Next we’re going to have ads without ads.” Arnell likened the approach to that taken in the U.K. by Saatchi & Saatchi for Silk Cut cigarettes.