I think it's interesting that you guys put the blame at Empire Designs doors for what you consider poor posters. Do you not think it's more to do with the Producers of the Bond films who commission these types of campaigns to begin with. I think your disappointment is directed at the wrong people.
Yes, that is an argument. But Producers hire talent that they think is right for the job. If it is deemed a director has not done a good job of directing the film, is it the fault of the director, or the producer? Simplistically speaking of course.
I think the only time I have 'blamed' the producers for a Bond directorial effort was in hiring Michael Apted to direct The World is not Enough, a film that is so fantastically boring that it really should have been edited down to a 30 minute short to give it any sense of hope. In Apted, while I can see their thinking, he was just so hopelessly out of his depth in every single way.
And so Producers and Marketing companies. All this is handed off to designers by the studio, no? In this case MGM and Universal. What shout do the producers have here? I would have thought with Michael Wilson's interest in and fascination for photography, he would, and should, have stepped in and say, Enough. Maybe he has, and has been told to leave well enough alone. Maybe he hasn't. Maybe he thinks the campaign is just fine the way it is. Dunno.
And so while we do not know the players between such contracts, until convincingly educated, I will leave it at the door of Empire.