David Abbott - The man I want to interview in my afterlife

Woke up to the news of David Abbott's demise, last morning. Twitterverse from the adland ensured I didn't miss any link that paid homage to this man and his exemplary work. Some posts went to the extent of saying that his death seems like a personal loss to them, that they feel a void. I get the void bit, notwithstanding the fact that most of us mourning haven't met him even once in our lifetimes. 

I have always heard his name whenever an ad veteran would talk about who he/she considered to be, well, ad veterans. When I first saw the Chivas Regal ad (thanks to a dear friend whose repertoire of knowledge of great advertising work I supremely envy), I felt more than just a lump in my throat. Wait, the ad first: 

This ad, these words, did what nothing has been able to do to me so far. It made me wish I were a son. More so, it made me wish I had a father who I could dedicate these words to. That's the most personal thought I've shared on the cloud so far. You can imagine the extent to which this ad would've made an impact on me. 

What's more? When I read more about his work and what he stood for, I understood how important it is to keep your writing simple. When you're in the business of writing (especially when you love words, like I do), it's always a challenge to keep your prose simple and your poems simpler. Over the years, I'm glad I have been able to gradually align my writing with his belief: 

“Words for me are the servants of the argument, and on the whole I like them to be plain, simple and familiar.”

To give you a sense of how much his fraternity and his peers revered him, here's something Tony Brignull, another British ad legend had said about Abbott once: 

"There are a few of us writers around who think of ourselves as the sons of Bill Bernbach. I have a feeling David is the only one who'd pass a blood test."

As I type this, I am listening to one of his interviews where he tells William Channer about what he learnt from Bernbach and David Ogilvy. Give it an ear, here. 

This is what he's saying right now: "When you start off in copywriting, you fall in love with words. In my early days in advertising, I used to be an inveterate punster. As I got older and wiser, my style became more plain."

And with that, my wish to interview him in my afterlife strengthens. 

-Shephali

You can relish some of his ads I found online: 

Pictures courtesy: Google Images

Budweiser - This Bud's For You

One could've started off with the Nip the evil in the 'bud' wisecrack but then I decided not to troll my own words.So, this story is about Adolphus Busch's classic tagline - 'This bud's for you!'

Quick history shower: Budweiser, 5% abv(alcohol by volume) is an American Lager introduced in 1876. Essentially a part of the US's popular culture, humour has been to Bud's ads what Isaiah Mustafa is to Old Spice. You get the picture. 

Back to the story: To this date, the most memorable Budweiser campaign (and you might want to dispute that but why, just read on) is the 1979 born ' 'This Bud's for you!' Created by D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, the minute long commercial shows a slew of working men (and a few women) toiling hard in the field with a voice-over that goes: "This bud's for you. There is no one who does it quite the way you do. So here's to you, you know it isn't only what you say, it's what you do."

Here, connoisseurs, watch the spot: 

Relevance+Impact (Read: Yes, the sales went up): The commercial was relevant to the economic times (see what I did there, no, good) prevailing in that era and thus created a huge impact. How else would one explain the sales figures soaring despite the economic depression plaguing the nation at that time. Soon, Budweiser was able to acquire more than 35% of the US. beer market. Within the next two decades the share catapulted to more than 51%. Sales had more than doubled from 35 million to 86 million barrels. #win

15 years too young: Enterprising creativity (and the Clydesdale horses in the lattermost half of the century) are intrinsic to all of Bud's' ads. What's special about this tagline is that that they stuck to it for almost two decades until they severed their relationship with the then incumbent agency and gave the account to DDB Chicago (1994). And even though we saw many more remarkable campaigns after that, like the 'Real Men of Genius' (1998), or the campaign built around the catchphrase 'Whassup' (1999-2002); 'This bud's for you' still rings the nostalgic bell. Though 'Whassup' was a 'true' hit. See it for yourself. (One of the spots from the whassup series was aired during 2000 Super Bowl and had instantly become a pop culture rage)

Drama behind the glory: The story of how the campaign gained popularity is not an all pleasant one. One of the late 80s ads on the 'This bud's for you' theme concentrated on flaunting the body parts of models, some ad critics opined. That didn't deter the beer brand from unabashedly marketing itself as a masculine brand. In June 2008, Anheuser-Busch  signed a deal with the Brazilian-Belgian brewing company In Bev to give life to the world's largest brewer. Together they recorded an annual revenue of more than $37 billion in the year 2010 hence outdoing the No. 1 brewer in the world, SABMiller. The numbers clocked up to $43.2 billion as per their 2013 annual report. Not too bud. (Sorry, had to crack that one, however bad)

The script of the 1979 spot has been turned into a full fledged caller tune, the internet tells me. So, let's hum: 

“For all you do,

You know the king of beers is coming through!

Ohhhhhh...

For all you do...

This Bud's for you!”  

-Shephali 

Chanel No. 5 - Share the Fantasy

Sort of a tribute to Bill Bernbach on his Birth Centennial :)

The German novel 'Das Parfum', its later translation in English titled 'Perfume' and its subsequent adaptation in a movie (Perfume), have all portrayed the enigma of fragrance and how it can impact human emotions immensely. 'Strong' and 'subtle' would be the key words one can aptly associate with perfumes. And thus, it is prudent to stick to the keywords while one is to advertise for a perfume brand. That's what Chanel, the premium fashion house did to bring back the verve in their perfume line post the death of Coco Chanel (French fashion designer, founder of brand Chanel) (1971). 
 
In 1979, at a time when erotic advertising was not really encouraged, DDB (Doyle Dane Bernbach) introduced a sensual TVC for Chanel No. 5 (One of the World's top-selling perfume, introduced on May 5, 1921). The television spot highlighted the tag-line, 'Share the Fantasy'. The idea was conveyed with so much finesse that an unconventionally sensuous spot was also appreciated across the industry and outside.  

The 30 second film highlighted a woman basking by the pool side, soaking the sun and the aroma of the lush blue water in the swimming pool, while the shadow of an air-plane passes over her. A smooth voice over from the background hushes, “ I am made of blue sky and golden light, and I will feel this way forever”. In the next shot appears your effervescent tall, dark & handsome man, diving in the pool from the other side, swimming all the way to make it to the woman's side, only to magically disappear at the instant of appearing out of the pool. That's when you subtly hear John Huston in the background uttering the three magic words, 'Share the Fantasy'. 

As interpreted by many advertising enthusiasts of that time, the TVC leaves it on you to fill in the missing images and lends in a palatable sensuous idea which doesn't even border on being distasteful or lewd, by any means. Precisely, the ad stays conspicuously etched in your head despite having any overtly carnal implications or bold sexual propositions. 

Directed by British film director, Ridley Scott (of 'Alien' & 'Blade Runner' fame), the mesmerizing background score was picked from a Greek composer, Vangelis Papathanassious' album named 'China'. The tag-line was only used in the American version of the ad because the makers felt that Chanel's brand identity was iconic enough in France to carry through the message. Brand mavens described this campaign as a significant step in repositioning the company's long term entity. And what repositioning after all, Chanel No.5 has thus far never lost the status of being the top best-selling perfumes in the world. Looks like the line, 'I'll feel this way forever' did have some fragrant resonance, and how !

- Shephali

Brylcreem - A Little Dab'll Do Ya !

Switch off that idiot box. Take a break from Lord's because India has lost the match anyway. Now switch it back and for a change pay a visit to the long forgotten Cartoon Network. Watch a refreshing episode of Flintstones. Resuscitate your funny bones with that effervescent cackle-rendering phrase that became a trademark for a hurried & exuberant Fred Flintstone. What was it again? Yeah! "Yabba Dabba Doo"... Ever wondered where the zany phrase came from? 

It is believed that Alan Reed, the voice for Fred Flintstone was told to go with a plain "Yahoo" but his creative sentiments couldn't stand such banality and he instead came up with a spontaneous "Yabba Dabba Doo". And the inspiration for the same was Brylcreem's (Men's Hair Cream) first ever marketing campaign conceived by Kenyon & Eckhard during the early 1950s. The campaign was titled 'A little Dab'll Do Ya'. So, for Reed, that's precisely where the 'dab' in 'yahoo' came from.

 Brylcreem advertised their maiden campaign on TV  through a jingle which became an instant hit. The  rhyme sounded something like this :

 "Brylcreem, a little dab'll do ya,

 Use more, only if you dare,

 But watch out,

 The gals will all pursue ya,

They'll love to put their fingers through your hair"

 And when the fad for a dry look descended in men's  salons, they twisted the jingle with finesse to make it  sound like :

"They'll love the natural look it gives your hair.

Bryl-creem, a little

dab'll do ya,

Bryl-creem, you'll look so debonair.

Bryl-creem, the gals will

all pursue ya,

They'll love to RUN their fingers through your hair."

As a brand that catered to hair styling requirements of men folk, Brylcreem set its first foot in market-space in 1928. Pomade, a concoction of water and mineral oil stabilized with beeswax, was the introductory product from the brand's fob. And while the inception took place at Chemico Works in Bradford Street, Birmingham, England; the advertising campaign that was put out two decades later, was equally popular in both Europe and America. Such was the level of popularity on Brylcreem's barometer that they stayed with the same campaign till 1970 when they revised it to :"A little dab of Brylcreem on your hair gives you the Brylcreem bounce."

The 'dab' effect was vividly evident on their soaring top lines, bottom lines and brand's worth.
No wonder every time one comes across that well-moussed 'boy next door', the instant thought is of the little dab that must have done it all. And how!

If anagrams hath their wish, they would have firmly stated that dabbling with 'dab' wasn't a 'bad' deal at all! Not for Brylcreem at least...

-Shephali

The Man in the Hathaway Shirt - by David Ogilvy

A tribute to David Ogilvy from my end, on his 100th Birth Anniversary.

The idea of 'Style' is so dichotomous that it's almost an eternal buzzword. Cutting the faff short, when it comes to men's apparels, style is commensurate to being chic, suave and elegant. Therefore, ten out of ten ads on men's apparels will have charismatic men standing in a 'stylish' pose flaunting their fine clothing. But if that defines the scope of style , how does an apparel marketer break through the clutter? Probably they can learn a lesson or two from the legendary King of Madison Avenue, Mr David Ogivy himself. The man did something phenomenal for a humble shirt manufacturing company, C.F. Hathaway, that brought the sales of Hathaway Shirts from rock bottom to hill-top.

It was early 1951. No next door Tom, Dick or Harry knew about the existence of a shirt brand namely Hathaway Shirts. The destiny of this Waterville, Maine based small company changed overnight when its President Ellerton Jette proposed David Ogilvy to create a marketing campaign for its shirt brand. Right from the beginning, Jette made it evident that the campaign might not involve aplenty dollars but he assured there won't be any intervention on the creative front, which, till date, means a huge thing for any creative agency. That's how Hathaway Shirts' first ever advertising campaign came into picture.

So what was so extraordinary about this print commercial? A handsome Russian aristocrat, Baron George Wrangell, doned the fabric on his stout built body and an effervescently radiant face added brownie points to the charm factor. And a tag-line in bold that read, 'The Man in the Hathaway Shirt'. But that's not what did the magic. The magic was created by a conspicuous black eye patch on the aristocrat's right eye. The eye patch was so catchy it made people think how could he have possibly injured himself to get one. There were tales of people building their own interpretation of the eye patch. And that triggered their imagination, and a curiosity for the brand as well. Soon, the eye patch became a cult and one could see people wearing them during Broadway Plays and TV Shows. There were incidents wherein people would walk-in a store to buy Hathaway Shirts and walk-out with a black patch on their right eye. Achieving iconic status with an eye patch was the catch indeed.

And the numbers never belied the success rate of the campaign. The first ad appeared in The New Yorker for $3, 176. Within a week of the release, Hathaway shirts' entire stock was sold out. The next week, the ad was reprinted in Life, Time and Fortune.

Ogilvy had always believed in acquiring immense knowledge about the craft from reading about the discipline. In one of the books written by another advertiser, Harold Rudolph, Ogilvy learnt about story appeal and how the elements of a photograph enhanced the story appeal. The iconic eye-patch was just a by product of that priceless lesson. Consider this, a black eye patch did away with the rough patch in Hathaway shirts' fate, without leaving any creases, smoothly, and how!

-Shephali

M&Ms - Melts in your mouth, not in your hands!

History has it that wars have always had devastating effects on both sides of the war-front. But getting a sweet, delectable product out of a war is a once in a lifetime occurrence. That happened in this era, when Forrest Mars, Sr. observed Spanish soldiers relishing on shots of chocolates enclosed in a thick sugary coating, during the Civil War (1936-39). The encasing was of special focus here because it prevented the chocolates from getting melted. And that gave birth to M&Ms candy coated chocolates. Even though the chocolate was introduced in 1941, during the gory period of World War II, it became a cash cow for Mars because it found a plethora of consumers in the U.S. Army itself. Soldiers preferred to take it along because thanks to the candy coating, the chocolates won't melt and they could keep them for a longer time before savouring them.

While M&Ms started getting popular with the US Army-men, Hershey remained the largest chocolate company in America. To outdo Hershey, M&Ms resorted to extensive advertising through billboards, radio spots, print adverts and consequently, their sales soared up to $ 3 Million by 1949.

Soon, Mars Inc hired Ted Bates & Co., (now Bates 141), an advertising firm based out of Chicago, to market the brand and hence, in 1954, came a sprightly campaign, “Melts in your Mouth, not in your Hands”. Inevitably, the campaign was an instant success because apart from the luscious taste, the chocolates offered something unique and that was made the core of the campaign.

The campaign also introduced cartoon characters representing M&Ms, namely Mr. Plain & Mr. Peanut in the same year. It might be interesting to note that these two adorable and charming characters were recently voted as America's favourite advertising icons outstripping legendary icons like Pillsbury's Doughboy and Kellogg's Tony the Tiger!

A perfect combination of an intelligent campaign coupled with two irresistibly sweet characters resulted in huge profits that surpassed Hershey's numbers within two decades. While BBDO is the current ad agency hired by M&Ms, it was Ted Bates & Co. that secured Mars Sr. a 39^th rank in Advertising Age's list of Top 100 Advertising Campaigns.

Going back to the basics, it is commendable how a product that owes its genesis to a merciless war, can become such a celebrated legend that can lead people to forget the blood-shed that brought sorrow and remember the cocoa-shed that brought them 'chocolates', err, candy coated chocolates. 

-Shephali

Wendy's - Where's the Beef

It was the deep blue recessionary phase of the 1980s in USA. When all the companies were finding it hard to minimise growing losses, the US Hamburger Giant Wendy's International showed the courage to propagate one simple message that brought about the most significant landmark in its 15 year long history. "Where's the Beef?", the campaign mastered by Dancer-Fitzgerald-Sample Ad Agency was first aired on January 10th, 1984. Two elderly ladies were shown staring at an exorbitantly huge hamburger bun only to find a minuscule hamburger patty in between. Enters an octogenarian Clara Peller adamantly prompting the obvious question, "Where's the Beef?". And hence it is skillfully implied that the only place you'll get ample portion of beef in a hamburger is at Wendy's!

Soon after the campaign got out, Wendy's earnings doubled, tripled and quadrupled. Gone were the recessionary blues and the Hamburger giant was beefing up on $76.2 million record earnings within the next one year. The 2600 unit burger chain went on to expand its consumer base globally to 6000 Wendy's units post the campaign's success. Not to mention it also acquired 45% stake in Cafe Express while enjoying the phrase's growing popularity across USA and Canada.

Wendy's would have fathomed a triumph, but never in their wildest dreams could they have envisaged the phrase to get associated with the 1984 US Presidential Elections. During the primary elections, former Vice President Walter Mondale used the phrase to criticise his opponent Senator Gary Hart in a televised debate. A TVC's phrase becoming a catalyst in political wars; now who could have seen that coming !!!

Not just that, the phrase was repeatedly heard in sitcoms like Scrubs,The Simpsons and The Office. Singers started using it in their lyrics; now that's phenomenal! Right from the rib chuckling commercial to the laughter rending print ad, the campaign was one shot ace straight at the bull's eye. An 80s out-of-the-box idea of incorporating an old lady, and not a burger eating student, caught the attention of Ad maven David Apicella of Ogilvy who considered this to be the best line in a commercial over the past 25 years. Fascinating it is, that the campaign was only worth $7 Millions, but Wendy's gained $32 Millions on the circulation of the commercial itself. Now that's called cashing in on a question !

-Shephali