This is a biggie. So, we’ve been on a kick about drawing parallels between Leo Burnett’s earthy vernacular versus David Ogilvy’s diamond encrusted eyepatches. The tensions in ideology between Leo and Ogs — about the power of images versus the power of argument in getting consumers to buy what you’re selling — also plays itself out in Sterling Cooper Ad offices.
But we’ve been ignoring a colossus of the Ad World that may trump both men in terms of modern technique: Bill Bernbach. He was responsible for the ad above in 1960. Ad Age listed Bill as the No. 1 most influential ad man of the 20th century:
“Bernbach insisted on first learning how his client’s products related to their users, what human qualities and emotions came into play. Then the challenge turned to deciding how best to communicate those elements, in TV and print, and capture the consumer’s understanding and support.
. . .
In print, VW’s “Think Small” ad challenged our acquisitive tendencies even as the “ugly” Beetle became the first successful import car and the ad campaign altered advertising for all time.”
Given the fact that Don chided the VW Lemon ad in season 1, perhaps Bill’s dynamic and thoroughly modern approach befuddles and intimidates even the most assured man at Sterling Cooper?
August 14, 2009
Leo Burnett popularized the philosophy of creating a compelling visual image connected to a product. Before Burnett’s time advertising centered on long text descriptions of the product, with detailed arguments as to its superiority to other competing products. Burnett concentrated on imagery and stressed that the creator of an ad needed to somehow capture and reflect what he called the “inherent drama” of the product.
“We convinced ourselves that the image of meat should be a virile one, best expressed in red meat.” At the time it was highly unusual, even distasteful, to portray uncooked meat in advertisements. Enthusiastically breaking the code, Burnett produced full-page ads depicting thick chops of raw red meat against a bright-red background. “Red against red was a trick,” he explained, “but it was a natural thing to do. It just intensified the red concept and the virility and everything else we were trying to express. This was inherent drama in its purest form.”
Burnett was responsoble for the Jolly Green Giant, theMarlboro Man, Toucan Sam, Charlie the Tuna, Morris the Cat, the Pillsbury Doughboy, the 7up ”Spot”, and Tony the Tiger.
A female copy-writer who worked for Burnett in the late sixties is blogging about Mad Men over at WSJ.
