Glowleaf

No, this is not a fake pic. And it has nothing to do with 9/11. It is a real advertisement, an old one, presenting the Pakistani airlines ability to fly you to NY in 16h 30.

I put it here so I can prove to you how powerful an emotional responce can get, and how important symbols are in marketing.

Some things never change. The basic needs for a man, of food, sleep, sex and shelter are all hardwired since the dawn of the human race.

And there has always been a strange breed of humans, that studied their fellow people, and tried to manipulate them into buying or trading.

The basic stuff does not change. Whatever techniques marketers used 200 years ago still apply today. Only the products and the tools change, not the methodology.

So, lets examine some classic tricks marketers used for centuries, and see what tricks we can learn from these old advertisements.

Plants

Do you remember Doc from the classic Lucky Luke cartoon? Sure, this is a kid’s movie, but the character is a mockery of real shady marketers of the times.

What Doc did was to create a miraculous hair growth potion. He scoured the Wild West looking for people to buy his stuff. If I remember correctly, the potion was plain water. He had an assosiate, posing as a regular bystander. After his sales pitch, he would call upon a volunteer to come to the stage, and show the miraculous effects of the hair growth potion. The plant would go behind the scenes and wear a big wig, and people believed that the potion was amazing. So they bought it.

Ok, people are not that stupid anymore. Or are they? Hmm…. Acai Berry *cough*.

The lesson here is to show the effects of your product to people, and if it is possible, to show a “regular” person using it, and of course being left satisfied by it. Then the mob mentality kicks in, and everyone buys it.

Desires

See the expression on those faces? It is so far stretched it does not even seem real. The point is not to make it real, but to transfer an emotion to the viewer. A face expressing desire instantly has a mimical effect on the customer. The appropriate sections in his brain fire, and endorphins are pumped into his bloodstream.

If you can create such a strong emotional responce, the world is your playground.

Laconic

It doesn’t get more straightforward than this. Absoluteness “Best you ever ate”, price is up there, image to show what it is like, and “Hot soup” to describe the product.

Eye catching titles

Do you think linkbait is something new? Check out these titles. Especially the “Drop Dead” one… Pure fucking genius.

Emotional hammering

The first one is not that old, but it has a very powerful message. Note that it is delivered in “Sin City” style. White, black and red.

“To be killed in action” and shows a baby. No parent can ignore this ad.

“Feeling Blue?” catchy tagline, and the classic before and after trick. We don’t make ads like this anymore, but they work. Note the smile in the last picture. The marketer is trying to intertwine that image with the memory of the product. If I were to make that ad, I would put the bottom 2 pictures the other way around, to preserve the antithesis structure. Ivory Soap, it floats!

“Cough, you chump”. It’s your own fault, you didn’t use listerine. You all know how big that brand is now. Note the bullshit scientific data “66% reduction shown in tests”.

“Be first in your gang/ Leaders go for Dinky toys”. This one targets the alpha males, and the beta who are wannabe alpha’s. Always worked, and always will.

“Their hero arrives on the next bus”. Powerful emotional message targeted to father figures. I believe the advice to wives part should be omitted. This is a pathetic attempt at reaching the whole of the audience with a single ad. Wrong. The idea is good, but needs to be separated. This is a man’s ad.

Died and buried

Indeed, the day has come. All beer cans open easily now. But no one knows Schlitz beer. I am sure this is due to the stupid name. This is a classic example of good ideas but no marketing skills.

Authority recommendation

Most of the times this is used, the authority person has nothing to do with the product. It does not matter, the more well known that person is, the more sales this ad brings. Michael Jordan advertised half the US products, and of course he had nothing to do with any of them. Except maybe Nike Air Jordan.

Scientific Bullshitting

The first comes from the era when cigarettes were starting to prove bad for your health. It is nicely pictured in the movie “Thank you for smoking”. This marketer tries to convince customers that their smokes are less smoky than the others. The cigarette companies had managed to bullshit their way with bought scientific data through years of denial.

Yes, this is a real Max Factor ad. Makes you think how stupid today’s products will seem in the future. Scientific bullshiting at its finest.

Sexual Innuendo

This has been used for sooo long. It works, that is the reason. Coca Cola and many alcoholic drinks have used this technique, of putting sexual images inside their ads. Even straightforward sexual messages work. You can be subtle or straight ass dirty, like the last one. Which, by the way, is not that old, but nevermind that.

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written by Glowleaf   \\ tags: advertising, marketing, old ads