In the 1960s, American advertising agencies really started to dig below the surface in order to achieve a deeper understanding of their clients via the use of thorough research. In particular, the New York advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) created groundbreaking advertising that embedded an emotional connection between products, services and the customer. The greatest and most enduring of these was for Volkswagen, where they managed to engender a love of an unattractive little car in the public’s hearts – in a country that favoured big, glitzy, gas-guzzling monsters. That little car became known as the VW Beetle.
In brilliant storytelling advertisements, posters and TV commercials, they emphasised the car’s modest price, reliability and economy, all beautifully crafted by DDB’s supreme Art Director Helmut Krone, who created a unique visual style, with a very witty, self-deprecating, conversational style of copy by Julian Koenig.
The VW Beetle was a huge success. And DDB’s work became the foundation of a global brand based on German efficiency, safety, build, trust and reliability.
When people thought of VW, all of these attributes instantly registered in their hearts and minds. It also gave a sense of pride to the German workforce. These preciously achieved values survived for five decades, until a few years ago, when the exhaust emissions scandal broke. That really knocked VW’s trust with employees and customers alike. But the interesting thing about much-loved and trusted brands is that the public will forgive one mistake. I know: I have and continue to buy their products. Simply, it is people who make brands brands.
You can see more about DDB’s VW ads and commercials here:
The button badge with the Avis mantra.
Another masterstroke from DDB was for Avis car rentals. They were seen as No. 2 in the US, lagging behind the giant Hertz. DDB did what became known as ‘repositioning the opposition’ and campaigned Avis as the ‘underdog’ – Americans like a hardworking underdog.
The simple, direct press ads that caught the imagination of the public.
Speaking directly to potential customers using full-page press ads, the headline announced “When you’re only No. 2, you try harder. Or else.” This brilliantly direct storytelling style written by DDB’s Paula Green was quickly noticed by the wider world of corporate identity – every company wanted to express its ‘personality’ through this more engaging and emotive form of communicating.
DDB was a major inspiration for the young copywriting Turks in UK advertising. Among them, Charles Saatchi, Alan Parker, Malcolm Gluck, Gray Jolliffe, Dan Levin and David Abbott.
Above are 3 examples of the work of the late British copywriter, David Abbott. He originally worked at DDB in New York in the 1960's. He brought back to the UK his very own take on wit, intelligence and brilliance in advertising writing.
Pretty soon, they were matching the quality of DDB’s work in the hubbub that became known as ‘swinging London’ in the mid 1960s. And in the design world, too, things were changing.
The consultancy Wolff Olins was going beyond the purely visual. Creative Director Michael Wolff was keen to get to the heart of the matter in every aspect of an organisation’s behaviour, from the language it used, its telephone manner and the greeting of clients and customers to staff welfare. In addition, he was interested in consistency in all aspects of design presentation, even down to the quality of the towels in organisations’ lavatories.
Above, a dramatic look for a local council back in the 1960's. But for Camden Council Wolff went beyond the superficial, he wanted the language they used to be decluttered and introduced simple plain English on all the council's forms.
Wolff would spend a lot of time with CEOs drilling down to get at the very essence of an organisation’s brand values, proposition and behaviour in order to communicate them clearly to customers – what David Ogilvy described as “the intangible sum of a product’s attributes.”
The Bovis hummingbird, signifying, speed, skill, beauty and brilliance. If it were not for the single-mindedness and bravery of the Bovis CEO it would not have happened. The site workers wanted the bird on their helmets and T-shirts because they and their families loved it and it made them feel good.
With this more rigorous approach, the term ‘brand’ began to be replaced by ‘corporate identity’, the latter considered to be mostly concerned with the visual clothing, rather than what goes on underneath. But, somehow, many designers missed the point and muddled brand with logo – even decades on, this has still not been shaken off.
Part 3 Next week: How government manipulated branding to sell off Britain's national industries.
More about David Abbott here.
Listen to an interview with Michael Wolff on branding here.