Advertising: favorable information about a product or service that encourages you to buy it. That's what the dictionary says. And we may have become immune to… advertising because of an excess. But once that was different.
Shooting with buckshot
In the past there was already advertising, but it just had to reach everyone. Hail was shot. In contrast to today, little thought was given to target groups and targeted ways of advertising. The print media ruled. In the meantime it has been discovered that 'printed' advertising sticks better than digital advertising tsunamie ...
We've been seeing car ads for over 100 years now. Shiny Cadillacs, dynamically curved Jaguars and muscle cars with smoking tires. Endearing FIATjes and Ugly Ducks, decent Opels, richly equipped cheap Korean. We've seen it all pass by. In the beginning it was all black and white. And the pictures were often drawn. Car advertising has evolved a lot over the years thanks to imaginative, and sometimes ineffective, creative techniques. How did marketers sell cars over the past century? What were the reasons why we bought our cars?
Also read: Other times: The brochures and advertisements
Initially, car manufacturers praised the benefits of their creations over horse and carts. But that quickly evolved.
More beautiful than really allowed
But in advertisements, just like now on Instagram, life was presented as beautifully as possible. Cars and people were colorfully drawn in true paintings. And a kind of photoshopped 1.0 was made: The cars were not drawn entirely to scale. The cars were bigger in the ads. The dolls there? Smaller.
Usually the approach was quite 'modern'. Wr became clearly related to what we now call lifestyle & experience. Ladies were decorative. Children optional. Only later it was thought that inexpensively modeled and summery dressed ladies were also beautiful attention-grabbers. Or that didn't miss its mark? There are now collectors who specialize in ladies on car brochures. For what it's worth: motorcycle enthusiasts have it much easier. And then we think of many more brands than Norton with its 'Norton Girls'.
But bottom line, advertising is a massage of emotion and ambition. And certainly in economic growth periods after WWI and WWII that was good soil to sow. And the seed was Style and Status, Big is Beautiful, Small but Fine, sporty driving and The Woman and the Car. The brands still existed and each had their own image and followers. You could confidently be a motorist who deliberately drove German, English, French or Italian. And the brands proudly propagated the values of the countries they came from. Peugeot registered as La Grande Marque Nationale.
Humour
Of course, it was also possible to respond to the buyers' national character. What if that happened with a smile? Few people at Fiat Panda will not immediately think of the effective slogan and the successful advertising campaign from 1983. The Fiat Panda stuck with everyone thanks to this brilliant slogan and the economical-looking motorist. But we can't help but say that the main character's laughter is getting somewhat annoying. The motorcycle agent at the end finishes it off completely.
Also read: The Fiat Panda. Ultimate pride of Giorgetto Giugiaro.
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