- "Zoom Zoom," you know as Mazda.
"Let's Go Places," that's Toyota.
"The Ultimate Driving Machine" can only be BMW.
How do we know this?
Because thanks to advertising,
it's been planted in our brains.
No doubt, car ads are everywhere,
pervasive and persuasive.
So how did we get from modest newspaper ads
run off a printing press
to all the press you could want
on your favorite car at the tap of an app?
And why is Matthew McConaughey talking to himself
in a Lincoln Navigator?
Where is this headed and where has it been?
Today, we're exploring the history of car ads.
Since the first automobile rolled off the assembly line,
there have been advertisements to sell them.
In the early days of selling cars,
convincing people to get behind the wheel
of this newfangled horseless contraption
without fear of premature death
was the main goal.
The ads were basic black and white prints
that emphasized the automobile
as the ultimate in luxury and convenience.
The very first car advertisement
was done by the Winton motor company in 1898
with a headline that simply stated,
"Dispense with a horse."
As the popularity of cars increased,
ads turned to extravagant illustrations
and bold slogans to compete for drivers' attention.
The message shifted from safety
to emphasizing easy mobility
and where the car could take you,
into the secluded woods,
to a neighborhood bar to meet someone special,
or the opportunity to make a dramatic exit if the need be.
You know when we wrote that, it sounded fine,
but when I say it out loud,
it just sounds like we're selling the car
to a serial killer.
Henry Ford capitalized on this concept of
go anywhere and do anything
when he introduced the Model T in 1908.
The first ad appeared in Life Magazine,
and while there were other better known competitors
like Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Packard,
their ads pitched expensive brands
that spoke to wealthy Americans,
you know, the Great Gatsby types.
But Ford believed that not just the rich
but all Americans wanted their own automobile.
His Model T ad said things like,
"A car for the multitudes"
and "High price quality in a low price car."
Because the Ford motor company mastered mass production
to a tee.
- To a tee.
Are you kidding me?
The car, it's called that.
- How'd you not know that shit?
- What's going on?
Because the Ford motor company mastered mass production
to a tee, Ford was able to keep the price down
at just $850, about $20,000 today.
And that was the biggest selling point, the price.
The strategy of targeting the common man paid off,
and within the first year, Ford sold 10,000 Model Ts.
Ford's pitch to the average person
revolutionized the nature of American society.
Middle income families gained a new mobility
and life was no longer centered around your home
and neighborhood.
People could escape their small town
and see the rest of the country.
A newfound freedom was born with Ford's simple
appeal to the masses.
By the 1920s, car ads reflected the optimism
and freewheeling sign of the times.
As a result of this carefree decade,
consumers hungered for more
than just a sturdy and affordable car.
They wanted style, speed, and luxury to boot.
With the passing of the 19th Amendment,
women finally got the right to vote.
As a result, the 1920s and '30s
saw advertisers specifically targeting women in their ads.
The concept of being in control of your own destiny
was a prevalent theme.
This continued throughout World War II,
when men were fighting on the battlefield
and women filled the labor force.
The ad guys were fully on board
with selling to the ladies,
but sometimes a heavy dose of chauvinism
was thrown in with the pitch.
A 1940 Buick advertisement proclaimed,
"Weep no more, ladies.
"Now there's a big car even you can drive."
The ad went on to state that the Buick's interior
was roomy enough to hold a tea party.
Nothing wrong with that.
That's not weird at all.
During the postwar years,
tons of suburbs popped up in America,
creating a driving force behind a major car boom.
People commuting back and forth from work
in the cities needed a car,
and it was nirvana for advertisers.
1950s car advertising was all about
showing off a car's features and its great designs.
By this time, American car brands had hit their stride,
and consumers were familiar with the models,
so advertisers relied on that familiarity
to cut to the chase.
Pages in magazines were stuffed with polished images.
Add to the mix, a little invention called television,
and car advertisers had another method to reach consumers
in a big way.
Traditional media like radio, magazines, and newspapers
were still important in the early part of the '50s,
but television was quickly becoming the cornerstone
of many advertisers' national media plans.
The advertisers' goal in the 1950s
was to link car ownership
with the idea of comfortable suburban living.
Some '50s TV commercials offered cute, rhyming jingles
like "See the USA in your Chevrolet,"
but others went right for the jugular
to get your attention.
In car crazed southern California,
automobile pitchmen were nutty
and berserk figures on TV screens.
One guy named Cal Worthington
stood taller and lasted longer
than any of these other deranged dudes.
Sporting a Stetson hat
and speaking with a twangy Oklahoma drawl,
he broke the mold when it came to outlandish car salesmen,
willing to do anything to get you in the showroom.
While some guys posed with cute puppies
to get customers on the lot,
Cal upped the ante and had a menagerie of furry,
exotic sidekicks.
Actually, they were zoo animals,
and he always announced them
as his fictitious dog, Spot.
By the mid-1950s, cars beat packaged goods
and cigarettes as the most heavily advertised products.
Everything was going great for American automakers
and the ad men hired to sell their latest models.
Then, in 1960, it all changed
when one ad hit like a bolt of lightning.
Overnight, Volkswagen's Think Small campaign
had the American public talking about
the tiny German made Beetle.
This campaign catapulted Volkswagen
into the stratosphere of car advertising.
Teenagers ripped it out of magazines
and pinned it on their walls.
And the ad guys on Madison Avenue viewed it with suspicion
and jealousy.
It was a game changer for an ad industry that had,
until that time, hammered customers
with over the top, extravagant claims
of how their product changed their life.
Volkswagen's approach was creative,
subtle, and self-deprecating.
Think Small and Lemon campaigns
and others that followed didn't talk down to consumers
and appealed to their intelligence.
Volkswagen's honest and simple campaign
fit right in with the changing times of the '60s,
where youth culture was becoming a force,
and a rebellion against mass consumerism was taking shape.
Advertisers were soon following Volkswagen's lead,
trashing overhyped sales pitches
for more playful campaigns that stressed individuality
rather than conformity.
Marketing and advertising pros considered
the Think Small campaign the gold standard of advertising.
Volkswagen Beetle sales grew into the hundreds of thousands
throughout the 1960s,
and by 1970s, sales had topped out
at over 570,000 in the US.
In the 1980s, with the stock market riding high
and the rise of Yuppies and Gordon Gekko-type
corporate raiders now part of the culture,
what you drove was seen as a status symbol.
If you were driving a Lamborghini or a Porsche,
then you had made it.
As a result of the climate,
consumers were seeing more higher class and foreign car ads.
The downside was that car ads in the '80s
had become pretty cookie cutter in their presentation.
A cabin so quiet you can hear a pin drop
and a relaxed, practically comatose driver
at ease behind the wheel
was par for the course in a car commercial.
Breaking from the monotony was one campaign
that showed a little fish in a big pond
can compete with the sharks, my favorite animal.
With the goal of boosting sales in the US,
in 1986, the Japanese car manufacturer Isuzu
launched their Joe Isuzu commercial.
Armed with only a limited budget,
the campaign surprised everyone with its unique approach
and became a wild success.
A fictional car salesman who oozed the smarmy demeanor
and lied through his fake smile face
made outlandish claims about the abilities of the Isuzu.
Isuzu really leaned into the fact
that car ads often exaggerated the product,
and people were refreshed by the honesty.
This comic take on the shady salesman cliche
was a hit with consumers.
But there was one little problem,
he was more popular than the car.
Except for an immediate 18% spike in sales,
Isuzu's success was short lived.
Ads that followed attempted to highlight
more features of the car and put it back in the spotlight.
But for audiences, the true star was always Joe Isuzu.
The campaign was retired in 1990
with a tough lesson learned,
don't let the messenger outshine the message.
What advertisers had discovered
is that celebrity endorsements,
particularly car endorsements, can be a major crapshoot.
Choose the right star and it can create a buzz,
boost sales, and even bolster the brand.
Pick the wrong personality,
and an automaker might turn off customers
and lose millions of dollars in the process.
For example, wanting to court a younger demographic,
Chrysler hired Celine Dion to the tune of 14 million dollars
as spokeswoman for their 2002 Pacifica
because that made sense.
Dealers only sold around 4,000 Pacificas
after the ad campaign began
in stark contrast to the projected 60,000 units.
Yikes.
One lesson the ad industry knows well
is that a spot during the Super Bowl
is the Holy Grail for advertisers.
It's a cardinal rule that advertisers keep
their new campaigns under wraps
to avoid spoiling the big reveal,
but for the 2011 Super Bowl, Volkswagen was stuck
between a rock and a hard place.
It had bought two 30-second spots for the big day,
one showing off the new Jetta
and the other for the new Passat.
The spot called The Force for the Passat model
featured a little boy dressed up as Darth Vader.
However, there was also a 60-second version
that the Deutsch ad team who created the spot
felt was much stronger.
Unfortunately, it was too long to run during the Super Bowl,
so in an attempt to stand out
and get as much mileage as possible,
Deutsch made the bold move of posting The Force on YouTube
the Wednesday before the game.
By early the next morning, the spot had 1.8 million hits.
It scored 17 million views before the coin toss
at game time on Sunday.
To date, The Force has racked up 61 million views on YouTube
and is the most shared Super Bowl ad of all time.
Of all the ads that run during the Super Bowl,
it's the car industry that's been the single largest
advertising category every year since 2010
with advertisers willing to pay a steep price
for a 30-second spot.
This year, it was 5.5 million dollars on average.
It's obvious having your commercial play
during the Super Bowl is a big deal,
but here's something interesting.
2017 Super Bowl was wall-to-wall car commercials.
This year, only seven brands ran a spot.
So where did they go?
Online.
Turns out The Force commercial was just a preview
of things to come for advertising and the Internet.
Social media has exploded in recent years,
and being savvy about the various digital platforms
is a must-have skill for advertisers to have
in their toolbox.
Social media marketing has become the pillar
of the advertising industry,
and the car business is the leading charger.
Pretty much every brand has an online presence,
and it's become a huge tool
for generating hype for a new car.
The Dodge Demon, the 2024 Bronco, and the new Supra
have all used teaser campaigns
to get people stoked for their upcoming release.
The conversation between users and car brands
has gotten so fluid over social media
that in 2016, one guy in Spain posted a hashtag
buy a car on Twitter challenge
to see if any manufacturer would sell him a vehicle
over the social network.
Nissan answered his challenge
and gave him a tour of the new Nissan X-Trail
with the Periscope app.
The guy then asked his followers
if he should buy it and they said yes.
So he did, naturally.
Wow, this guy bought a car,
even picked it up at Spain headquarters
without even going to the dealership.
The future is so full of potential.
This could totally change the way we buy cars.
It's a brave new world
when it comes to automotive advertising.
Unlike in the past where car advertising was focused
strictly on what the car could do for the consumer,
today, it's about what the car can do to the consumer.
When Matthew McConaughey conducts an orchestra
of his surroundings behind the wheel of a stationary
Lincoln Navigator or stands next to a sleek
Lincoln Continental in the shimmering shallow water
on a glacial plain in Iceland,
these images are evocative.
Car advertisers are appealing to your senses.
They're going for the right side of your brain,
that emotional, creative chunk of gray matter.
It's miles away from the paint by numbers,
logical left brain side of the lump
that ads of the 1950s tapped into.
Things are moving at such lightning quick speeds.
Who knows?
Five years from now, taking a virtual test drive
on your iPhone might seem as old school as
looking at a print ad in a newspaper.
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We look at weird stuff
in car culture and history every week,
so make sure you hit that yellow Subscribe button
right around here so you never miss an episode.
If you want to know more about Henry Ford,
check out this episode of WheelHouse
or check out this episode of Up to Speed.
Be nice.
See you next time.