Health & Fitness
The Golden Age Of Advertising: Where Has It Gone?
The Golden Age of Advertising through the eyes of a lifelong ad man.
The Golden Age of Advertising...where did it go?
The good old days of advertising.
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"The times they are a changing'" as the song goes
and so goes the world of advertising.
Some of us are old enough to remember the Golden Age of Advertising way
back in the Era of the 1960's. That is when an ad agency was not so much a
conglomerate of dozens of agencies. But more important than the size and numbers was the quality of advertising that many of the agencies were turning out.
There was excitement and creativity and ideas that offered
the reader,viewer or listener a pleasurable experience that actually sold products and services; while building positive images. It was from-the-heart advertising!
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Who will not remember those wonderful advertisements coming
out of that "hot" agency in New York City…DDB. DoyleDaneBernbach. They were the kings of the business to many of us for their marvelous ad work for clients like Volkswagen (you could actually buy a new VW Beetle for around $1,400 at that time!). DDB created dozens of winners. "Think small" was just one of theirs for VW. Or for Levy's Bread: there was "You Don't Have to Be Jewish to Love Levy's Real Jewish Rye." Or for Avis ("We Try Harder."). They had appeal, moxie, understanding and honesty. And they made the reader feel that he or she was
a valuable part of the equation. There was no nastiness, negativity or in-your-face, hurtful approaches as we see in much of today’s advertising. There was
powerful copywriting and dynamic layouts. There was white space and there was
simplicity, class. And we identified with each message.
Has all that left the building forever? Has today's Internet
social networking changed it all? The revolution is here in full force—Twitter,
U-Tube, Face Book, instant messaging, not to forget-- cell phones with
incipient (overheard) out in the open conversations like ("What should I
buy for dinner, dear? I'm here at the market."). Has our world gone completely dull? It appears that today's creativity is in the hardware to "communicate" via the social networks. Where has the great advertising gone?
"Where have all the flowers gone?"
Dick Commer, The Ad Works, Inc.
Westport, CT 06880
Copy that sings. Ideas that fly. Advertising that works!
