ADPR 3100 1st Edition Lecture 7 Outline of Last Lecture I Paradigms in consumer society II Manufacturing III Marketing Outline of Current Lecture II Creative Revolution a Growing Importance of Style b Cynicism about consumer society c Creative Revolution i Bill Bernbach Current Lecture Lecture 7 Creative Revolution Growing importance of style Cynicism about consumer society Creative Revolution 1920s 1980s We see a lot of interesting changes regarding advertising Producer led Paradigm 1960s it began to taper off 1960s Creative Revolution emerges revamp how people thought of advertising Making Products Producer led paradigm stressed functionality over style But new ways of thinking start to change it These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute o Economic value of style style actually can boost sales and profits o Two ways that people started to realize this 1 Popular styling could boost sales If they styled products in a popular way increase of sales EX Streamlining the way to design a product that you round off all the edges so that air flows more smoothly over those surfaces some products for which streamlining has a functional value such as airplanes it would be smoother in the air quieter at the time streamlining was attractive as it was new modern and fast took streamlining look and applied it to other products to style them so motorcycles got a streamline look ferry boats bicycles scooters even furniture household appliances there is no functional reason to streamline this stuff just style Streamlining as example that designers realized if they styled things a certain way they would sell b c of how they look 2 Planned obsolescence The practice of regularly changing styles of products in order to boost sales EX cell phones a new phone is constantly coming out styled differently thinner bigger screen Alfred P Sloan CEO of General Motors in 1941 today the appearance of a motorcar is a most important factor in the selling end of the business perhaps the most important factor because everyone knows the car will run o Marketers and businesses started to realize how important style and style changes were in boosting sales But consumer cynicism o People being cynical about advertising in the 1950s emerged The Hidden Persuaders was the first book talking about the tactics and strategies markers used to get people to buy more stuff it was very critical of advertising marketing o The Waste Makers the empty promises of consumer society attention to implications of living in a consumer society where if you don t like it buy another o The Lonely Crowd the emptiness of consumer society alienation in which people chasing after their dreams be happy by buying things are just empty promises o The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit cynical movie gets paid twice as much but doesn t do anything cynicism of consumer society Emerging Problem o This growing cynicism and awareness is a growing problem if you are in advertising o Producer led paradigm is increasingly becoming ineffective in producing products services they don t buy these cheesy ads anymore o So how do you rethink advertising encourage an increasingly cynical public to believe advertising CREATIVE REVOLUTION gets kicked off Creative Revolution Dramatic changes both in advertising how they are done and in terms of how agencies were organized dramatic changes This is a steady development still going on today not only in the 60s 3 names to know from the Creative Revolution o Bill Bernbach He studied music philosophy and business at NYU worked with designer Paul Rand learned from him the value of having a writer and designer working together also learned from Rand the idea of less is more if ads simple and restrained rather than tons of headlines and such the clearer the message was and more persuasive 1947 memo he sent a memo to everyone saying we have to get rid of rules formulas for good advertising He thought rules were what ad people should ignore reason being the number one thing ad people need to do is get attention to their ad Fresh innovative original totally opposite of producer led way of thinking Bernbach and creative teams No assembly line instead he organized people in teams put a creative director copy director art director etc all in a team He insisted on agency autonomy felt strongly that the creative work his people did shouldn t be changed just b c a client wants to change it wouldn t work with a client if they tried to change Traditional car ads before creative revolution they would show the car really big and long they would show color and people enjoying it use cheesy ad talk car ads DDB style show it short and small don t use color rarely show people use wry humor and talk straight to people VW small is better unchanging styles every year is good honest company with empty changes ugly is honest fit new lifestyle humble plain and honest gets you ahead o used this in car rentals Modern life is weird Would use that modern life is plain weird stuff happens weird funny ads ads about the phoniness of ads created a new kind of advertising inspiring a new generation of creative people transformed the business best Volkswagen ads o David Ogilvy Understood selling is really about emotion the consumer wants meaning he left his way of thinking o Mary Wells First agency headed by a woman her ads were sophisticated good catchy jingles Creative Revolution Summary Growing importance of style o Had a dollars and cents value wasn t just an add on sometimes it was the most important thing Advertising thought of as an art not as a science o Requiring creativity and innovation Creative Revolution insinuated a changed relationship between sellers and buyers o Companies no longer being superior