The following is over-simplified for effect.
Until Volkswagen and Bill Bernbach, American advertising was an exercise in decoration. Ads were laden with filigree. Wistful watercolors. People on horseback chasing foxes. And the language of hyperbole and over-promise.
Bernbach stripped everything out of ads that was decoration. And created ads that drove genuine business results and built enduring brands.
Over the last fifteen years of the computer revolution, ads have once again become about decoration, or motion graphics--visual connivances, tricks and award-show grandstanding.
Apple seems to be the last bastion of Bernbach-ism. A simple idea well-wrought.
I could not agree more, great post.
ReplyDeleteGeorge, I'm going to steal that 50 Ford ad if you don't mind. It'll work great on a campaign I'm doing right now. But we might have to jazz it up a bit.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant observation. Short and to the point. I think more advertisers will follow Apple's lead and return to Bernbach's methods.
ReplyDelete