DO THIS OR DIE!

Do This Or Die
There have been a number of great manifestos drafted in the history of man.
But there is one you’ve probably never heard of. It was a print ad written by agency Doyle Dane Bernbach in the late 60s or early 70s. But it was actually much more than a print ad, it was a manifesto. A manifesto aimed at both the advertising industry and the advertisers themselves.
Since the week marks the end of our Age of Persuasion series, we thought it was the perfect note to go out on. Because it embodies all of our thoughts, feelings and beliefs about advertising and marketing.
Here are the words to that ad:
DO THIS OR DIE
Is this ad some kind of trick?
No. But it could have been.
And at exactly that point rests, a do or die decision for American business.
We in advertising, together with our clients, have all the power and skill to trick people.
Or so we think.
But we’re wrong. We can’t fool any of the people any of the time.
There is indeed a twelve-year-old mentality in this country; every six-year-old has one.
We are a nation of smart people.
And most smart people ignore most advertising because most advertising ignores smart people.
Instead we talk to each other. We debate endlessly about the medium and the message. Nonsense. In advertising, the message itself is the message.
A blank page and a blank television screen are one and the same.
And above all, the messages we put on those pages and on those television screens must be the truth. For if we play tricks with the truth, we die.
Now. The other side of the coin.
Telling the truth about a product demands a produce that’s worth telling the truth about.
Sadly, so many products aren’t.
So many products don’t do anything better. Or anything different.
So many don’t work quite right. Or don’t last. Or simply don’t matter.
If we also play this trick, we also die.
Because advertising only helps a bad product fail faster.
No donkey chasses the carrot forever. He catches on. And quits.
That’s the lesson to remember.
Unless we do, we die.
Unless we change, the tidal wave of consumer indifference will wallop into the mountain of advertising and manufacturing drivel.
That day we die.
We’ll die in our marketplace.
On our shelves. In our gleaming packages of empty promises.
Not with a bang. Not with a whimper.
But by our own skilled hands.
Doyle Dane Bernbach Incorporated
(written by the Bob Levenson of the legendary 60's agency Doyle Dane Bernbach)
The 1960’s and early 70’s came to be known as the Age of Persuasion in the history of advertising. Some of the other great names belonging to this age are :
John Noble
Phyllis Robinson
Julian Koenig,
Helmut Krone
David Abbott
Ed McCabe
and many others….
Some of the creative triumphs of this period were the
Avis
Polaroid and
Chivas Regal
Ads
You have to know a little about each of the above great and writers and collect and study the ad campaigns of Avis Polaroid and Chivas Regal alongwith all possible related information on them.

Lemon Ad

Lemon
(the word 'lemon' was slang for..a bad deal, or a thing that was a failure)
How could Volkswagen sell Hitler’s favorite car to the American people only a decade and a half after World War II? This was the question asked of the advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach in 1960. In order for them to solve this problem, they would have to find a new way to advertise their products. The now revered “Lemon” ad for the Beetle was their answer to this considerable task, which would revolutionize the advertising industry. DDB introduced the Beetle with this dynamic ad that seemed effortless, yet possessed a revolutionary approach to marketing. It connected with consumers, successfully integrating European small design into a culture with a big lifestyle. This ad, along with others from the campaign, was the first to represent a perfect balance of image, copy and simplicity, setting a benchmark that has inspired advertisers to do better ever since.



circa 1960s

Ad copy
The Volkswagen missed the boat.
The chrome strip on the glove compartment is blemished and must be replaced. Chances are you wouldn't have noticed it; Inspector Kurt Kroner did.
There are 3,389 men of our Wolfsburg factory with only one job; to inspect Volkswagens at each stage of production. (3000 Volkswagens are produced daily; there are more inspectors than cars.)
Every shock absorber is tested (spot checking won't do), every windshield is scanned. VWs have been rejected for surface scratches barely visible to the eye.
Final inspection is really something! VW inspectors run each car off the line onto the Funktionsprüfstand (car test stand), tote up 189 check points, gun ahead to the automatic brake stand and say "no" to one VW out of fifty.
This preoccupation with detail means the VW lasts longer and requires less maintenance, by and large, than other cars. (It also means a used VW depreciates less than any other car.)
We pluck the lemons; you get the plums.