Just More FunModern advertising Living with gusto Selling the image TV sitcoms TV drama series |
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Reinforcing Brand Image As full-page color images become ever more prominent in magazine ads, advertising agencies continue their quest to project a uniform image that promotes the brand, often with little tangible connection to the actual product. Tobacco, cars and beer continue to dominate this competition. | |||||||||
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Image is Everything The dramatic power of brand image is brought into sharp focus with the makeover of Marlboro cigarettes, a marginal brand with a mild taste previously targeted at women. When Life Magazine publishes a cover photo honoring a real-life cowboy, however, ad agency execs swoop in to grab the theme. They plaster it all over a new advertising campaign featuring a completely-fabricated 'Marlboro Man.' Within two years, sales quadruple, just by combining a resonant image with an expertly managed presentation. | |||||||||
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Advertising in Transition As the Digital age approaches, advertising continues to mine themes that have worked in the past. Gradually, however, the dynamism and artistry of earlier magazine illustration begins to subside. Perhaps it's the increasing reliance upon relatively empty slogans, or maybe it's because America's best talent is being diverted into producing hit TV shows and blockbuster movies. In any case, the classic age of print advertising is coming to an end. | |||||||||
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Fun for All Throughout the 1960s, TV gains viewership by offering a raft of amusing new shows that are eagerly awaited by millions of American families, in the comfort of their living rooms, every week. Advertisers love the relatively new medium, as the audience is completely captive. Without hand-held remotes to switch channels, viewers dutifully sit through every commercial, however inane. Much of the talent goes into making the shows themselves popular, thus enabling the advertising. | |||||||||
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Lively Mix Along with the fluffy sitcoms, Americans can also choose from a wide array of serialized TV dramas. Updated offerings like Bonanza, Mission Impossible, and Star-Trek compete with tense courtroom scenes and traditional westerns to keep America entertained. The commercials are far less memorable. | |||||||||