1917 'How to Reduce Selling Costs' book advert from The Advertising World (cropped)(Click this image to enlarge).
1989 Economist ad(Click this image to enlarge).
| NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
We’re not saying that the award-winning AMV team were avid readers of WWI era Advertising World, or even browsers through HAT Library- the Economist campaign was strikingly original. But original people often have background resources to draw on and, when you come across this ad, it is almost as if the 1989 ad is a long-delayed sequel to the George Newnes Ltd one.
The 1917 ad says “Don’t read it if you want to remain in a rut” and the 1980s one “I don’t read it and I’ve been in the same rut for twenty odd years”. All right, different publication and red was probably the only option then, but that just reinforces its primacy and effectiveness. Perhaps the 1917 ad men (no, not many women copywriters then but there were a few key people - check in HAT’s collections) prefigured the apparently self-effacing type of ad initiated by DDB with the VW campaigns – remember “Think small” and “Lemon”?
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