Advertising cars has a long history of course, and as does adding a little humour to attract an extra bit of attention.
This advert was used to promote the 1980 Austin miniMetro, built in a new assembly hall at BL’s Longbridge plant and using a greater amount of automated production than seen previously in the UK.
Hence the strapline for this advertisement: “Half the robots in Britain can’t be wrong.” It emphasises the investment, hints at the quality benefits and makes you smile. And you’ll remember it!
So, the QOTD is, what’s your favourite leftfield strapline? Can it top “Half the robots in Britain can’t be wrong”?
This was a great line, but did it pass the key advertising test of being plausible? Weren’t Metros, for all their many positives, soon shown to be not much better built than other BL stuff? Just as ‘Above all, it’s a Rover’ sounds good, and links back nicely to the premium reputation of what had gone before, but oversold a dressed up Honda?
My choice? Saab’s ‘beyond the conventional’. Tells you all you need to know.
The BL Metro was the sort of car that made you wish you’d paid more attention in metal work class at school.It rusted pretty badly even by BL standards and was built with the same attention to quality as their other duds.It sold quite well being cheap and economical though by about 2 years you’d need to be handy with a welder,fibre glass and a spray gun.I’ve not seen one for a long time though they were all over the UK once most were just beaten or rusted to death.A few years ago my nephews bought one for £70 to go to the Download festival and sold it for £85 on their return.
This ad reminds me of the satirical Private Eye magazine in the UK who mocked the British media’s jingoistic coverage of the Falklands War with a spoof headline from The Sun tabloid, “Kill an Argie, Win a Metro!”
When the real editor of The Sun saw the parody he exclaimed, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
My local radio station had a competition to win a Chas & Dave re-mastered at Abbey Road CD.The announcer said it would be like taking a Metro for a service at eh Kennedy Space Centre!
In my experience, they seemed to have missed the ‘how engines work’ module as well
“Fiat Strada. Hand built by robots, the robots hand built by Fiat.”
Ad campaign for the Fiat Strada/Ritmo from 1979, I believe.
I still remember this one becoming ” Fiat Strada. built by robots – driven by morons ”
I think this was on a number of billboards around the UK, or was that just urban legend ?
The slogan was simply “Handbuilt by robots” but yes, urban legend has it that all manner of derogatory subclauses were scrawled on to posters.
I can’t quote the commercial exactly but it was for Chrysler’s Eagle introduction It went something like: “Thirty years ago a new car line was introduced. It also began with “E” and had five letters. We intend on sticking around longer”. I believe Eagle lasted about eight years longer than Edsel for what it’s worth.
Are we limited to the auto industry? It’s hard to top “Schaefer is the one beer to have when you’re having more than one!”
“Other beers are made, but Schlitz Happens!”
I’m not sure if that was real or Mad Magazine…
“Pabst Blue Ribbon !!”
Point Beer, Stephens Point WI used to say
“When you’re out of Point, you’re out of town.”
Schäfer, Schlitz and Pabst.
More German immigrants who started a beer brewery ?
Fiat had “Built by robots not Robbos” refering to Red Robbo BL’s strike happy union official.BL failed to see the funny side
Again (see above), I think this is one of the urban legend/graffiti ad-ons. Perhaps this one moreso in the midlands, though as with the others I don’t recall ever actually seeing one.
The campaign slogan was just “Handbuilt by robots”
In France, I remember an 80’s ad for Volkwagen Golf which showed a miniature Golf behind a miniature tow-truck, with a single caption above : “MORON”.
Oh, and while I was looking for it, I found the following ad.
On the left, you have an actual campaign ad for Chirac as he was running for presidency in 1988.
On the right, the ad says : “It doesn’t wear a tie. It doesn’t smile. But at least, it keeps its promises.”
Brilliant 🙂 Only French would be able to play it has hard has this
This is one of my favorites.
I’ll take that sporty bucket seat V8 Nova over an import.
That one looks excellent with the red paint, red interior and black top! I’ve never seen a ’68-’72 Nova in person with red interior.
For attention grabbing, it’s hard to top the VW Beetle’s “Lemon” ad from the 60s.
It cut like a buzz-saw through the pretentious puffery of American car ads.
http://www.brandstories.net/2012/11/03/vw-beetle-story-lesson-in-brand-persona-development/
A great book about VW’s ad campaigns is the recently published “Thinking Small” by Andrea Hiott.
I’m rather fond of the DDB Karmann Ghia ad that shows a K-G with racing stripes and a number on the door with the headline, “You’d Lose.” A nominee for a truth-in-advertising lifetime achievement award if there ever was one.
I’ve heard this ad didn’t actually run, but its an all-time great in the VW canon.
It shows the Karman Ghia against an irresistible force.
Most poignant
That’s pretty cool, I think Cadillac did one for Sinatra when he died.
Beautiful! I still have it (framed :-)) somewhere…
Can’t forget the most famous strapline VW definitely did not write.
The British 2CV ads – “Faster than a Ferrari”, “As many doors as a Rolls-Royce”, etc
“It could be your finest hour.”
or,
“We shall rust on the beaches, we shall rust on the landing grounds, we shall rust in the fields and in the streets, we shall rust in the hills…”
‘Would you let your daughter marry a Ford owner?’
This one always comes to mind. So it’s “quieter”. Is one dB really a noticeable difference? And like anyone would be cross-shopping an LTD with a Rolls-Royce?
I like the “FORD a division of FORD” in the top corner.
I’m surprised that Ford was still pimping the “as quiet as a Rolls” ad this late, didn’t this campaign originate in the 60’s?
And why did they never use this with Lincoln?
It’s as if they were aiming to grab the guy that was on his way to buy a Rolls and they would see this ad and say, “screw it, I’m getting an LTD, its quieter!!”
Around the same time (late 70s) Ford did a preposterous print ad comparing the Ford Granada bargemobile to the Mercedes 300SD (“They both have four headlights!”).
Symptomatic of how out of touch the American car industry was in that era.
This is another favorite of mine.
That somehow reminds me of this:
Maybe this is where Chrysler went wrong with Iacocca at the helm. According to this ad the reason to buy a Mercedes is because of its anti-lock brakes and not its reputation for over-engineering (which they were still doing back when this ad was run, unlike now). And you buy a BMW 7-series for an airbag? Obviously no one at Chrysler (or at least their ad agency) had driven a 7-series. Rolls Royce is known for their air suspension and not their hand built leather and wood interiors? While everyone knows that Jaguar built its reputation on its automatic transmissions that it had always bought from an other manufacturer and not its luxury or performance.
Possibly this is the best you can do when you’re trying to peddle pimped out K-Cars against actual luxury cars.
Not only that, but wouldn’t the S-class front half already have an airbag? So there would be no need for the 7 series center section.
“Its got doors and windows! Like a Boeing 747!”
Not to mention that every one of the cars spins the correct set of wheels, unlike the Imp.
I remember that ad when it originally ran. I like it, but I don’t think it sold very many Imperial Ks.
I can think of a couple. In 1969 Chevy ran an ad that read “We’ll take on any 2 other cars in the magazine” and the picture showed a big block Corvette and a Camaro SS. Pretty cool ad. The other was a Harley Davidson ad that showed a black and white photo of a group of typical biker types scowling at the camera. The text read “would you sell a defective motorcycle to these guys?” Then there’s the classic “Can you spot the Volvo?” ad that turned out to be a scam. But the best ever were the VW ads from the ’60s. The spoof National Lampoon (Ted Kennedy ad) did on them was great!
I always thought this one was clever.
I also like (but alas, can’t find an image of) the 1965 ad that oped with, “At 60 miles an hour, the loudest sound in this new Land-Rover comes from the roar of the engine.”
Which was lampooning this famous Rolls-Royce ad:
Rolls should’ve gone with “It’s almost as quiet as a Ford LTD”.
I want a Rolls for $13K.
Ask, and you shall receive! 🙂
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/cto/4295065731.html
http://fresno.craigslist.org/cto/4261957905.html
Or you can call CIrcle5-1144 (as listed in the Rolls-Royce ad) and see what they say…
Volvo did some great ones:
I love that ad. And I love 740 Turbos. Dad had a bright red ’88 with tan leather. It was the first car we had with an airbag.
While I remember, the comparison AMC ads (Mustang/Javelin, etc.) were produced by an agency run by Mary Wells Lawrence. If you can find her book ‘A Big Life in Advertising’, there is a section discussing this client, including dealing with the various factions within AMC.
The Citroën 2CV and its competitors.
In the early 80s the Colt Sapporo was shown in an ad explaining how a Porsche beat it hands down (on price and fuel consumption) while quietly mentioning the Sapporo was cheaper,faster and got better mileage.Pretty sure it was sold as a “Dodge Challenger” in the USA
Was the comparison the Mitsubishi Colt Sapporo Vs. The Porsche 924/944?
P.S. The Colt Sapporo was sold under both the “Dodge Challenger” (performance) and “Plymouth Sapporo” (luxury) monikers in the US.
That’s the one Edward.
My personal favourite was always the UK launch campaign for the FIAT Coupe.
“In Italy, No one grows up wanting to be a train driver”
Not sure it works in any other country but here the posters (and brilliantly done video) were really striking and memorable.
my current fav
http://youtu.be/4Iznx28pcxw
There was a Harley Davidson ad that said for another $100 you could buy a Honda in the 80s
The “Mother Warned Me” ad for the 1969 Dodge Charger sticks in my mind. But it wasn’t just the copy that caught one’s attention.
“go forth and Multipla”
http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/fiat-multipla-go-forth-and-multipla-3042055/