Introduction
Leo Burnett is one of the most famous men in the field of advertising. He was born in 1891 in the United States. He is famous for his creativity in the advertisement, which was a shift from conventional advertisements that had long descriptions of a product. His company, Leo Burnett Company was based in Chicago. The company experienced incomparable growth and increased its revenues from $22 million to $100 million by the mid 20th century (Reinhard, 2006).
Times Magazine rated the company as one of the largest advertising firms in the United States (Reinhard, 2006). Mierau (2000) says that his company was able to maintain many of its employees since it had improved revenues. His advertisement techniques aimed at building a brand’s equity (Mierau, 2000). In conclusion, Leo Burnett is one of the greatest advertisers of his time.
William Bernbach is also one of the most renowned advertisers of our time. Born in 1911, Bernbach founded Doyle Dane Bernbach Company, which was based in the United States. Terry (1994) asserts that his creativity and dedication allowed his company to boom. In fact, many people say that his works were simple and modest. His main achievements came about when he joined arts directors and copywriters (Terry, 1994).
Originally, there existed a separation between these two departments. Combining the two departments led to efficiency in advertising. Due to his ability to view advertisements from unique perspectives, Bernbach received numerous awards from all over the world (Terry, 1994). Importantly, he was included in the copywriter’s Hall of Fame in 1966. He also won the ‘Top Advertising Agency Executive’ that reflected his great performance (Mierau, 2000).
David Ogilvy was an advertisement guru and an executive. Born in 1911, Ogilvy became one of the most famous and demanded advertisers. This was not only in England but also around the world. In fact, many modern advertisers refer to him as the founding father of modern-day advertising. He worked for George Gallup Company during the Second World War where he learned the importance of developing unique ideas of human behaviours (Mierau, 2000).
In addition, the growing nationalist’ movements across the world led to significant adjustments in the field of advertising (Reinhard, 2006). Ogilvy had to combine some aspects of human behaviour that reflected nationalism (Monle & Carla, 2005). After the war, he started a new advertising agency known as Ogilvy & Mather in New York. His major contribution in the field of advertising was the belief that effective advertising was based on the ability of the advertiser to have enough information about the nature and type of the consumer (Monle & Carla, 2005). Reinhard (2006) says that Ogilvy believed that an advertiser was in a position to design an ad that would reflect the needs of the customers.
Realizations and Achievements
David Ogilvy
All the advertisers that were mentioned above adopted various strategies and techniques to lure customers through their advertisements. David Ogilvy was able to ensure that family values were the centre of his advertisements. In an interview with the New York Times in 1978, Ogilvy admitted that his ads aimed at promoting family values (Broadbent, 1984). Values are critical in maintaining the social fabric of society (Terry, 1994).
He says that advertisers should make an ad that captures the needs of families (Reinhard, 2006). Broadbent (1984) asserts that he realized that the customers had specific behaviours that an advertiser could use to improve the effectiveness of the campaign. Since he worked at George Gallup during the Second World War, he analyzed specific human behaviours that increased consumerism as well as of nationalism (Tungate, 2007). It is obvious that his approach to advertising was unique since it was able to capture the attention of numerous customers (Terry, 1994).
Ogilvy‘s work centred around social values and simplicity. He is renowned for participating role models in his major ads. In particular, he was able to create various iconic advertisements. ‘The Man in the Hathaway Shirt’ was one of the most outstanding works of advertisement by Ogilvy. It involved the use of reference groups in communicating messages to the customers (Terry, 1994). According to Reinhard (2006), the inclusion of Baron Wrangell to capture the attention of customers was a brilliant idea that saw the advertisement capture the attention of the customers and achieve its objectives.
In fact, the success of this particular advertisement was due to the inclusion of models. After the success of this particular advertisement, Ogilvy continued to include role models in his other advertisements. Specifically, he used Edward Whitehead to lead in an advertisement that introduced the Schweppes brand in the United States (Reinhard, 2006). The advertisement, ‘The Man from Schweppes is Here’ ensured that Schweppes made a market entrance in the new region successfully and it remains one of the most successful brands in the US since its introduction (Terry, 1994).
Ogilvy’s ad, ‘Pablo Casals is coming home to Puerto Rico’ is also one of the most successful works of his time. Ogilvy says that the ad was one of his most treasured projects because it had altered the perception of Puerto Rico in a positive way (Reinhard, 2006). It is important to state that Ogilvy’s creativity crossed many aspects of society. His ability to change an image of a country through a simple advertisement reflects his passion for social values and nationalism.
Due to his ability to incorporate various elements of advertisement, he gave the discipline of advertising a new dimension. Terry (1994) says that he is the founding father of the modern-day advertisement. This is reflected in his achievements when he became a ‘Commander of the Order of the British Empire’ (CBE) and won the Order of Arts and Letters in France (Terry, 1994). It is through such great achievements that Ogilvy was inducted into the Hall of Fame in July 1977 (Tungate, 2007). He also served in different areas as a media icon and a corporate figure (Terry, 1994).
William Bernbach
On the other hand, William Bernbach made many realizations as well as achievements. Particularly, he distanced himself from the idea that advertising was a social or natural science (Mierau, 2000). While many people viewed advertising as a part-time job and essentially a science, Bernbach saw it differently (Terry, 1994). He expressed that advertising is art. The basis of the concept is that artists use creativity to capture the attention of the target market (Mierau, 2000).
This way, Bernbach influenced American culture in an unprecedented way (Reinhard, 2006). In fact, Tungate (2007) says that his work was the most influential when compared to that of other writers and artists of the time because he believed that artists were able to use creativity to break rules that were delaying the success of the industry. In his company, Bernbach believed in teamwork during the processes of designing advertisements for various companies and clients (Mierau, 2000). Mierau (2000) says that he combined copywriters and art directors in order to work together on particular projects.
Another important idea that he believed in is that advertising did not lead to the creation of product advantage. He believed that advertising could only serve the purpose of conveying the product advantage to numerous people. He emphasized the need for advertisers to learn how products related to the consumers and the human qualities that enhance specific attitudes and perceptions about a product (Tungate, 2007). Ranging from patterns of interaction to human emotions, Bernbach was able to understand the most effective way to communicate similar elements in his ads. This way, he was able to succeed in capturing the consumers’ attention.
Bernbach’s major works of advertisement were typical of creativity that stemmed from the notion that overemphasis of logic halted an idea (Terry, 1994). Particularly, his famous advertisement, ‘The Italian Wedding’, led to the success of Rheingold beer (Mierau, 2000). Terry says that his realistic approach to customers through his ads led to accurate predictions of their behaviour and attitude. Another important ad that led to the rise of the Doyle Dane Bernbach Company (DDB) was ‘Burning Egg’. DDB designed this particular advertisement for GTE. The company’s (GTE) sales revenues increased immediately after relaying the advertisement through the mass media (Mierau, 2000).
The previously mentioned advertisements were among many others that helped the company to compete effectively with Hollywood, which was commanding a huge market share in the field of advertising at the time (Terry, 1994). In fact, Tungate (2007) pinpoints that DDB became a ‘stop shop’ for many companies in the world owing to its unequalled skill in conveying messages to the target market.
William Bernbach achieved a lot of success in his life as a pioneer advertiser. During his tenure as the executive of DDB, Bernbach was able to increase the value of the company from a paltry $20 million to a whopping $1.2 billion after three decades in business (Reinhard, 2006). He was included in the Hall of Fame in the field of advertising in 1964. Shortly after, he was named the advertising ‘Man of the Year’. His landmark achievements increased when he became ‘Top Advertising Agency Executive’ in 1970 (Mierau, 2000).
Not only did Bernbach win many popular awards in the field of advertising but also designed the trophy for the advertisers included in the Hall of Fame. (Mierau, 2000) asserts that he was creative in his work by proving that the work of taste, art, and writing was the focal point of major advertising firms in the US that intended to make a huge amount of sales revenues.
Leo Burnett
Leo Burnett realized that an effective advertisement was possible through natural drama. According to Burnett, an advertisement ought to ensure that it produces a sense of shared emotions in the target market. Inherent drama is therefore important in ensuring that advertisers present their products in an effective way. It is also important to ensure that an advertisement has to leave unforgettable imagery in the minds of the consumers for it to be effective (Reinhard, 2006).
He used phrases that are easy to comprehend, simple, and imaginative. Moreover, his works are typical of cultural standards. These standards feature in the majority of the advertisements in which he creates some mythological individuals and creatures that represent the values of the American society (Mierau, 2000). Another central element in his advertisements is the ability to use corny language in many projects. Corny language is portrayed by memorable words and analogies that convey information through warmth and honesty (Mierau, 2000). Therefore, he conveyed specific messages with accuracy and effectiveness.
Reinhard (2006) asserts that Burnett believed that creativity was helpful in the field of advertising. Specifically, Burnett ensured that he combined inherent drama in all his projects and ads (Levenson, 1987). He also believed in immersing himself in the context of the customers before embarking on an advertisement project for a particular product (Broadbent, 1984). This way, he was able to lessen ‘boring ‘ads in his company.
According to Reinhard (2006), Burnett was able to mix creativity in many of his works in which he worked with commitment. He is infamous for advising possible advertisers to trust their instincts and obey the customers in the ads’ messages. Among his famous advertisements and campaigns are ‘The Jolly Green Giant’ and ‘Marlboro Man’. In all his advertisements, creativity was a central idea that helped them to achieve his objectives.
The use of mythical creatures also helped to capture the attention of the consumers and guarantee that the intended message reached the target consumers (Levenson, 1987). He also respected the social norms and institutions in his ads. In other words, Burnett ensured that many elements of the society were crucial to his ads, which allowed the customers to identify themselves with the products. Customers’ ability to associate and identify with a particular product is considered essential by many advertisers (Tungate, 2007).
Leo Burnett’s achievements were also numerous. At the start of the 20th century, Leo Burnett Company was valued at only $ 1 million in terms of annual revenues (Terry, 1994). He says that, by the middle of the century, his company exceeded $100 million in terms of value (Terry, 1994). This was partly due to a boom in the television industry and partially due to his creativity. He was also able to hire talented managers to work alongside him, particularly, the management under Richard Heath, which increased the ability of the company to compete effectively in the advertising industry (Broadbent, 1984).
Although the author remains well known, his successors in the field of advertising such as William Bernbach were able to borrow hugely from his creativity and rise to the level of his ability. Burnett is still one of the most famous advertising gurus of the 20th century. His work helped the discipline of advertising to expand and grow.
Samples of Their Works
David Ogilvy was famous for his advertisement, ‘The Man in a Hathaway Shirt’. The creativity in the ad led to its immediate success. The advertisement was in print media and appeared in numerous media channels across the United States. It portrays a romantic man; he has an eye patch and wears a shirt that was a product of CF Hathaway Company. In the ad, Ogilvy wrote the starting sentence that read, ‘The melancholy disciples of Thorstein Veblen would have despised this shirt’. It aimed at capturing the attention of the customers that was a creative way of engaging the customers, at the bottom of the ad, the message read, ‘And now, back to the most interesting man in the world’.
The ability of Ogilvy to capture the attention of the customers using some of the most convincing words led to increased sales of the shirt. Despite the small amount fee that the client paid, the advertisement was a huge success that led to the appearance of other copiers. (Levenson, 1987) It is important to note that the ad lasted for decades despite its low cost of production. In addition, the world embraced the idea of using an eye patch to capture the interest of the customers, undoubtedly; the ad was the most creative work of art that enhanced Ogilvy’s success.
Second, ‘The Man from Schweppes is here’, was an ad that helped Schweppes to achieve acceptance and entrance into the American Market. Schweppes saw the need to expand its consumer base to include numerous regions that were not in the initial strategy of the company (Terry, 1994). Since the founder of the company was located in London, Ogilvy used Edward Whitehead in the print ad to signify the arrival of a new brand of carbonated water.
Due to his popularity, the American citizens were able to recognize him, however, the message that he brought revolves around the introduction of the product. Ogilvy’s creativity is unsurpassed in the copy, he is able to introduce all aspects of the drink and allow the customers to participate. The ad says that any person who does not find Schweppes in his or her favourite outlet should call or write a letter to the regional office in order for them to take action. Ideally, this is impossible but it still catches the attention of the consumer. In conclusion, the ad achieved immense success until this very day.
‘Dove is one-quarter moisturizing cream’, is an advertisement that captured the attention of many people in the United States. In this ad, Ogilvy uses a woman who displays the properties of the soap. His creativity in this advertisement is clear since he is able to show the power of marketing and branding. This is in respect to the fact that a brand has a huge impact on the sales revenues as opposed to the method of conveying the ad (Terry, 1994).
Ogilvy uses this technique to declare that ‘Dove’ is a soap that has immense ability to moisturize dry skin than any other soap. According to Levenson (1987), his ability to distinguish between moisturizing and cleaning aspects of the soap led to increased demand for the soap. In fact, Dove soap was rated as the most-used soap in American households by the middle of the 20th century (Tungate, 2007).
Ogilvy was not only able to communicate his messages to the consumer by pointing at important features of the product but also chose his words carefully (Levenson, 1987). The use of typical language in this advertisement was influential for success. Finally, the company, through Ogilvy’s superior advertising was able to increase its revenues and compete effectively with other brands.
Other than Ogilvy, William Bernbach’s work in advertising reached new heights when he embarked on the Volkswagen Beetle campaign, “Think Small”. In this ad campaign, Bernbach was able to reflect on the car model and inform the customers of the features of the car. He used realism to describe the Beetle as a car that everyone should buy. Through research, he was able to comprehend that the Beetle was a car that had an honest and reliable appeal (Tungate, 2007).
This is in addition to being sensible and distinct from other vehicles. To understand the realistic approach that Bernbach used, his initial ad conveyed the message that customers needed to ‘think small’, particularly, he asked, ‘why won’t your wife let you buy a Volkswagen beetle?’ in order to express the features of the vehicle (Monle & Carla, 2005). He answers the question by saying that, ‘Volkswagen is ugly but it gets you there’.
Levenson (1987) says that he integrated the perceptions that people had about the vehicle, came up with a creative way of engaging the customers and lured them to buy the car. Undoubtedly, this approach made Bernbach one of the infamous advertisement icons of the modern world (Levenson, 1987). His innovativeness was apparent in the entire ad campaign, which led to imitations across the world. Car manufacturers began to pull out ads that reflected the actual features of their cars.
Second, Bernbach was instrumental in advertising the Avis vehicle (See Picture 1). Using realism and honesty, he asserted that Avis was second in the world. Against the prevalent notion that his honesty in saying that Avis was ranked second would lead to reduced returns, this approach turned around the company. His catchphrase in the ad asked, ‘Avis is only No. 2 in rent cars. So why go with us?’ This way, he was able to explain to the consumers the reasons behind the success of the car. His honesty worked well with the many consumers who came to Avis stores to purchase the vehicle.
Bernbach says that effective communication and advertisement can achieve its objectives with ease when the advertiser does not insult the knowledge and intelligence of the customers (Terry, 1994). Finally, he preferred honesty, which resided well with the consumers. Bernbach, therefore, remains as an ad icon whose honesty, realism, and sincerity allowed him to achieve the objectives of attracting and maintaining many consumers.
Third, Bernbach’s advertising expertise was not limited to the motor industry alone. To the surprise of many, his ad, ‘The Italian Wedding’ aimed at promoting Rheingold beer. In the advertisement that was spread on televisions in 1964, Bernbach focused on the theme of ‘doing right’. He says, ‘we must be able to do something right’. He then portrays different ethnic and racial backgrounds. All these groups are in a wedding in which the most favourite drink seems to be Rheingold Beer. Levenson (1987) says that the ad gained huge popularity for portraying cultural relativism among the participating groups.
Finally, Bernbach was able to deliver the message that Rheingold Beer allows people to do things in the right way. His honesty is shown in the advertisement. The meaning behind this is that the European nations were experiencing challenges when addressing ethnic and racial discrimination in the continent at the time. Bernbach was able to use his usual honesty to convey messages to consumers. The company made huge amounts of revenue after the ad and continued to hire DDB to design and convey its advertisements (Terry, 1994).
Leo Burnett has some iconic advertisements that have remained since their introduction. ‘The Jolly Green Giant’ was his initial advertisement for a green food company in the US (See Picture 2). Created in 1928, the mythical creature was shown as a symbol through which consumers could be able to find the company’s subsidiaries (Broadbent, 1984). As mentioned above, Burnett is infamous for using mythical creatures to convey a message.
In fact, Jolly Green Giant shows a gigantic figure of an ‘ogre’ that has green clothes (Levenson, 1987). Its jumbo size produces memorable experiences among the consumers in search of green food. Such monuments have been used since then to establish a specific impression about a product. Not only is Jolly Green Giant able to provide information to consumers, but it also reflects Santa Claus (Levenson, 1987).
This makes the advertisement memorable since it sticks with the social values of American society. Burnett also used colour to associate the ad with its actual intentions; he uses the color green to show green vegetables and food. Therefore, the customers are likely to refer to it every time they need green food (Terry, 1994). To highlight its success, the ad has been repeated in many states across the country.
‘Tony the Tiger’ is another major work of Leo Burnett that is vibrant in the memories of many consumers across the world. It reflects a cartoon mascot that advertises cereals in the country (See Picture 3). Burnett created the mascot in 1951 with the help of some of his accomplished graphic artists (Broadbent, 1984). Like many of his ads, Tony the Tiger is an illustration of a mythological creature that helps to capture the attention of many consumers. According to Tungate (2007), the mascot achieved its objective of telling the public about the new cereal product. It, therefore, became an important symbol of breakfast cereals across the country.
Terry (1994) articulates that Burnett believed that advertising does not depend on the number of ads that a company communicates. The final impression was all that mattered to get the attention of the consumers. A high level of creativity was an important feature of this particular work (Broadbent, 1984). Besides, the use of colors was present to ensure that the image was clear and had a lasting impression among the consumers. Therefore, ‘Tony the Tiger’ remains a symbol of breakfast cereals across the world.
‘The Marlboro Man’ was among the major ad works of Burnett. He designed the ad on behalf of Marlboro Cigarette Company. His use of mythological individuals to get the attention of the consumers is also clear. In the ad, he shows a cowboy, probably from the state of Texas smoking a cigarette of the company. Tungate (2007) says that the representation of this ad was also copied in other ads of the same product in the later years.
The presence of individuals who reflect the social values of the American society made the product gain popularity among many smokers across the nation (Tungate, 2007). Tungate (2007) says that Marlboro is synonymous with cowboys. This impression has lasted for a long and continued to feature in the company’s products until the ban on smoking ads was enforced.
Comparing the Works of the Three Ad Icons
The work of the three icons compares and contrasts significantly. In the beginning, Burnett uses mythological creatures to deliver messages to the target audience. This is unlike Bernbach whose use of honesty is overwhelming. While the two artists use their unique aspects of advertising to attract customers, Ogilvy’s work reflects modern advertising strategies in the sense that his ads are almost understandable. Ogilvy’s ads have titles that clearly help the customer to interpret the meaning in the entire advertisement. For instance, ‘The Man in the Hathaway shirt’ clearly shows a man wearing the shirt that Ogilvy seeks to advertise.
This is different from the work of Burnett whose use of graphic art may not have a direct meaning to the customer (Broadbent, 1984). Burnett has no major themes in his ads making his efforts to reach many people difficult. The Jolly Green Giant does not point up the product clearly. Therefore, it is upon the customers to associate various aspects of art to the product. This may seem difficult for customers who might choose to rely on other media channels to capture the essence of the advertisement.
However, all three advertisers have a great ability to use creativity to capture the attention of the customers. The unique aspect of the three advertisers works to show the creativity that they had. In addition, all their ads reflect the modern world. In other words, the artists were able to ensure that their work remained with the societies of the time. Although some of their ads have become outdated, the majority of their ads have been changed to suit contemporary society. This implies that the foundation of their work is aimed at promoting products that continue to show the modern world.
Differences and Similarities of the Advertisers
References
Broadbent, S. (1984). Leo Burnett Book of Advertising. Business Books: Indiana University.
Levenson, B. (1987). A History of the Advertising that Changes the History of Advertising, New York: Villard Books.
Mierau, C. (2000). Accept No Substitutes: The History of American Advertising. Chicago: Sage Publishers.
Monle, l & Carla, J. (2005). Principles of Advertising: A Global Perspective. New York: Cengage Publishers.
Reinhard, K. (2006). Response to “Distinguished Communicator” Award. Fullerton: California State University Press.
Terry, D. (1994). The Ad Men & Women. Westport, CT; Greenwood Publishers.
Tungate, M. (2007). Ad Land: A Global History of Advertising. London: Kogan Page Limited.