When Director magazine celebrated its diamond anniversary last month, it pulled out its back issues to allow B2B Marketing to see how the advertising medium has changed since its launch. And how it has evolved; from the striking illustrative that marked out so many ads in the 50s, to the creative opulence (and now rather naff looking) output from the 80s to the slick, distinguished copy that marks out modern day ads.
It’s not just technology that has changed the way business ads look. Changes in lifestyle are also apparent. As recently as the 80s, ads had a heavy bias towards targeting the ‘alpha-male’, and as the times have moved, so time itself has become a precious commodity, lending itself to less wordy copy and more simplistic yet striking layout. Compare Morris’s 1960s ad for its ‘WF series’ to Lexus’s noughties offering and you get the idea.
We invited three individuals to cast their expert eyes over the ads on these pages and offer their opinion on how layout, marketing strategy and trends have evolved through the 50s and 60s; 70s and 80s; and lastly, the 90s and 00s. And at the end, to give us their predictions for the future of the medium; how will B2B advertising look and feel in the future? Joanna Higgins, Director magazine’s editor has devoted hours to picking out the ads she deems key; Tim Hazelhurst is founder of agency (check) IAS and chairman of IASSmarts and BBN, as well as former chair of ABBA; and Ian Henderson, executive creative director of ad agency Masius, has a solid background in advertising brand consulting and design.
The 50s and 60s
Tim: The 50s ads are all about saving time or energy, which makes sense given the climate of post war austerity. Plus it was a period of manufacturer power and a lack of customer choice. Competitiveness and differentiation were twinkles in the eye of the hot metal setter and artist who produced these.
Joanna: Polls undertaken in the 50s showed almost half the population wanted to emigrate! Advertisers were faced with selling useless products to people bred on frugality.
Ian: I love the Oggthorpe one, it’s an absolute classic and exactly like the old VW ones of the same time, with the three quarter, one quarter split of image and text. It’s definitely the clearest and the most engaging. You understand what’s going on really quickly.
Tim: There was no real perception of ‘the brand’ with any of these 50s ads though. Calls to action certainly hadn’t been developed, you had salesmen to take care of that. With the 60s ones we seem to have discovered brand, but they still all play on features or the provision of information. There’s no intention to generate enquiries yet, they just seem to be saying they are there!
Ian: The Falks one is a bit bizarre, I don’t get the relevance of the man in the dueling shirt? I suppose at the time films must have been romanticising that kind of stuff.
Tim: The guy who produced it had clearly been watching too much of ‘The Avengers’.
The 70s and 80s
Joanna: This was a decade of dodgy repro and stark sexism. No wonder the Equal Opportunities Commission established its sex discrimination Act in 1975 – unfortunately though, no one seems to have told the airlines! Presumably the only women on BOAC planes were the ones handing out peanuts.
Ian: It’s sexist, but the copywriting is spot on. In fact I’d say the 70s was the height of good copywriting – if you didn’t have an image to work with, the headline copy and the text had to be just right. It’s a strategy that would still work well today.
Tim: It’s a brave move from BOAC.
Joanna: At least the fairer sex were spared the sales patter of Hector Powe. Is that envy in the eyes of his female companion, or pity?
Tim: The clever thing about this ad is its use of photography and full colour reproduction, which still wasn’t that common in B2B then.
Ian: True. The 70s really marks the beginning of modern advertising.
Tim: When you get to the 80s you can see we’re really trying to be creative. The ads are driven by increased competition and the need to make statements that relate to superior value.
Ian: These ones aren’t as yuppie as I’d expect though – where are the Porches and the Audis? The decade was defined by yuppie culture and a sense of bling.
Joanna: It was the decade of ‘me’ thanks to Thatcher – her championing of the private sector provided a much needed entrepreneurial boost and plenty of advertising opportunities. Business was still seen as the domain of the alpha male though.
Ian: The Pan-am one looks like something out of the 50s.
Tim: I can hear the Pan-am marketing manager saying “make the logo bigger” to the agency. In general though, there’s still too much concentration on making type range around shapes; its filling of white space and typography gone mad.
The 90s and 00s
Ian: Now we’re really going gadget mad. It’s just a shame that none of these ads are particularly adventurous. Not like the Oggthorpe one from the 50s – that was funny and cartoony – it engaged the reader.
Tim: Yes but the copy is stimulating you to use your imagination and to gauge the possibilities for yourself.
Joanna: Talkland’s marketing team clearly thought that they were on to a winner with the iconic Sooty. Sooty doesn’t talk – get it? Hardly chief executive stuff, but at least his ikkle paws make the phone look less brick-like.
Tim: The 90s is about the development of brand hierarchy in B2B. In two out of these three cases, the product brand is stronger than the corporate, or ‘endorser’ brand
Ian: All three are trying to get a message across really quickly, which is a reflection of the fact that audiences are bombarded with information nowadays. Brands are aware that they don’t have much time to engage you.
Joanna: Indeed. Today’s best ads are slick, striking and contain copy full of brevity and wit. This is, after all, the era of the super brand. Look at the Carbon Trust one – it’s a sign of the times – serious, eye catching and expensive looking for a public service ad.
Tim: It’s interesting too in that it takes us full circle to the 50s Turners ad, with energy usage creating an environmental issue.
Ian: Some of these modern ads are just boring because there’s no real idea there – look at the Nokia one, it’s so dull. At least the Sooty ad has a concept. And the Microsoft one is trying to communicate with me and include me in the dialogue.
Tim: Nowadays the major intent of ads is to create trust and confidence in the brand. Brand is dominant.
