The Top 15 Campaigns of the Last 100 Years
You know them all, but... why?
BY STEVEN POWELL

We have a tendency to blame everything we don’t like about today’s consumerism on the “Ad Business”. We also (and I’m as guilty of this as anyone) have a tendency to say that if you throw enough money at anything, it will succeed. Of course, to some extent that’s true. I’ve often said that it’s much harder to create good advertising for small businesses than it is for the monster markets.

I mean, really...would a generic swoop and the words, “Just Do it.” mean anything to us if Nike hadn’t spent several hundred million dollars last year alone shoving that slogan down our throat? In truth, maybe.

There’s more to good advertising than simply spending enough money. Just ask the agency that convinced Taco Bell to blow a fortune making you laugh at a little chihuahua
with a Mexican accent. The whole country knew that dog and its slogan, but guess what... “The operation was a success, but the patient died.” Sales actually went down during the years of that campaign and rose again once he was replaced.

Why? What makes a talking dog a failure, but an old lady muttering, “Where’s the Beef?” a roaring success?

A few years ago, Ad Age magazine published its choices for the the most successful campaigns of the last 100 years. Studying them might give us a hint. The following slogans all impacted our culture, stuck forever in our memories and sold slews of product. Many of them are still used today.

Take a look at these and see if you can identify the product they sold. You’ll find the answers at the bottom of this page, but don’t cheat. I’ll bet if you’re over the age of 20 you’ll get most of them and if, like me, 30 was a long, long time ago, I’ll bet you get them all.

Was it just money and exposure that convinced us to buy their products? Or did those Madison Avenue types (including the Nike people) actually know something? Next issue we’ll take a closer look at these slogans and why they were so very successful. Think you know? Send me an e-mail with your answer to: steve@rbdigest.com.The best (and worst) will be run in the article along with my own (obviously correct) opinion.

1. Diamonds are forever
2. Just do it
3. The pause that refreshes
4. Tastes great, less filling
5. We try harder
6. Good to the last drop
7. Breakfast of champions
8. Does she ... or doesn't she?
9. When it rains it pours
10. Where's the beef?
11. Look Ma, no cavities!
12. Let your fingers do the walking
13. They melt in your mouth, not in your hand
14. We bring good things to life
15. It keeps going and going and going...

 

 

1) DeBeers 2) Nike 3) Coca-Cola 4) Miller Lite 5) Avis Car Rentals 6) Maxwell House 7) Wheaties 8) Clairol 9) Morton Salt 10) Wendy’s 11) Crest toothpaste 12) Yellow Pages 13) M&M Candies 14) General Electric 15) Energizer Batteries