If you’ve read my bio on this website (and if you haven’t, you should) then you’ve seen that print advertising is what drew me to my career.
I love print. I hope print never dies. Print is my favorite because it can make such a simple statement like, “Pass the Heinz” into a craving or desire. Just text and imagery can make you think, “Hmm…think I’ll get some fries!” and that is really brilliant to me.
My favorite advertisements have always been the old Volkswagen ads. Actually, most print ads that came out of the 1960’s era were favorites of mine. The classic “Lemon” ad below has been used in countless examples of advertising throughout my schooling and career. So much so that many would say that it’s over-used as an example and washed up. And though that may be true today, it certainly shouldn’t tarnish what originally made this ad so great.
It was different. It was simple. It made you think.
Interestingly enough, Heinz is doing the same thing with their new print campaign. Even more interesting – it was a campaign that came from a hit show set in the advertising age of the 1960’s. Not so washed up now is it?
I remember Don Draper proposing the “Pass the Heinz” campaign in Season 6. I liked it then. Heinz may have not selected it in the show – to be fair, they didn’t pick Peggy’s campaign either. Poor Peggy. – but here we are, 50 years later and it appears that Heinz came to their senses.
You have to hand it to Heinz that apart from choosing a simply beautiful campaign, the PR component behind their choice is brilliant. Mad Men ended two years ago and to launch this campaign is not only an homage to the show, but also an homage to a great era of advertising.
Flipping through this month’s People magazine, I came across the ad and fell in love with my career all over again.
