AGENCY: Doyle Dane Bernbach CLIENT: Volkswagen of America
This was the first national advertisement I was involved with. As part of my account executive training, I was traffic manager for Volkswagen newspaper advertising. I had to find a way to get the ad placed in 300 newspapers in all 50 states the day following the first moon landing, SHOULD it happen. After two weeks of 15 hour days and a couple of lost weekends, they landed on the moon and the ad appeared in every newspaper the very next day...ironically, except for The Houston Chronicle, which was on strike. Houston...we have a problem...


AGENCY: Doyle Dane Bernbach  CLIENT: Doyle Dane Bernbach
In the mid 70's I  was the A/E for "house accounts" --a term used for clients the agency gives work for free, such as charities. So when TIME magazine, as part of a program created to stroke the advertising community,  gave Doyle Dane Bernbach  a free page to say whatever it wanted, I was assigned to get the job done. It was a unique opportunity to work with the founder of this great, creative, top agency of its day. Mr. Bill Bernbach wrote the copy himself. Being a writer, he was more interested the words.  But when I reminded him we could use color if we wanted, he allowed me to add the red bars. Today it rates as one of the most profound ads of that decade.

AGENCY: Scali McCabe Sloves  CLIENT: GAF Asphalt Roofing
It was not widely known that GAF was a leading maker of asphalt roofing. And the client insisted the company's strength was in its wide selection of variously priced products. But I learned while working on fast food that your mouth doesn't water for variety. At the time, GAF's top-of-the-line Timberline shingle represented only a small part of the company's profits, yet they finally agreed to let me focus all advertising on its unique benefits. 
After the campaign was launched, I received a call from a GAF sales rep about a bad fire at an apartment complex in Woodway, Texas. Nearly all the buildings with wood shake roofs were destroyed. However, two apartment buildings that had fire resistant Timberline roofs survived intact. I immediately flew a top location photographer, Dick Durance, to the site. The result was a convincing argument for Timberline class A--fire resistant shingles. The ad convinced local governments in Texas and California to change zoning laws that specified only Spanish tile or highly flammable wood shakes on new or existing homes. The last line of copy reads, "...because the only place wood shakes belong is in the fireplace." The campaign helped make Timberline the best  selling brand of roofing in the US. 


AGENCY Pollak Advertising  CLIENT: WindMill Restaurants
The mission was to give consumers a compelling reason to go to WindMill restaurants, rather than the typical fast food places. While Windmill had a great following for its hot dogs (rated the best by readers of the Newark Star Ledger) most people were unaware that they had great burgers too. And, after all... it's a hamburger world. The campaign is currently running in the Northeast.


Agency: Young & Rubicam  Client: United Fruit Company
After years of not advertising, the United Fruit Company asked if Chiquita Banana could be revived. She was, and we gave her legs. 
But the real push to stimulate sales of bananas, came from these print ads that appeared in the national woman's magazines, touting the natural health benefits of the meal with appeal.
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Caveat: The Sugar Association was up in arms over this campaign and sent a nasty letter to the chairman of the United Fruit Company threatening legal action if the ads were not pulled. I answered the letter for him, claiming we were born with a natural craving for sweet to discern food that may be harmful. But we could not be born with a natural craving for a manufactured product that contains zero nutritional value. The ads ran for three years and were among the most requested reprints (by parent and teacher organizations) according to magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, Woman's Day and Good Housekeeping.

AGENCY: Young & Rubicam  CLIENT: Clairol's Short & Sassy Conditioner
My first new product launch was a hair conditioner.  All conditioners prior were introduced as a shampoo brand first. The odds were against this product making it big, but Dorothy Hamill and her short hair style caught the attention of the female baby boomers and it still holds the A.C. Nielson record for the fastest growing brand of conditioner in history, achieving 8% share of market in its first year.

AGENCY: Scali McCabe Sloves   CLIENT: Farrell's Restaurants
Farrell's is a chain of  old-time icecream parlors in the Washington DC area. The emphasis is on fun. These ads helped capture the flavor and fun of the brand's character.


AGENCY: Grey Advertising CLIENT: Naya Bottled Water
The Grey Agency won the Naya Bottled Water account after intense competition. The only problem was the Canadian product was having difficulty gaining distribution in the U.S. As long as the brand was not available in stores, there was no need to advertise, and the millions slated for media spending was put on hold.  So they sent me into the streets to find out what could be done. I had a meager budget of only $5,000 to get the bottles on the shelves. I talked to the retailers, the bottler, the distributor and the sales people. I interviewed the marketing staff, the product managers, and consumers of bottled water.  What I learned was, the drivers of the delivery trucks found the product heavy and not as profitable to handle versus beer and soda. I designed a promotion just for the drivers. I had a scratch-off game piece, that provided valuable points for free gifts and a chance to win a vacation, packed in the sealed cardboard cases. The drivers only had to deliver and open the cases to collect the points for the free gifts. Then I took a stock gift catalog, wrapped it in a custom cover, and mailed it to the homes of the drivers. The promotion won no design awards, but within weeks the water started to flow, and Grey got to make the brand a household name.


 


AGENCY: Beaumont-Bennett  CLIENT: Panasonic
My first assignment for Panasonic became the most expensive printed direct-mail piece ever. Each kit cost over $100. Panasonic wanted to get at least 30% of their high-end retailers who cater to home movie buffs, to stock and sell a new special effects generator. Each direct mail kit contained a 10-minute video and a response card. The retailer was requested to answer several questions about the new product in order to receive a free gift. Over  50% of the response cards were returned and the distribution goals were over-achieved and this became the start of my long, ongoing working relationship with Panasonic.

 


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