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John Bartle, Nigel Bogle and John Hegarty founded their eponymous agency in 1982 after leaving the TBWA agency. They started with a highly unusual principle for an advertising agency – no creative pitches. Nigel Bogle argued that if they really were more creative than other agencies, they should not give away their best ideas free in their pitches. They should focus on strategy. It was a radical idea and one which many experts thought that was business suicide. It excluded them from being invited to pitch in some cases. However, it did make BBH look confident and different. Their fresh approach started a debate in the marketing media.
BBH gained the Audi account in the UK through personal contacts. Audi’s image at the time was very safe, staid and stodgy. Most people did not know anything about the brand. John Hegarty wanted to build on the company’s German origins and on a visit to an Audi factory he saw a line on an old publicity poster. It read ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ (progress through technology). He wanted to use this as a marketing slogan – keeping it in German but with the sardonic addition, ‘as they say in Germany’. They tested this idea and the results were negative but Hegarty, and more importantly the client, trusted his instincts and the campaign was launched. It proved a great success and conveyed a subtle image of quality German engineering.
Shortly afterwards the new agency bid for the Levi Strauss UK account. Sales of Levi’s jeans were in decline in the UK and the company had a poor image – American, expensive and passé. There were five agencies competing for the account. BBH’s presentation focussed on making Levi Strauss proud of their brand, with emphasis on the product’s quality, durability and Americanness. They won the pitch. Their first task was to come up with a poster to promote black denim jeans. Hegarty came up with a design showing white sheep heading one way and a single black sheep moving in the opposite direction. The caption read, ‘When the world zigs, zag.’ The client was taken aback – surely the ad must have a picture of black jeans? But they ran the posters which received great attention and commendations.
The next task was to create a campaign to launch the Levi 501 jean in Europe. It had the original button-fly design and was priced high for a pair of jeans. Research showed it was seen as old-fashioned, expensive and not appealing to the target market. Selfridges in London refused to stock the item.
The BBH team decided to promote the brand with an emotional appeal to its core values. After many arguments they came up with the now-famous laundrette TV ad. It had a retro American style with a 50s set and a classic piece of music – Marvin Gaye’s I heard it through the Grapevine. The ad featured the male model, Nick Kamen, removing his 501 jeans and stripping down to his underwear in a laundrette. The original script had the young Adonis revealing a pair of standard Y-front underpants, but the UK censor objected to this image. After some negotiation, the censor said they would allow the man to be shown wearing boxer shorts instead. Boxers were considered old-fashioned but in a funny way they fit the concept. So the ad (see below) featured Nick Kamen stripping down to a pair of boxer shorts to the admiring glances of the ladies in the laundrette. The campaign was a huge success. Levi Strauss had to pull the ad after a few weeks because they could not meet demand for the product. Selfridges called to order the product. And as an ironic side-effect, sales of boxer shorts boomed and Y-front sales plunged.
Lessons for lateral marketers. Don’t give your best ideas away free. When the world zigs, zag. An obstacle is an opportunity for creativity. Above all, every promotion must reinforce the core values of the brand.
Based on Hegarty on Advertising by John Hegarty published by Thames and Hudson.
A version of this post was previously published on destination-innovation.com and is republished here with permission from the author.
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