Episode Transcript
Don Mock 0:00
All right, Episode 84. We’re back.
Cuyler 0:22
We’re back.
Don Mock 0:23
What do you think about that theme song, now that you’ve heard it eighty-four times, Cuyler? Are you ready to change it?
Cuyler 0:30
No.
Don Mock 0:30
Or do you keep it forever?
Cuyler 0:31
I think it’s fine.
Don Mock 0:31
I mean, when when we’re on Episode 963, is it still going to be rockin the same? I think so. Right?
Cuyler 0:37
When I first made it I was thinking, “Oh, this is kind of surfy and kind of fun.”
Don Mock 0:42
Yeah, it’s surfy. But it’s got a little bit of Sterling Archer quasi-spy movie.
Cuyler 0:46
The more I listened to it, that’s the vibe I get.
Don Mock 0:48
It’s got a little International Man of Mystery, which I love.
Cuyler 0:52
It does.
Don Mock 0:53
All right. I feel like I haven’t done one of these in forever. When I’m not in here, do you guys say “Alright, everybody, we’re back.” Or is that my shpeel?
Cuyler 0:59
I did.
Don Mock 1:00
Really?
Cuyler 1:01
And I said, “I think that’s how Don starts them.”
Don Mock 1:04
I love that. All right, Episode 84. All right, What are we talking about today? Obviously, everybody, it’s me, and Cuyler is back in lieu of Rob. So what are we talking about today?
Cuyler 1:12
We’re talking old ads, commercials that we like.
Don Mock 1:16
Vintage ads.
Cuyler 1:17
Yeah. Vintage ads. Mine aren’t necessarily vintage. They’re off circulation.
Don Mock 1:20
Okay. Okay. Well, I am older than you. So we’ll have two sets of what we determine is vintage.
Cuyler 1:29
Maybe one or two on my list.
Don Mock 1:31
Well, I’ll be curious to get your take on on what this means. I have a weird spin on this one. I have I have an affinity for – dare I say – the irony of old advertising, versus a specific brand or a specific object or product. As advertising we do. As a student of advertising and just a love of Americana and capturing the voice of a generation. Advertising does that to a certain extent. I think it’s funny to look back on old ads as to why they – not necessarily were successful or not, but just sort of as a snapshot in time.
Cuyler 2:13
Right. Why did they become synonymous with a certain era?
Don Mock 2:15
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So why don’t you kick us off? Kick us off with something that you found interesting, or an old ad or commercial or whatever that you love.
Cuyler 2:24
The one that growing up was the one that always stuck out… Everyone would quote it, was the Budweiser frogs. And part of what I love about that, and there are other ones on my list that are like that, is that it felt like it had little to nothing to do with beer.
Don Mock 2:43
No, frogs have nothing to do with beer.
Cuyler 2:44
And it was one of those ads where the idea was, if we can just get you to remember our commercial.
Don Mock 2:50
Yeah.
Cuyler 2:51
And somehow in your brain link that to what the product is. That’s the only goal.
Don Mock 2:55
Now you’re talking about the three frogs that were sitting on lily pads in the dark and it’s “Bud.”
Cuyler 3:00
Yeah.
Don Mock 3:01
Okay. Got it.
Cuyler 3:01
And then the –
Don Mock 3:03
“Weis.”
Cuyler 3:03
And then the “What’s up?” ones.
Don Mock 3:04
Yeah, “Whazzup!” That whole, yeah.
Cuyler 3:06
That whole campaign with Budweiser in the in the call it late 90s, early 2000s.
Don Mock 3:11
Yeah, I’m not gonna call that vintage. But yeah, that was a sweet spot for Super Bowl advertising. And for just fun ridiculous brand ads.
Cuyler 3:19
It’s it’s gotta be 20-25 years old now.
Don Mock 3:22
Yeah, the What’s up guys, and all that stuff.
Cuyler 3:23
I’m gonna call that vintage. Yeah, okay.
Don Mock 3:25
I’m okay with that. Man. All my favorite music I listen to is vintage. So yeah, those classic… The what’s up? guys and the frogs. Fantastic advertising.
Cuyler 3:35
Classic commercials.
Don Mock 3:36
Yeah, absolutely.
Cuyler 3:37
And then keeping with the beer theme, the old Miller Lite Bob Euchre commercials. Remember those?
Don Mock 3:45
I don’t remember what../ I do remember he did Miller.
Cuyler 3:48
Yeah, it was Miller Lite. He would be like getting kicked out of the bar, that kind of thing.
Don Mock 3:52
But is that the ones where they were arguing about “tastes great” versus “less filling”?
Cuyler 3:56
No, I don’t think so. I’m trying to remember the name of that campaign. I don’t remember the name… we’ll have to cut this part out.
Don Mock 4:01
Yeah, well or not. Somebody set the story straight.
Cuyler 4:05
Right, yeah.
Don Mock 4:06
Yeah, I remember that. You know, it was fun. Once beer made that interesting turn on, “Hey, we’re bad for you. But we’re not as bad as the other beers,” In terms of like we’re counting calories and the Lite and that type of stuff. And all of a sudden, it’s okay for big burly men to drink light beer. That Miller Light campaign of people arguing, tastes great versus less filling, I thought was an interesting approach. Sort of that argument in the bar and people crashing into things and getting pissed off. But it was interesting like, hey, they can both coexist, but here they are arguing right now. It was interesting strategy.
Cuyler 4:48
Must have been successful because it ran forever. Granted, there are a lot of guys now who are very into their craft beers, but light beer is probably the most… it’s probably… there’s more consumed than craft beers, even though craft beers have had huge popularity.
Don Mock 5:05
Probably. But all craft beers feel like they’re IPAs. I don’t know why. There’s too many IPAs.
Cuyler 5:10
A lot of them, it is too filling.
Don Mock 5:12
Well, I remember when the Michelob Ultra campaign first launched, and that was in reguards to, Oh, we’re playing one on one basketball or whatever. And then all I reach into my bag and grab an ice cold MC Ultra. Because it’s only 90 calories and not a lot of carbs.
Cuyler 5:28
It’s a group of people. They just got done with their run. And it’s Cheers.
Don Mock 5:31
Yeah, it was… I remember watching that going, “What in the world is happening?”
Cuyler 5:36
They even had one that was even either lower carb or lower calorie than MC Ultra.
Don Mock 5:40
Really?
Cuyler 5:41
That they were trying. It was just terrible.
Don Mock 5:42
But dude, that thing is still going.
Cuyler 5:45
Yeah, that’s McUltra’s approach.
Don Mock 5:46
Years and years later, it’s still going. It’s like, hey.
Cuyler 5:50
Itt’s interesting that that’s their approach, even though they’re like, two or three calories fewer or one gram of carbs fewer than a Coors Light.
Don Mock 5:59
It’s not like, Oh, this is half of everybody else. It’s not like, oh, the Apple battery last 50% longer than last years.
Cuyler 6:05
It’s completely different.
Don Mock 6:06
It’s a 10th of a fraction point, is what it feels like.
Cuyler 6:10
That’s the position they’ve tried to corner.
Don Mock 6:12
But now it’s like it’s ingrained into our brains. We’re kind of used to it. There’s so many different sort of workout scenarios, and people are far more conscious of everything and food, nutritional label… but I feel like when they started, it wasn’t like -nobody knew what keto was.
Cuyler 6:28
It was before a lot of the diet trends and the social media fitness trend.
Don Mock 6:32
Yeah, yes. Very, very interesting.
Cuyler 6:33
I’d be interested to know if their sales have gone up, maintaining that kind of advertising position with today’s kind of fitness culture.
Don Mock 6:42
There’s an argument to make that they wouldn’t keep doing it if it wasn’t working.
Cuyler 6:45
That’s true. That’s true.
Don Mock 6:46
So I always wonder that when I’m like, Oh, that’s terrible. But why does it keep going on and on and on? It has to be serving somebody somewhere.
Yes. Corona is one of those examples of –
Find your beach?
Cuyler 6:51
Yeah. It’s like the beer you get when you go to the beach. Yeah, I know you hate Corona.
Don Mock 7:01
I can’t stand Corona.
Cuyler 7:02
No, I’m a fan of Corona.
Don Mock 7:04
You love Corona. I’m not opposed to lime in beers. I’ll put an orange in a – What do you put the orange in? Blue Moon? I mean, I’ll throw some citrus. I’m not afraid to spice up some drinks with some citrus. But Corona, just to me… it’s a Corona and Heineken are the two –
Cuyler 7:19
Yeah, they have a similar taste.
Don Mock 7:20
They taste terrible to me.
Cuyler 7:21
Oh, I’m a fan.
Don Mock 7:22
Heineken Lite. Speaking of light beer is, to me, 1,000% better than Heineken. Yeah, again, but hey –
Cuyler 7:22
Well, I like both, so.
Don Mock 7:24
Dude, we got all colors of the rainbow here. You know, hey, more Heineken for you? It’s all good. Yeah, but anyway, Corona. Find your beach.
Cuyler 7:38
I think that that’s kind of – they’ve become the beer that’s synonymous with you’re on vacation. But they also kind of angled the ads to be, you can find your beach anywhere. You don’t have to be vacation to drink the Corona.
Don Mock 7:51
Yeah, that’s the strategy. It’s like Corona transports you to a relaxational place.
Cuyler 7:56
It was such a… I mean, I still say “I’m finding my beach” when someone sees me drinking a Corona.
Don Mock 8:02
Yeah. Interesting. Well, to that point, though, and the holidays are interesting in this respect, not that we’re talking about the holidays. But if we talk about vintage ads, you’ll still see the old Corona TV spot where it’s on the beach, and it is dusk, or or sunset or whatever. And you got all the palm trees. And then the one palm tree lights up with all the holiday lights.
Cuyler 8:25
Like you’re in Hawaii, right?
Don Mock 8:27
Yeah. Now, dude, that ad’s been running for 20 years.
Cuyler 8:30
I love that ad.
Don Mock 8:31
And not dissimilar to – I think, Rob and I mentioned that on another podcast – the Hershey Kisses –
Cuyler 8:36
Oh, the bells.
Don Mock 8:36
The make the bells. I mean –
Cuyler 8:38
It’s a fantastic ad.
Don Mock 8:39
Dude, that’s been running since the 80s. I mean, they still – and you watch it, and it’s not HD and it’s been rezzed up and you’re like Wow.
Cuyler 8:45
Not even at the right aspect ratio.
Don Mock 8:48
No.
Cuyler 8:49
M&ms every now and again will run one of the old ones where it was just the red and the yellow peanut. And it’s just a straight Christmas ad.
Don Mock 8:57
Yeah, I mean, those are classic ads that are still on the strategy, that the brand is still utilizing to this day. And still has resonance and purpose, even though it may be 30 or 40 years old. That’s incredible.
Cuyler 9:10
The Hershey’s kiss one I see every year. It’s a great ad. It’s a perfect ad.
Don Mock 9:13
The one that I wouldn’t say is a perfect ad but they still keep running it is the Cadbury creme egg Easter. The tryouts – it’s the lion wearing the bunny ear. It’s all that, and it’s like Guys, what are you…?
I like that commercial.
Well I mean you know those things are –
Cuyler 9:32
Bad like dubbed sounds from the lion or whatever.
Don Mock 9:35
My god. But they still… again, they wouldn’t run it if it didn’t work or if it didn’t have a purpose.
Cuyler 9:40
It’s only Cadbury egg commercial I can think of.
Don Mock 9:43
That probably is the only one they’ve ever filmed.
Cuyler 9:45
They only made one.
Don Mock 9:46
Let’s put it this way. They definitely got their money’s worth.
Cuyler 9:48
Do they like only sell… I mean, I know you like Cadbury eggs, but –
Don Mock 9:53
I don’t like the cream eggs. Now when I was a kid, loved the cream eggs.
Cuyler 10:00
I think when I was a kid, I liked them.
Don Mock 10:01
It’s so much sugar. I mean, that goo that’s inside, I don’t even know. But Cadbury milk chocolate, just the brand. The brand of Cadbury milk chocolate.
Cuyler 10:11
The little eggs?
Don Mock 10:11
Delicious. And what I like is the little robin’s eggs or whatever.
Cuyler 10:15
The little sugar coating?
Don Mock 10:16
It’s got a little hard candy coating on it, not like m&mish. Oh my Lord, you let those things melt in your mouth. Oh, delicious.
Cuyler 10:23
Cadbury does have good chocolate.
Don Mock 10:25
Yeah, I’m gonna say – send me hate mail – but I may like their chocolate better than Hershey’s chocolate. I think a Cadbury milk chocolate is better than Hershey’s milk chocolate, which is a blasphemy, I know.
Cuyler 10:39
That’s a sixth of one for me.
Don Mock 10:40
Okay that you’re… no difference.
Cuyler 10:42
I grew up with my my European grandparents, who had nothing but Belgian chocolate.
Don Mock 10:47
Well, there you go. That’s some good stuff.
Cuyler 10:48
A whole different league.
Don Mock 10:49
I do not buy into the Toblerone, thoug. I’m like, that is not – There’s nothing special about that.
Cuyler 10:55
It’s difficult to eat.
Don Mock 10:56
They got in some trouble, too. They had to take off the “made in” – it’s no longer made in Switzerland. So they had to take off some type of “product of Switzerland.” They had a packaging snafu or something. Somebody called them out on that.
Cuyler 11:07
I just don’t like the shape.
Don Mock 11:10
The triangular… ?
Cuyler 11:11
It’s a distinctive shape but how do you go at it?
Don Mock 11:16
Here’s what it is. Here’s what it is. It’s airport chocolate.
Cuyler 11:19
It is the airport chocolate.
Don Mock 11:21
It’s the airport chocolate bar. That’s all it is. How you eat it, I feel like you shove –
Cuyler 11:25
You break one off.
Don Mock 11:26
You shove the triangle thing in your mouth and then snap it off. It’s a little shove and snap.
Cuyler 11:30
I break one off. I’m like what angle do I? It just seems like a difficult chocolate to eat, unnecessarily.
Don Mock 11:37
Yeah, I don’t I don’t have a problem putting the chocolate in the mouth hole.
Cuyler 11:41
Maybe they’re saying it’s a visualization of the Alps.
Don Mock 11:44
The triangle?
Cuyler 11:44
Since they have the Matterhorn on there.
Don Mock 11:46
Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know. I mean, hey, packaging – they’re trying to be unique.
Cuyler 11:51
It is a distinctive chocolate. I can’t say I’ve eaten one more than twice.
Don Mock 11:55
Yeah, it’s not a go to. It’s not readily accessible. It’s in an airport. It’s a duty free chocolate.
Cuyler 12:01
Cadbury and Hershey’s I’m probably going Hershey’s. But unlike Rob, I want the almonds in there.
Don Mock 12:06
Do you?
Cuyler 12:06
I love chocolate and almonds.
Don Mock 12:08
I’m okay with it. Anyway, we’ve totally derailed.
Cuyler 12:12
We have.
Don Mock 12:12
Which is fantastic. But vintage ads. What else you got? You want to jump in here?
Cuyler 12:16
Yeah, you jump in, because then I’ll go to my older ads.
Don Mock 12:19
All right. So my take on the topic of vintage advertising or classic advertising, as I mentioned at the top of this, is I love leaning into the irony of things. So I always use the fun example of – and I’ve used this on many client calls and just jokes and stuff in the past – is the old “five out of five doctors recommend Camel cigarettes.” I love the snapshots of… so I believe it was, I did a little bit of show prep for this one. In the 40s, Camel was doing a tremendous amount of printed advertising. In the 40s. A couple of headlines for ya. This is the headline of an ad for Camel cigarettes. The photo is a doctor. And the headline is “Not one single case of throat irritation, due to smoking Camel cigarettes.” That’s the headline. Again, just for the record.
Cuyler 13:10
Because they’re filtered. Was Campbell one of the early ones that filtered the cigarettes? I can’t remember.
Don Mock 13:15
I don’t know either. And to be honest, it honestly doesn’t really matter.
Cuyler 13:18
No, it doesn’t.
Don Mock 13:19
But not one single case of throat irritation due to smoking Camel cigarettes. I love that. They also ran some TV spots in the late 40s and early 50s. But it was more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarettes.
Cuyler 13:35
That is a stamp of approval.
Don Mock 13:36
Yeah. So this is what I love about that classic advertising in terms of where we are as a society. And corporations are for profits. I mean, they’re not necessarily for the benefit of society. So I find that kind of advertising hilarious. Along those lines, the the old gigantic Hoover vacuum cleaners. The most misogynistic advertising ever.
Cuyler 14:04
Oh yeah, I think I remember seeing some of those.
Don Mock 14:05
It’s all like, “This Christmas get her the Hoover she deserves.” And it’s like, oh, here’s the housewife with the apron on and the patterned dress. It’s like a pig in shit with a vacuum. You know what I mean? It’s so ridiculous. We look at it now we go, “What in the – ?” So I love that you could never do that again. Or is that really what the sentiment was? Because again, I wasn’t around in the 40s.
Cuyler 14:31
Oh, I guarantee you, guys everywhere ran out and got their wives the Hoover vacuum.
Don Mock 14:35
Again, we’ll chalk it up to, “it wouldn’t exist if it didn’t work in some form or fashion.”
Cuyler 14:42
Hoover did kind of become the staple American vacuum.
Don Mock 14:48
Yeah, a fantastic name for a vacuum, too. And loud as can be. And heavy, this big heavy cast iron front-end vacuum. I mean, oh, horrible. I love that kind of funny like, “Really? That’s what Americana advertising – “
Cuyler 15:06
Do you remember that art piece that Jeff Koons did? Early Jeff Koons, where it was just three Hoover vacuums in like a glass.
Don Mock 15:13
No.
Cuyler 15:14
You don’t remember that?
Don Mock 15:14
No, I don’t remember.
Cuyler 15:15
That was kind of his argument behind it. It was just this snapshot of American culture.
Don Mock 15:21
Yeah. It’s bizarre. I think that kind of stuff is bizarre. So the rest of my list basically is… And again, I like to lean into the irony. I mean, this podcast… there’s been a million podcasts about the Volkswagen advertising and the lemon. All the different classic 60s ads and made advertising great and things like that. But I think it’s funny. Kodak, a brand not a lot of people know about now. But Kodak, the preeminent – really the only supplier of cameras, film, traditional, the democratization of taking pictures. To the masses. I always found it funny that in the 50s, all the Kodak ads are all illustrated. They’re not actually photographs. So it’s, Hey, we’re advertising cameras, we’re advertising how fun it is to take pictures. But none of the ads are actually using any of the technology provided by the product you’re selling.
Cuyler 16:21
That’s interesting. I can’t say I can think of a Kodak ad.
Don Mock 16:23
In the 60s, it transitioned. The 60s is when it transitioned to okay, it’s a photograph. Most advertising trends – well, not most, because actually car advertising, which is the next thing on my list. Most of the car advertising the 60s was all illustrated, because either the technology of printing the magazines, or whatever wasn’t up to snuff. Or they couldn’t line screen or halftone, or whatever the photos. But Kodak, all for the 50s, all of their ads were illustrated. They were painted illustrated ads. And most of the car ads were all illustrated, too. 50s, even into the 60s. It wasn’t really till late 60s, that you start seeing photographs of things. It has to do with the technology or however plates were made or things like that.
Cuyler 17:07
Or just cost. I mean.
Don Mock 17:08
Maybe it was cost. Yeah.
Cuyler 17:10
One of the few companies that still has kept the same vintage commercials, basically, is Red Bull. They just have continued that illustrative of style.
Don Mock 17:22
That Dr. Katz wiggly?
Cuyler 17:23
Yeah, it has a very kind of wiggly hand done. I doubt that that’s how it’s being done. But they’ve kept a look of it. Which I think is interesting. I can’t say I’ve ever seen… I mean, they do other forms of advertising. They put their stuff everywhere.
Don Mock 17:38
They sponsor everything under the sun.
Cuyler 17:40
They have the Red Bull cars that’ll stop. I think they’ve come by this office before.
Don Mock 17:42
They have. We’ve had the Red Bull team. The Red Bull Girls come in and give us Red Bull.
Cuyler 17:48
We had the guy skydive from like the top of the atmosphere. Remember that?
Don Mock 17:54
Yeah.
Cuyler 17:55
So they do all kinds of advertising. But when it just comes to TV spots, they don’t do –
Don Mock 18:01
It’s always the same. It’s a white screen with that black line wiggled illustration and some brush spot color in there. And it’s always you know, “Red Bull gives you wings.”
Cuyler 18:11
Red Bull gives you wings.
Don Mock 18:11
I mean, they’ve had that tagline forever, which is great. So, yeah, super fun stuff. So anyway, I love leaning into the weird irony of looking at advertising almost as a timepiece. And then looking back at it as most of us can – even jokingly, if we look at pictures of ourselves in high school, or whatever, like, “Oh my God, why did we even wear that?” That sort of funny, not self-reflective, but microcosm of like, What? Is that what things were like?
Cuyler 18:11
It is interesting.
Don Mock 18:19
It’s fun to think about that way.
Cuyler 18:43
Yeah. Well, I remember, when I was younger, or I guess not all that long ago, being in my parents house and we would watch some kind of Christmas thing, that we taped on VHS. What I loved about watching that stuff was seeing the commercials that were running back then.
Don Mock 18:59
Oh, my god.
Cuyler 19:00
The toys I really wanted in the 90s. A lot of it had to do with goo and slime, which apparently has come back into style. My neice is –
Don Mock 19:09
Goo and slime?
Cuyler 19:09
Yeah, they always want to make this slime.
Don Mock 19:12
Dude. My kids make slime all the time.
Cuyler 19:14
What is that?
Don Mock 19:14
I don’t know. It’s it’s a sensory squishing, gooeys sort of –
Cuyler 19:17
It was very popular when I was a kid.
Don Mock 19:19
Borax and dish soap and whatever else.
Cuyler 19:23
It’s like Dawn.
Don Mock 19:24
Yeah, it’s a whole whole mess of things.
Cuyler 19:27
But yeah, it was fun to see all the different Christmas ads that were running back then. Or the fast food ads. What they were advertising, because that’s changed dramatically.
Don Mock 19:39
Yeah. Well, McDonald’s had a whole, probably 10 – a decade where it really was more about the toys than it was about the food. It was just whatever the sponsorship was, and whatever licensing agreement was it was, “Get to McDonald’s and get these toys.”
Cuyler 19:50
Speaking of which, do you remember the Jason Alexander McDonald’s commercial? When they were running this thing where you’re cold ingredients would be on one side of the packaging, and your burger with the cheese and the bottom bun will be on the other side.
Don Mock 20:06
It was the big Styrofoam thing. Wasn’t that what killed Styrofoam packaging in fast food?
Cuyler 20:10
Yeah, this was not a successful campaign, but the I think it’s pre-Seinfeld is hilarious. Yeah. I love that commercial.
Don Mock 20:17
I need to go back and watch that. The vinta- if you think about it, we’re obviously in Atlanta. We have the World of Coke here, once they redid. If you kind of think about it, the entire world of coke is really just a trip through advertising history. Most of the visual… I mean, everything is just it’s all Sun bloom painted Santas. I mean, you’re watching Christmas, made me think of it. You don’t even really realize it. But it is kind of a snapshot of Americana advertising and how it keeps up with things.
Cuyler 20:42
Coke is a great example of the transition from the early mid 1900s to now and keeping a brand relatively consistent while also somehow evolving.
Don Mock 20:57
Totally.
Cuyler 20:58
With each era. They’ve managed to do everything successfully. From the very first mark, shape of the bottle. They practically own a color at this point.
Don Mock 21:06
They basically do. Yeah. All right. What’s on your list? Bring us home.
Cuyler 21:12
Well, really, I just have some odd balls that you’re gonna say aren’t vintage? Because they’re not.
Don Mock 21:16
I don’t care. I mean, it doesn’t matter if it’s 1940s or not.
Cuyler 21:20
I’m a big fan of irreverent commercials that loosely tie in to what the product actually is. One of the ones I used to love was is the E-trade commercials with the baby.
Don Mock 21:31
The babies. Yeah, talking babies.
Cuyler 21:33
Absolutely love those commercials.
Don Mock 21:34
Really?
Cuyler 21:35
Yeah.
Don Mock 21:35
Okay. I’m down for it.
Cuyler 21:36
I just love that. It’s like a… first of all, it was very early CGI animation. On the baby’s mouth. But it was good enough, and it kind of always looked like it was on a webcam or something. I just love the voice-over narration. It’s like one of those things that I remember it being an E-trade commercial but very little of it was about trading or about investing. It was mostly golf jokes from a baby.
Don Mock 22:09
Well, it’s the fish out of water approach. In regards to babies obviously, don’t talk. But babies, obviously, don’t talk about what those babies were talking about. They’re talking about things that adults are talking about. So that’s what makes it fish-out-of-water and memorable. But there’s that implied, “so easy a caveman can do it” without having to say it. Like GEICO said it. Geico showed you caveman and said, “Hey, this is so easy. This dumb idiot caveman can do it.” E-trade never was so blatant in regards to that. They were they were top notch in that respect.
Cuyler 22:45
It seem like, “Hey, this baby’s smarter than you.”
Don Mock 22:47
Yeah, exactly.
Cuyler 22:48
Can hit better golf shots. And he uses E-trade.
Don Mock 22:51
Yeah, exactly. Okay, I like it. I haven’t thought about that one a long time.
Cuyler 22:54
That’s is one of my favorite campaign.
Don Mock 22:55
Okay. All right. I love it. I love it.
Cuyler 22:58
Beyond that, I just have things that aren’t that old.
Don Mock 23:01
That’s all right. Hey, let it rip. Get a post it note.
Cuyler 23:04
This is a little bit older now. But do you remember? Do you remember those Quiznos commercials?
Don Mock 23:11
With the crazy puppet thing?
Cuyler 23:12
Yeah. Some people hated those commercials.
Don Mock 23:16
Unbelievably unsuccessful campaign.
Cuyler 23:18
They really weren’t, but I really liked those commercials.
Don Mock 23:22
They were crazy. They were the David Carson of of advertising.
Cuyler 23:26
I’m a big fan of when a company is like, “Screw it let’s just do something bizarre.”
Don Mock 23:30
Totally insane.
Cuyler 23:31
Yeah, and sometimes it works. Old Spice is one that has done that now for a decade or more.
Don Mock 23:37
Yeah, the humor of Old Spice is top notch. Absolutely fantastic.
Cuyler 23:40
And it’s totally just bizarro, acid trip kind of comedy.
Don Mock 23:46
Yeah, there’s a human centaur. There’s all sorts of weird. Yeah, for sure. I think why Quiznos failed so much, though, is none of that looked or felt delicious.
Cuyler 23:55
Yeah, it wasn’t attractive.
Don Mock 23:57
Food is a different thing. I mean, you had these very ugly wackadoodle kind of character creatures things.
Cuyler 24:03
Collaged together something.
Don Mock 24:04
Yeah, and there was no rationale as to what they were or where they – it wasn’t like, for example – it’s a terrible idea – but it wasn’t like “out of this world taste, out of this world sandwiches.” Here are these aliens that came from whatever. There was no grounding there . I made that up, it’s a terrible idea.
Cuyler 24:23
It was just so bizarre they were hoping you would remember it.
Don Mock 24:25
Exactly.
Cuyler 24:25
I think to that end, I do remember it. It didn’t make me go to Quiznos.
Don Mock 24:30
Yeah well that’s the thing. There’s a place in the world for the humor that Old Spice has, the the wack, the crazy just Hey. The point of advertising is to get noticed, and hey, we all noticed it. But it didn’t drive Quiznos sales and they abandoned that pretty quick.
Cuyler 24:47
Bringing it back to beer maybe to end?
Don Mock 24:49
Okay.
Cuyler 24:50
The campaign that’s now gone that I grew up… it was always Dos Equis campaign was the Most Interesting Man in the World.
Don Mock 24:58
Fantastic campaign.
Cuyler 24:59
Another one that has very little to do with beer until the very end. You’re just like this guy’s cool. And I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis.
Don Mock 25:08
Well, I’m gonna call that one Truth in Advertising. By that I mean, yeah, you’re not drinking beer every day all day long. So it’s, Hey, I don’t drink beer. But when I do, make sure to select the best of the best, that type of thing.
Cuyler 25:25
Dos Equis knows that they’re not the beer that the college kids are going to be getting cases of. It’s just not that kind of beer. But it was definitely a successful campaign. I mean, I think I remember them after that guy retired, they tried to bring it back with a new younger guy. I don’t think it worked.
Don Mock 25:45
But didn’t they try to rotate out different guys? Like ehat they did with the colonel and KFC? How different actors portrayed the Colonel.
Cuyler 25:52
I think they tried that afterwards.
Don Mock 25:53
Or was it just a new person?
Cuyler 25:55
I remember it. It didn’t run very long. So maybe they did. But I remember it being a new guy and just thinking no, this isn’t the most interesting man in the world.
Don Mock 26:04
I think what’s interesting about that campaign, too, was it started very serious. It didn’t have the irreverencey at the very beginning. His factoids were more based in reality.
Cuyler 26:16
Right. Then it got more and more outlandish.
Don Mock 26:17
But then by the end, it was like, I can’t remember any of the claims right now. But I mean, it was things –
Cuyler 26:22
Wrestling large animals or –
Don Mock 26:24
Yeah, none of these things were actually real. But he did all these things, because he’s such a myth of an individual. There’s an interesting story behind that actor, too. Google him or whatever. I think it was one of those, he was like a surfer or homeless guy or something like that. Then he went to a casting call and then ended up being cast in this in the campaign. It was some crazy story behind. I remember when they decided to shut the campaign down, I remember reading about how it came to be. Ad Week or something. It was like, how the whole campaign came to pass. And it’s one of those Hollywood kind of stories. Like kind of guy out of nowhere.
Cuyler 27:04
Just total stroke of luck. But it definitely worked. I mean, he seemed like… I think it also worked that he wasn’t a known actor. So the only thing you think of him as is the Dos Equis guy.
Don Mock 27:14
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. It worked really well on radio as well.
Cuyler 27:19
It did, because you could just say a handful of things that seem impossible or crazy.
Don Mock 27:25
Well, it had that theme song. I would say, of all of the Mexican beers now, if that’s a category. I don’t even know if that’s really a category. Modelo, probably, because Modelo has a very signature music that does with everything.
Cuyler 27:38
Yeah. That score, that song. It’s a classic.
Don Mock 27:41
It’s a classical piece, yeah. But it sticks with you.
Cuyler 27:44
Yeah, they don’t go for humor at all. They took a totally different direction than a lot of the other Mexican beer ads. And I think it works. It definitely seems like there’s more, I see more Modelo ads now than I used to. I started to see – because I do like Modelo a lot.
Don Mock 28:00
I do as well. It’s delciious.
Cuyler 28:01
I started to see a pop up on draft and certain place. Oh, Modelo is on draft. I think they just launched a new light beer. I want to say it’s like, I think I saw the ad for the first time last night. It’s called Modelo Oro, Modelo gold. I think it’s supposed to be fewer calories and carbs than a Coors. So I’m going to give it a try.
But how does it compare to MC Ultra? That’s what we need to know.
We’ll have to do another light beer tastes taste testing like we did before.
Don Mock 28:13
Oh, yeah. Remember that? You were hear –
Cuyler 28:20
I almost got all of them right.
Don Mock 28:32
I didn’t get any of them right.
Cuyler 28:34
I mixed up Natty and Bud.
Don Mock 28:35
It’s funny because – so for those that don’t know, we did a whole beer flight tasting here, to see if all of us can tell the difference between I think it was Coors Light, Bud light, Keystone. There were like six beers, right?
Cuyler 28:47
It was, well, Wendy also threw in a craft lite beer.
Don Mock 28:53
OK, that’s right.
Cuyler 28:54
I remember, that was one. I think was five. That was the one we all were like, well, this is the cra – it was obviously not a large distributor lite beer.
Don Mock 29:02
Yeah, I came in hot. I’m like, I love Coors Light as you do. I mean, Coors Lite is a great lite, sort of beach.
Cuyler 29:08
I’m a silver bullet kind of guy.
Don Mock 29:09
Yeah, absolutely. We agree on that. And I’m like, oh, yeah, I’ll totally know. I totally didn’t even get it.
Cuyler 29:14
I got the Coors and the Keystone, and I knew that one was Bud and one was Natty. But I think I flip flopped them.
Don Mock 29:21
You transposed them.
Cuyler 29:22
But I’m not I’m not a big fan of Anheuser Busch beers.
Don Mock 29:26
Yeah. I don’t blame you.
Cuyler 29:27
Just for the taste of it.
Don Mock 29:28
I don’t blame you. All right. I think there’s a weird random little trip down vintage advertising lane, which I love. We should do more of these. This is actually kind of fun. Because I hadn’t thought about the E-trade babies in a while.
Cuyler 29:40
Man, that was such a great campaign.
Don Mock 29:42
Didn’t they – ? They brought that back not that long ago. I feel like for a Superbowl.
Cuyler 29:46
Yeah, one-off things. And I think it might be Super Bowl commercials.
Don Mock 29:51
Well, that’ll do it for today, I think. Where can everybody find us, Cuyler?
Cuyler 29:56
You can find us online at mocktheagency.com and on the socials @mocktheagency.
Don Mock 30:01
All right, well said. Alright we’ll chat with you next time. Thanks, everybody.
Cuyler 30:03
Thank you.
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