5 Memorable Advertising and Marketing Stories from the Past

I'm a huge fan of marketing and advertising history.

It seems the best campaigns resonate well after their initial run, changing consumer perceptions and rules for advertising executives along the way. Though the stories below originate from long ago, they're still interesting and contain timeless lessons useful for modern day marketers. Here are five of my favorites:

Ivory Soap "It Floats" - 1891

Whether by accident or design, the appearance of floating soap bars gave rise to the idea that Ivory Soap was somehow more "pure" than its competitors of the time, a point reinforced by their famous "99 44/100 % Pure" campaign that followed a few years later. The slogan was so effective, that decades after the fact, the phrase "99 44/100 % Pure" fully entered the cultural lexicon as an informal means to describe near perfection. Of course, the tag line remains trademarked and can only be legally used by Procter & Gamble (the manufacturers) to this day.

Wheaties "Breakfast of Champions" - 1927

This campaign was among the first to solidify the idea of product endorsements by a celebrity. Wheaties had already made history as the subject of the first recorded radio jingle in 1926 (for Minneapolis radio station WCCO), but it was the "Breakfast of Champions" tag line for which they are best remembered. The tag line first started appearing on Wheaties boxes in 1927 as a result of their sponsorship association with local baseball broadcasters. By the 1930s, prominent athletes of the day began to appear on boxes alongside the tag line, and a tradition that continues to this day was born. Jesse Owens, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods are just a few of the many sports celebrities that have lent their visage to Wheaties over the years.

De Beers "A Diamond is Forever" - 1947

If not for a fateful meeting between Harry Oppenheimer, heir to the De Beers Mining company and Gerold Lauck, president of legendary ad agency N.W. Ayer & Son, in September of 1938, the diamond as the universal symbol of engagement might never have happened. At that time, diamonds were not held in the same regard as they are today. In fact, with war around the corner and elevated levels of anxiety prevalent, the price of diamonds on world markets had been in steady decline. Wanting to reverse the trend, Oppenheimer, on behalf of De Beers approached Ayer. Turning their attention to the US market, Ayer proposed to strengthen the association between diamonds and romance. A blitzkrieg of advertising followed with the message, firmly targeted towards young men and women, that the gift of love was somehow incomplete without a diamond component - the bigger the better in fact! Ayers efforts met with immediate success, but it wasn't until 1947 that the famous phrase "A Diamond is Forever" was coined by the now legendary copywriter Frances Gerety. With that, the idea of diamonds being a necessity to the engagement ritual was cemented and the rest is history.

U.S. School of Music "They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano, But When I Started to Play!" - 1926

With that famous opening, the rules for direct response marketing were rewritten in ways that continue to reverberate to this day. John Caples, a then 25-year old copywriter working for Ruthrauff & Ryan, came up with the phrase (and accompanying ad copy) to sell music lessons. The tag line was a grabber intended to draw reader's attention to the copy beneath it describing a young man's triumphant experience turning taunts into cheers. The cleverly written storyline made clear to its intended audience that sending away for the "free" booklet would set into motion events leading to acclaim, and by association, "popularity" and "happiness". John Caples moved to BBDO in 1927, eventually going on to become one of the twentieth century's foremost authorities on art of copywriting.

Energizer "The Energizer Bunny" - 1989

Energizer put itself on the map with a series of unforgettable television spots that introduced several now commonplace advertising innovations. It's generally forgotten now (an intended consequence?), but Energizer were not the first to use a pink toy bunny in their ads. That distinction belongs to Duracell, who in 1973 produced ads featuring toy rabbits drumming away until only one remained - the one with the "Coppertop" batteries.

Energizer's ads burst onto the scene in 1989, showcasing a prime advertising innovation that would be expanded upon and mimicked in the years that followed. The very first television commercial for Energizer is essentially divided into three parts. The first twenty seconds pokes fun at the Duracell ad with an indignant narrator warning viewers "not to be fooled by ads where one battery company's toys outlast the others", further clarifying that "Energizer was never invited to their playoffs". As this is being pointed out, a bright pink bunny wearing shades and blue sandals, barges onto the scene pounding a large bass drum, while the narrator goes on to proclaim that Energizer batteries "keep going...and going...and going...". Twenty seconds in, the scene abruptly changes to what appears to be a new commercial hawking an antihistamine product, only to be interrupted by the bass drum pounding bunny and the narrator continuing, "like we said, nothing outlasts the Energizer - it just keeps going...and going...and going". Forty seconds in, the gimmick repeats itself with the Energizer bunny invading yet another commercial, this time for a wine company set in an upscale restaurant - Boom Boom Boom, in comes the Energizer Bunny - still going! The Energizer ads were brilliant, employing parody, deception and humor to maximum effect.

They say mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery, and to that regard, the Energizer campaign has much to be proud of. Most recently, a variation of this theme appeared on Canadian TV for Subaru, whereby an (already much lampooned) ad for Snuggie was mercilessly and literally dismantled. This spot differed from the Energizer ones in that the ad being interrupted was in fact real - obviously a coordinated campaign, because I recall seeing the original Snuggie ads appearing around the same time and waiting to see the Subaru intrusion, which didn't always happen. Having me pay close attention paid off big time in terms of imprinting both brands on my subconscious (though I've never owned a Subaru or a Snuggie for that matter).

Listed above are just a few of the marketing and advertising stories that for one reason or another left an impression on me. What marketing and advertising stories do you recall as being particularly memorable or effective?