About this episode
The episode discusses the innovative and bold advertising strategies of Bartle Bogle Hegarty in the 1980s, featuring insights from guest Barbara Nokes.
Bartle Bogle Hegarty opened its doors in 1982. Eight years later, Campaign voted them the agency of the decade. Why? Their work was considered, intelligent, and, in a decade often referred to as style-obsessed, BBH was the most style-obsessed. But they also had something few agencies have today; swagger. They had the confidence, or is it arrogance? to cut their own path. Refusing to do creative pitches, turning down business and making challenging creative calls few agencies would make. For example, on Audi, the created an end line only 5% of the population could understand – Vorsprung Durch Technik. For a desperate to become relevant to a new generation Levi’s, they soundtracked their ads with music their parents would consider old-fashioned. (Normal now, unusual then.) And on the subject of female sanitary protection, which everyone knew had to be dealt with delicately, like defusing a bomb. They risked it all, by boldly talking to women like human beings. Their Dr Whites ads ditched metaphors, blue liquid and any mention of roller-skating. Not only were these choices counterintuitive, they sold. As they put it in their AAR reel ‘We don’t sell (fade to black) We make people…
People in this episode
Host: Dave DYE
Guest: Barbara Nokes
Topics covered
- advertising
- branding
- creativity
- business strategy
- female empowerment
Keywords
- advertising
- BBH
- Barbara Nokes
- creativity
- branding
- Levi's
- Audi
- Dr Whites
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Audi, Levi’s
Books & works: Dr Whites ads
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