Volkswagen - Think Small

The famous "Think small" ad launched by DDB for VW.

VW was established in the US in 1955 and had some serious hurdles to get over. Volkswagen was "the people's car" of Germany and was essentially started by Hitler and Ferdinand Porsche. Only 6 years after the conclusion of WWII, the company came to America.

Another contemporary of "Mad Men" was the agency Doyle Dane Bernbach, which is created the VW campaign that helped launch the company in the US. The company came up with the "Think Small" and "Lemon" campaigns. These ads were a sharp divergence from typical ads of the time. They were black and white, simple, and had equally simple headlines. Another key factor about them is that they incorporated self-deprecating humor and did not lie. Many 1950's ads played on the idea of an elevated status by use of the advertised product. Volkswagen ads did not do that.

The initial campaign launched in 1959 and soon elevated Volkswagen to a household name and increased sales in America. The simple layout of the ads and stark black and white contrast made them iconic. The headlines made consumers laugh and read on. It is worth noting that the layout was referred to as the "Ogilvy" layout, a reference to another contemporary David Ogilvy. The DDB ads were a derivative, and stripped down to be even simpler.

This was the 1950s version of "stopping the scroll" and was done with less, not more. The key here was how different the ad was for the time.