Ugly Is Only Skin-Deep: The Story of the Ads That Changed the World (Advertising History) (Volkswagen Beetle) (Volkswagen Ads) (Bill Bernbach) (DDB)

by Dominik Imseng, Amir Kassaei (Foreword), Carl H. Hahn (Preface)

IT WASN’T GERMAN ENGINEERING ONLY THAT MADE THE VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE AN ICON. IT WAS A MANHATTAN ADVERTISING AGENCY, TOO.Created in 1959 by Doyle Dane Bernbach and continued through the ’60s and early ’70s, the campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle is considered the best of all time. More than just promoting a car, it promoted a new kind of simple, charming, intelligent and, most of all, honest.In “Ugly Is Only Skin-Deep,” Dominik Imseng retraces the creation of Doyle Dane Bernbach, sneered at by the big players on Madison Avenue because of the “ethnic” background of its founders and employees, who were mostly Jewish. Readers will then learn how the agency won the Volkswagen account and how an unlikely creative team—copywriter Julian Koenig and art director Helmut Krone—set the tone for the most admired campaign in advertising history. Finally, the book examines the evolution of the Volkswagen campaign and how advertising greats such as Bob Levenson, Len Sirowitz, Roy Grace or Bob Kuperman managed to convince more and more Americans that smaller was better. In fact, the Volkswagen campaign didn’t only fundamentally change the ethos of advertising—it also helped trigger the cultural revolution of the 1960s.“A spirited, fully illustrated history of a pivotal era in American advertising.” —Wallpaper“A fascinating read that is hard to put down.” —VolksAmerica“Dominik Imseng has done an amazing job of weaving personality, history and practice into a wonderfully written book.” —Steven Heller, School of Visual Arts, NYC“I can’t recommend it highly enough. Get it.” —Neil French, former Worldwide Creative Director of WPP and author of “Sorry for the Lobsters”“A timely as well as masterful piece of work.” —Richard Huntington, Chief Strategy Officer of Saatchi & Saatchi London“Pure inspiration that makes you love the business all over again.” —Edward Boches, Professor of Advertising at Boston University and former Partner and Chief Creative Officer of Mullen Lowe“Damn good book.” —Ed McCabe, Co-Founder, President, Worldwide Creative Director of Scali, McCabe, Sloves, Inc.“Dominik Imseng helps us understand why the Volkswagen campaign changed advertising.” —Dave Dye, Stuff from the Loft“Do yourself and your career a favor. Forgo two days’ worth of pretentious caffeine. Spend your money instead on Mr Imseng’s surpassing book.” —George Tannenbaum, Ad Aged“If the author’s command of his subject is masterful, then his ability to tell it as a story is even more impressive.” —Steve Harrison, author of “How to Do Better Creative Work” and “Changing the World is the Only Fit Work for a Grown Man”

Genres: Business, Economics, Nonfiction

172 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 17, 2017

About the author

Dominik Imseng ist kreativer Unternehmensberater und Autor in Zürich. / Dominik Imseng is a creative business consultant and author in Zurich, Switzerland.

Reviews

[Cynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the girlfriend group had a VW Beetle as her first car. "Indestructible," said her father on her sixteenth birthday. "Good beach car," said her aunt. We girls smiled at the adults and looked "Beach!" at each other. As we rode out to the beach, I dreamed of vibrant paisley decorating the outside of the car. . . .

The ads were not historical documents to me. They were the things that made me smile, laugh, ponder in real time. While reading this short text with the most popular ads displayed, I kept thinking: I think and talk like this: Pithy and Edgy. If Doc ever asks me how did I ever learn to write like this--the humorous stories I write him--I might say: From Volkswagen ads.

Funning aside, this text combines advertising history, merchandising, sales pitching, micro-biography of the agency Doyle Dane Bernbach (BBD), the executives and creatives, the ads, and the car. As Ken Punter points out in his review, those interested in advertising, marketing, communications and Mad Men may be just the readers to best enjoy this book. I would add to this list those who delight in language. The ads are beautifully written.

[Velo Bones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great topic and a good read. Let down by the images of the ads in the book being so tiny, it was impossible to read the copy. The author doesn't go into great detail, so between that and the tiny ads, it feels like I only got half of the story. Unlike it's subject, 'Think small' didn't work for the book.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evo kako se piše knjiga o marketingu, skidam kapu, Herr Imseng.

(P.S. Okej, okej, pogledaću Mad Men!!)

[Ken Punter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gem of a book.

If you're interested in advertising, marketing, communications or Mad Men, I'd give this a go.

Shortish, readable account of how advertising fundamentally changed in the late 1950s when the agency Doyle Dane Bernbach gained VW as a client. They were given the opportunity to sell the Beetle to the American public. This marked a key milestone for every growing agency on Madison Avenue, they had landed a car account. The problem was that this was supposed to be an iconic, American (Detroit based) brand, something like a GM or Ford.

Bill Bernbach had already defied advertising convention by bringing copywriters and graphic designers into the same team to collaborate and co-produce. This then was the basis of how they produced creative ideas that not only changed advertising but (as the title of the book suggests) possibly changed the world. That's a big claim and one that I was sceptical about at the start of the book, but there might be some truth to it. At the very least they tapped into the zeitgeist and felt the growing discontentment with consumerism that was to express itself through the beat generation and then on into the cultural earthquake of the 1960s.

Informative read that takes us through some of the most iconic advertising ever created; advertising that made a small, foreign, noisy, ugly, cheap (not to mention Nazi inspired) car into one of the best selling cars America has ever seen.

[Martin Bihl · Rating 4 out of 5]

to read my review, please visit: https://the-agency-review.com/ugly-sk...

[Monika Skarzauskaite · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and interesting look at the golden age of advertising. I really liked how both the vw and ddb stuck within the constraints they created themselves in order to be more creative