This old beetle ad is a masterclass in advertising

Just look at this beauty…

The creative:

They used a unique prop to arouse curiosity.

Car and winding key. That isn’t normal. Why is it there? This isn’t a toy car. Or is it?

It grabs your attention. Think about Ogilvy Schweppes guy X eyepatch. Same trick.

(The father of public relations, Edward Bernays, coined this tactic.)

You just need to know more.

The copy(the best part):

The goal of this ad is to communicate how economical the car is.

So they start by saying it’s false information that you can get 40 miles with one winding.

(Being honest -- always resonates with people. Lures them in. Everyone wants to hear about lies & truth. Also, it’s absurd.).

In reality, you can get just 32 miles. And you need a gallon of fuel for that.

Aha - so it’s 32 miles per gallon. Excellent fuel economy by that time standards.

Air-cooled engine – by that time, water cooling was already a thing.

But they frame it as it’s a good thing.

It can’t overboil or freeze. And indeed, that was a problem with cars in that era.

It isn’t fast – so they say engine friction is so low that top and cruising speeds are the same.

Meaning the fastest it can do will suit for highways.

But don’t you worry, driving at top speed won’t screw up your engine.

Gorgeous. They don’t make them like that anymore.