Kitcatt Nohr Digitas

 

I’ve always been in awe of, and inspired by, this ad for Jordan cars. It was created in 1923: to put that in context, the first mass-produced, and therefore mass-market car, Ford's Model T, only commenced production in 1908, and would remain in production until 1928.

Bill Bernbach’s VW ads didn't come along for another 35 years.

I discovered the Jordan ad was written by one Ned Jordan. While traveling on a train in Wyoming, Jordan saw a beautiful woman on a horse from the train window. He asked a friend where they were and the answer was, “Oh, somewhere west of Laramie.”

Jordan immediately started to write this advertisement for the Jordan Motor Model M 'Playboy' Roadster, which was published in the Saturday Evening Post shortly thereafter, with illustration by Fred Cole.

I find it wonderfully emotional. There’s no mention of horsepower, performance, number of cylinders, gears, or indeed a single technical fact. But a finer evocation of the joy of driving a sports car I have never read. From that point on, advertising started selling the romance of the product more than the product itself. We could re-learn that.

The art direction is spot on - restrained but dramatic and evocative.

There were several other ads in the series, where a different tone emerges, yet it still retains the same immediacy and freshness:

“Strangely we have always underestimated the Playboy demand.

We have never built enough.

But we never will – you may be assured.

There’s too much real fun in the building a few less than the people want.

It’s friendly, human – you know – to want to have something the other fellow can’t get.

Frankly, the Playboy is built for those admirable people of good taste, who know how to distinguish high quality from extravagance – those rare individuals to whom experience affords possession of the pride of economy, which is just another name for commonsense.”

Genius.