If you follow the auto world you\u2019ve noticed that retro is popular, especially when it comes to classic muscle cars. The Dodge Challenger, Ford Mustang and Chevy Camaro are three examples of old muscle turned new again. The \u201970s played a role in these histories, not only due to car design, but also because of muscular marketing. It was a creative era, piping pitches for everything from fast cars to cheap cologne into America\u2019s living rooms.<\/p>\n
The car ads are well-remembered, often discussed, and still studied. But how about the cologne?<\/p>\n
Well, that\u2019s worth a look, too.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re selling a car, you can show how impressive the car looks, just as if you\u2019re selling tropical tourism on Saipan you can show how beautiful the beaches are.<\/p>\n
But how do you describe a smell?<\/p>\n
Apparently, you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
None of the ads that I remember tried to describe a smell, at least in anything but the most vague terms (e.g, \u201cmanly\u201d). The sales pitch was all about image, portraying the product in a scene a viewer might want to buy into.<\/p>\n
I was too young to be in the target market for fragrances during this period, and I can only reflect on the ads I\u2019ve seen and recall, which is surely a mere fraction of the overall action. Still, any marketing that sticks in your head for a few decades has got some real punch to it, so it\u2019s better heeded than ignored.<\/p>\n
An old-school brand that kept its stride in the \u201970s was an aftershave called Aqua Velva. It\u2019s still around and sold in drug stores starting at under $5 a bottle.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t even remember where I put my checkbook this morning, but the Aqua Velva jingle from decades ago comes easily to mind: \u201cThere\u2019s something about an Aqua Velva man.\u201d<\/p>\n
The TV ads I remember seemed to be pitching to regular guys. Baseball legend Pete Rose starred in one ad, singing a little ditty along with some other at-the-ballpark kind of guys. It was a little bit hokey, but this gave it a hometown charm.<\/p>\n
Aqua Velva was probably in your father\u2019s medicine cabinet and maybe in your grandfather\u2019s, too. So I surmise that it didn\u2019t have to sell its way into your family, since it was already there. It seemed like it just wanted to remind you that it was still around and still one of the guys.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, another product, also for men, is forever associated with this era: Hai Karate cologne.<\/p>\n
If one goal of advertising is to attract attention, well, Hai Karate did get plenty of that.<\/p>\n
From what I remember, the brand seemed to be built around pure shtick. The TV spots I saw featured a somewhat geeky guy. The Hai Karate he\u2019s wearing triggers a lust-frenzy among proximate females. The guy resorts to using karate to evade the women.<\/p>\n
If that trajectory didn\u2019t make sense to you, well, don\u2019t worry, it didn\u2019t make sense to me either. I understood that the ads were hyperbolic farce for the sake of attention, but, even making that allowance, I didn\u2019t see a likable aspect to the concept.<\/p>\n
Of course, what I thought, or didn\u2019t think, was of no consequence in the broader market. I have no idea if Hai Karate was a money-maker or not. But, whatever the legacy is, the sun long ago set on it, so we\u2019ll move on to other things.<\/p>\n
Which brings us to a brand that is still going strong: It\u2019s a line of women\u2019s fragrances and bath products called Jean Nate (pronounced in the fancy French way: \u201cna-TAY\u201d).<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t recall any TV ads for it, but that doesn\u2019t mean it was weak in the marketing realm. It had a very powerful presence, due in part to a deceptively simple concept: colors.<\/p>\n
Jean Nate\u2019s \u201ctrade dress\u201d (packaging) was yellow with black writing. These colors got ample shelf space in drug stores and department stores.<\/p>\n
If you needed to buy a gift, you\u2019d (a) head to the store, and (b) look for the yellow-and-black color scheme. Jean Nate products came packaged in individual units and in a variety of gift sets, so a gift-giver had a wide spectrum of options. Prices these days run about $8 to $25 in the examples I looked up.<\/p>\n
I remember standing in the yellow glow of the Jean Nate section of the store as a kid, clawing the quarters out of my pockets, tallying up the value, then picking out a gift for Grandma.<\/p>\n
Anyway, I\u2019ve mentioned three brands, but I\u2019m saving another one for another day, at which time we\u2019ll look at what is surely one of the best TV ads ever aired.<\/p>\n
So: How do you sell a smell? If you can answer that, you can probably sell anything. It makes selling tourism on Saipan seem easy by comparison.<\/p>\n