Pete DeBest thought he had it made. He followed his dad into the car business by landing a gig at Pontiac’s ad agency as a copy writer. Things went great at first.
For example, one day he was in a meeting where they were debating whether to change the slogan Pontiac used during the 1980 model year, “More Pontiac Excitement For The Great Ones.” The logo made the letters M, P and G stand out to imply that Pontiacs were both exciting and fuel efficient.
Pete thought the slogan was terrible. So at one point he sarcastically blurted out what he thought was even worse: “More Pontiac Know-How For The Great Ones.” He expected laughter but instead the room was quiet.
Also see ‘Is 1969 Pontiac Firebird really the biggest daddy?’
Pete’s boss eventually broke the silence by saying, “You know, Pete, that’s the best idea I’ve heard all week. Let’s do it.”
Shortly thereafter Pete was assigned to help develop print advertising for the 1981 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. The main advice his boss gave him was for the ad copy to better connect with the car’s target buyers.
“I can nail that,” Pete thought. “I know these guys real well. Too well.” And so he proceeded to draft the ad you see below (click on image to enlarge).
Pete’s boss absolutely hated his draft. Not surprisingly, the ad that made it through all of the corporate committees turned out to be very different (go here).
Pete was immediately reassigned to the T-1000 — Pontiac’s badge-engineered Chevrolet Chevette. “Keep your copy dull,” his boss snapped.
“This isn’t what I signed up for,” Pete thought. “But my dad would kill me if I went back into the music biz.” So dull it was. . . .
NOTES:
This post is a parody. For further discussion about what is real, go here.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- oldcaradvertising.com: Pontiac Firebird (1981)
Loved it! Very “laugh out loud”.