Nowadays, the internet has simplified pretty much every aspect of the lives of those who know how to use it efficiently – you now, get targeted ads, news and products, which are shown to you in accordance with your previous searches and supposed interests. It works well, I guess, if you don’t have any privacy concerns, that is…
However, the younger generation tends to now forget that the world worked fine before the days of the world wide web, when everything was still mostly analog in operation. Sure, TV did a fairly good job of promoting products and ideals, but marketing in the late 1960s, early 1970s, was a far more hands-on type of affair.
Back in October of 1965, Ford needed something big, to start the (back then) relatively new Mustang convertible on its long and successful drive through history. What they did was the exact opposite of printing flyers, as they chopped up a white example of the car, and then took it up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, where they reassembled it much to the amazement of those who found it complete and ready for its photo shoot.
A reported 14,000 visitors saw the car perched atop the skyscraper that day, only for it to be disassembled again, and taken down after everybody had had their fill.
This was truly a unique event, and while it’s not unheard of for modern manufacturers to go to such extreme lengths to promote a new model, it’s far less common. Millions are still spent on advertising, but all of it seems to be squandered in comparison to what Ford and the management of the tallest building in New York back in the day managed to achieve.
By Andrei Nedelea
PHOTO GALLERY
