Monday, June 22, 2020

PERCEPTION vs REALITY


What if you don’t really know what you think you know?

Perception. 6 vs 9


To survive, that's what an established product had to convince a sophisticated target audience.

Rolling Stone Magazine Logo


By the 1980s, Rolling Stone Magazine had moved from its fringe, counter-culture roots and had become a mainstream music and entertainment publication.

However, advertisers didn’t acknowledge the change, considering the readership as being closer to hippies frequenting head shops than to upwardly mobile Americans buying cars, homes, and clothing that wasn’t tie-dyed.

As such, media buyers were not buying much space. And that was a problem. Rolling Stone wasn’t making its numbers.

Enter advertising agency Fallon McElligot to plant the seed “What if you’re wrong?” in the heads of the advertisers Rolling Stone wanted and needed to buy ads.

The “Perception. Realty.” campaign was a smash hit, boosting Rolling Stone ad revenues by about 50% in the first year.

The campaign ran for around 10 years and featured over 50 “Perception. Reality” ads. Here are a few examples from this iconic campaign:

Perception vs Reality - Rolling Stone Ad

Perception vs Reality - Rolling Stone Ad

Perception vs Reality - Rolling Stone Ad

Perception vs Reality - Rolling Stone Ad

Perception vs Reality - Rolling Stone Ad

Perception vs Reality - Rolling Stone Ad

Perception vs Reality - Rolling Stone Ad


Good stuff, huh?



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