Famous ad man George Lois wasn’t from Madison Avenue.
He was from the Bronx. A place where if you didn’t learn to
talk fast, you learned to punch faster. And if you couldn’t do either, you
didn’t last long enough to worry about advertising.
George Lois (1931-2022)
Let’s go back with George to the early 1960s: Renault
dealers are sitting on a pile of last year’s cars. Nobody wants ‘em. Shiny,
clean, and obsolete … which is about the worst word you can slap on a car, or a
man, for that matter.
The standard response? Knock five hundred bucks off and pray
someone bites.
But George Lois wasn’t the praying type. He was the make it
happen type.
And he gets an idea. A nasty, beautiful Bronx idea.
He grabs a tin of Band-Aids and a penknife and drives around
to all the Renault lots and gives each car a little love tap. Just a nick. A
scratch. The tiniest imperfection you could hide under a Band-Aid.
Then he runs this ad:
If you can spot the imperfection on one of our Renaults,
we’ll give you $500 off.
That’s it. No jingles, no pretty models leaning on hoods, no
“Act Now!”
The people came running.
Because suddenly it wasn’t about buying last year’s car. It
was about the hunt. It was about beating the system.
And, in that Bronx-bred, streetwise way, George knew that
everyone wants to feel like they’re smarter than the guy selling them
something.
By noon the next day, every single car was gone. Not because
people wanted Renaults. But because they wanted to feel like they’d won.
That’s the magic of George Lois.
He didn’t sell cars. He sold stories. And the sweet thrill
of gaming the game.
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