This is not an ad but something of interest that was happening back in 1969. Yes, the OJ is that OJ Simpson. From time to time, Chevrolet was interested in using sport celebrities to promote their cars and trucks. OJ had just graduated from college after an outstanding football career and was the next big name to join the Chevy effort. He would appear in at least one magazine ad. I have a copy somewhere but for now I can't find it. He and his first wife were just standing beside a car--probably an Impala. I never thought much of using celebrities that way but they may have been of use in other ways. The painting above was one of three. Another was of Knute Rockney of Notre Dame fame and the third had something to do with baseball, I think.

I and a couple other agency guys had lunch with OJ at the Recess Club in the Fisher Building, next to the GM building, in Detroit. He was very easy going and agreeable but was also making some big bucks for his trouble. We had a few prints of the painting with us and I had him sign one for my sons. We still have it and I had it framed after he became even more famous. Don't know if it is worth anything but if you happen to have a copy it is certainly an interesting piece of Chevy history.

  

I wish I had a color version of this ad but the black and white will have to do. What a wonderful way to tell the wagon story. The copy begins--We call them "walk-ins" because they are so easy to get into. Financially. And bodily. It then goes on to tell the story of what you get in even the least expensive model. We could have shown each wagon in a separate picture or placed them all in a row in a field with no people but that would not have had the impact and warmth of our picnic scene. These were the kind of people that were buying Chevy wagons and this was what they sometimes did with them. It was with ads like this that, over the years, we were able to build the relationship with America that Chevy continues to enjoy today. Look at the little boy standing on his head in the upper right hand corner. This shoot with real people turned into a real event with real food and enjoyed by all.

I was very pleased with this newspaper ad for the new Chevy wagon. It is a full page ad although it doesn't look it. The ad space was spread across the lower half of two pages in the paper. Special instructions were given to make sure we got two pages that were joined rather than separated as most pages are in a paper. Chevrolet ran so much advertising in newspapers back then that they were able to make it happen. Here again we are playing to America and the special relationship we were able to build over the years in many different ways. Chevrolet popularity gets a nice plug with all the people lined up to take a seat and with the copy line-"Chevrolet's Sit-in is on". Uncle Sam at the end of the line waiting his turn is a nice warm touch too. I also like the very big type for the headline. I find it odd that art directors doing the ads now have chosen to use small type headlines for such a long time. I'll bet the copy guys would love their headlines big and bold. A good headline shown big and bold commands a lot of attention.

This is the newspaper version of the magazine ad seen below for the announcement of the new Chevy wagon. The same photograph was used simply by making a black and white print from the color shot and adding a little retouching.

This is an interesting comparison between a station wagon layout ad concept and the final version that actually ran in all the major magazines in 1970. The top ad picture was shot on the Screen Gems movie lot in California during what we called an experimental shoot. There were no approved ads to be shot but we had all the new prototypes to photograph using a few pre determined directions for each car. The wagon for '70 was all new with a very nice feature that made entering the rear seat easier than ever. We called it the walk-in wagon and made the above experimental shot with all the ladies as a demonstration of the capability. The picture for the layout is made with an inexpensive print of not great quality that has also faded some over the years. I presented the ad to the Chevrolet clients but you can guess why I didn't get it sold. The ad that ran was shot in the parking lot at the GM Tech Center in Warren Michigan. Our office was across the street on Van Dyke and when the wagon became available I called Warren Winstanley who shot the original picture in California. He arranged for a pretty young lady to meet us there and we took the picture you see below the layout. No trouble selling it. I still think the picture with the real looking ladies would have made a more memorable ad but when you are making ads you sometimes don't get to have things go your way. I am happy to get to show you both versions now.