Marlboro

By the sixties, radio ads were still only heard still on the UK pirate stations and on the hugely popular overseas stations like Radio Luxembourg.

One hugely popular campaign of the time which featured both Outdoor, TV and radio was for Marlboro. Back then, of course, smoking was not recognised as the killer it is; and advertising for it, accordingly, absolutely fine. The challenge for Marlboro was quite the contrary, actually. This was not a proper full-strength ciggie; this was just a wimpy filter version, and a ‘masculine’ campaign was desired to shift the brand appeal..

Leo Burnett was charged with the job in 1954, and the guys with the crayons in the States came up with ‘The Marlboro Man’. The most popular execution featured a cowboy and that campaign evolved into the ‘Marlboro Cowboy’ and the ‘Marlboro Country’ campaigns, which Radio Luxembourg embraced with brand integration into a ‘Marlboro Country’ show. The rich voice of Bob Stewart delivered the VO and you could smell the cigarettes and see the rugged countryside as he did. Such is the power of radio.

It all worked; and David Ogilvy, who knows a thing or two about advertising, credited the campaign as being the ‘best ad campaign ever’. Hear here one of the radio executions, first aired in 1968. Oh, and sung ads work. #radio