Italy Archives - Media Guy Struggles

Pantera: The Art of Sculpting Fog

The Media Guy — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 11:38:00 +0000

The de Tomaso Pantera. Around $10,000.*

In Italy, men build cars with passion. One of them is Alejandro de Tomaso. And this is his car. Pantera.

————-

The evolution of the print ad is something that deserves its own dissertation (I am sure there are many) and today too much copy scares away even the most avid reader. Today, any print ad worth its media uses four key components:

A headline
Visual-grabbing design elements
Snappy copy or even as short as a tagline
A call to action.

I miss the days when copy dominated print ads covering up to seventy per cent of the page. You simply can’t get away with that now. Looking back through my ancient Sports Illustrated enearthed some treasures, namely an ad for the Pantera. If I asked a thousand of my readers if you knew what the Pantera was, my guess is that two or three would know what it was. For the other 9,997 of you, take a mental walk with me and let me tell you…

Elvis Presley was car enthusiast known for his love of Cadillacs. After all, he owned nearly a hundred of him during his lifetime. But in the 1970s, the talk among car buffs was a sleek Italian-made sports car called the Pantera (aka Panther in English). Elvis bought one and was never the same. One day when he fancied a spin, the car wouldn’t start. After some frustration, he took out a gun and shot it a few times.

The Presley Pantera is now in a museum…respectful visitors count the wounds.

It might be thought that the incident, enthusiastically reported around the world, would damage sales of the Pantera…nothing was further from the truth. Why? Perhaps the love affair for automobiles was best described by William Faulkner in “Intruder in the Dust”:

“The American really loves nothing but his automobile: not his wife his child nor his country nor even his bank-account first (in fact he doesn’t really love that bank-account nearly as much as foreigners like to think because he will spend almost any or all of it for almost anything provided it is valueless enough) but his motor-car. Because the automobile has become our national sex symbol. We cannot really enjoy anything unless we can go up an alley for it.”

It was felt that even the king of rock and roll had no right to take shots at a car. The Pantera, a car previously confined to the specialist market,quickly gained notoriety. Pantera fans sympathized with Alejandro De Tomaso, its creator, when he explained that his design, like many an Italian prima donna, could be temperamental and should be treated with kindness and patience. The starting problem was a minor matter, he said, to do with overheating, and could be simply remedied.

As for the Presley Pantera, it is now in a museum. Respectful visitors count the wounds.

If, as Faulkner and other writers claimed, America has had a love affair with the car (now possibly fading, as affairs do), this may explain why the Pantera became an object of special affection along with the country’s own classics stretching back to Henry Ford’s Model T. De Tomaso’s achievement was to get his Italian job into a pantheon largely made up of American models. He had an unusual combination of gifts, that of innovator and salesman.

Immortalized in plastic…a sure sign of a classic….

Yet, I digress…

When Ford president Lee Iacocca wanted a sports car that his dealers could offer to match the Corvette, he turned to the De Tomaso Pantera to do the heavy lifting. Growing up in the the seventies, Iacocca was a bit of a business folk hero. No one knew CEOs and Presidents of big companies back then, but everyone knew him. Even a 10-year-old from Los Angeles. He said once, “You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.”

This statement was never so obvious as him turning to his Lincoln-Mercury ad agency Kenyon & Eckhardt to create the materials that would get his big idea across. By the time the Pantera was ready to find its way into Lincoln-Mercury dealerships the ads were ready and immediately made an impact. The copywriting itself deserves a special spot in the pantheon of copywriting. Each word carries the weight of ten. Consider the following paragraph:

“Conceived without compromise. A car so carefully built (it is virtually handmade) there will only be 2,500 made the first year. Mid-engined like a racing car. An ultra-high-performance sports coupe that stands a little higher than the average man’s belt buckle, it seats two (and only two) and it’s priced in the neighborhood of $10,000.”

And then the ego grabbing hook-line:

“Obviously, Pantera is for the few who demand something extraordinary.”

Today, this would be enough copy for two ads, but in the 1970s, they were just getting started:

“The body is the inspired work of Ghia, the renowned coachbuilder. It is Italian craftsmanship at its finest. Monocoque construction fuses the steel skin and frame into an incredibly strong and rigid structure.

“The engine is a 351 CID, 4-barrel V-8 placed just ahead of the rear axle, which gives Pantera some huge advantages over conventional sports cars. Better vision forward. Less power-loss. Better weight distribution. And the tightest, most satisfying handling characteristics you’ve ever experienced.”

And if all of this mindblowing car jargon (easily retained and digested as you read) isn’t enough, they his you with the cherry on top of the sundae:

“With five forward speeds fully synchronized, independent suspension of all four wheels (die-cast magnesium wheels are optional), rack and pinion steering, power-boosted disc brakes — even an ingenious system to prevent you from inadvertently selecting the wrong gear while shifting, the de Tomaso Pantera has to be one of the most impressive vehicles ever offered here at any price.”

Copywriters are, I suppose, beasts of imagination tethered inescapably to reality. They define success by creative brilliance, knowing ultimately it is only properly defined by commercial performance. And amongst all this, they yo-yo in and out of an odd state of immersion – rapt by a brief about chewing gum, or shoes, or Japanese lemonade, all the time knowing that none of it really exists.

Copywriting, like marketing, is the art of sculpting fog. This is never more apparent than in the Pantera ad above.

————–

The Flip Side

Of course, the ad agency cut some corners too and resorted to the 1970s Mad Men-style of advertising…sigh:

The post Pantera: The Art of Sculpting Fog appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

You Can Lead A Horse to Water…

The Media Guy — Fri, 08 Sep 2017 00:35:00 +0000

Okay, so where am I?

Sistine Chapel: God creates Adam

I’m at the Vatican and anyone in the advertising game will tell you that this is probably the last place you want to be potentially facing the wrath of God for all of your past sins stretching the truth and checking the Federal Trade Commission manual to make sure your spot doesn’t mislead consumers. Anyway, that’s a story for another day, but seriously, the Vatican, especially standing at the entrance/exit of St. Peter’s Basilica in the August/September with the sun reflecting off the limestone is no place to be without a bottle of cold water.

The Vatican Museums: Heed the Advice

Yet, there I was, baking in the sun as the Pope waxed poetic in Latin over the loudspeakers and my tour guide going on endlessly about how lucky we were it was a Wednesday and everyone is watching the Pope and we had early access to the Raphael Rooms, Sistine Chapel, and the Vatican itself. Meanwhile, all I could think about was my brain NOT exploding from the heat and when I could make a beeline for an eight Euro bottle of water with gas.

Blah blah blah, alright already…I need some water! Speaking of water, it’s become quite an industry, right? Give a nod if you remember water. You know, regular classic water where you turned open the knob and lifted the level to the very top? It was refreshing, divine, perfect; the ultimate drink that you enjoyed for pennies a glass. Now, water as we once knew it is dead swallowed by our obsession for what’s next…our mistaken ideal that everything could always be improved upon.

Water is now bottled water, spring water, artisan water, antioxidant water, flavored water, carbonated water, fizzy water, water with gas, flat water…jeez, I sound like a thirsty “Bubba” Benjamin Buford Blue…

Gustave Leven, Super Genius

All of these waters are simply capitalistic spins on original water with consumers in their sights because companies know that the gullible will drink it up. There are three things that should never cost money: sunshine, air, and water. Now you go into a fancy restaurant and they ask you if you want sparkling or flat water. If you ask for regular water, the server’s face grows into a passive aggressive sneer with a complimentary warning that it will come from the tap! Seems “free” is not really an option anymore.

Now one of the trendy waters is Norway’s artisan water Voss, you know that cylindrical bottle with the silver top? Well guess what? Norwegian television has reported that Voss has the very same sources as tap water from a municipal source, contrary from it’s snooty marketing and big price.

Many people think the designer trend started with Evian, which ironically is naive spelled backwards. But really, who convinced us that water should or could be sparkling you ask? Well I have the answer…

Meet Gustave Leven. He had a bold idea: Convince Americans that they wanted to drink Perrier, aka “Earth’s First Soft Drink.”

In the 1970s, you can imagine that Americans weren’t so open-minded about opening their wallets for water, instead openly laughing at paying astronomical markups for a liquid that flows freely, and usually safely, from their home taps.

That all began to change sometime in seventies, with a nutty idea from a Frenchman who peddled fizzy water in green glass bowling pin-shaped bottles. His company was Perrier, and its carefully constructed, impeccably timed advertisements paved the way for one of the greatest marketing scams this side of Barnum and Bailey.

Perrier’s campaign created a massive new market for the American beverage industry, and it still serves as a playbook for how to convince people to pay for water. At the same time, it does not fully account for what remains an even greater mystery: the enduring appeal of bottled water.

Whether they choose fizzy Perrier, flat Poland Spring, or a different label, Americans are guzzling more bottled water than ever before. And in an era defined by speed and convenience, they show no signs of slowing down.

Perrier’s American transformation began with television ads in the spring of 1977. They were straightforward, but eye-catching and ear-catching. The company spent somewhere between $2.5 million and $5 million on the groundbreaking campaign.

“More quenching, more refreshing, and a mixer par excellence,” intoned the rich baritone of Orson Welles in a Perrier advertisement dated 1979, as a bubbling stream cascaded from a green bottle and swirled into a clear goblet.

“Naturally sparkling, from the center of the earth,” the actor continued. He wrapped up the ad with a single word, the “r”’s perfectly French: “Perrier.”

Perrier’s advertising was selling a specific message, and it targeted a specific population: well-to-do baby boomers, born between 1945 and 1965, as they entered adulthood. It sought to assure them that those who partook of Perrier’s sparkling waters were sophisticated, classy, and conscientious. It conferred, in a word, status.

So capsulizes the story of Gustave Leven, Marketing Genius.

What seems abundantly clear, however, is that the powers of marketing are as limitless as the water we drink and the air we breathe. Last year, Vitality Air, a Canadian company started offering “fresh air,” in three and eight-liter bottles.

“Remember the day when people laughed off bottled water?” the company explains on its website. “The truth is we’ve begun to appreciate the clean, pure and refreshing taste of quality water.”

“Air,” it says, “is going the same way.”

The post You Can Lead A Horse to Water… appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

The Birth of Venus

The Media Guy — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 00:10:00 +0000

Dartmouth says that “personal diversity” means entertaining many different kinds of experiences in your own, daily life. It goes beyond the ordinary diversity in which we find ourselves surrounded, like it or not, with people who offer us counter narratives. Personal diversity means filling our days with activities that don’t match up with what we normally do…

In the advertising world, it means if you want to make it, you better be able to talk about things other than copy, photo shoot ideas, and next year’s campaign. I mean, there’s a world of great concepts out there lurking in the minds of your colleagues and competition.

What keeps clients and co-workers alike happy is the ability to spin a good tale and talk about areas of interest nobody has any real knowledge about. Throw out something about art or history in any real detail and most of your contemporaries with think you’re a real brain and want to hear more at a later date. Think Scheherazade extending her life for years in One Thousand and One Nights. The real secret is when to work in your special knowledge and make is worth listening to. This is an art in itself.

This approach has served me well for a handful of decades. It will serve you well too.

Okay, so where am I?

I’m in Florence, Italy. In case you don’t know it, Florence is the Cradle of the Renaissance, romantic, enchanting and utterly irresistible, Florence (Firenze) is a place to feast on world-class art and gourmet Tuscan cuisine. It’s also home for some pretty great art.

Now, I know a thing or two about art, having penned a couple of books about the subject and all without taking myself too seriously. But, Florence offered the allure of the Uffizi Gallery and the opportunity to see some special pieces of art that I’ve written about but never seen before.

One such piece is Sandro Botticelli’s Birth of Venus (circa 1484-86). Aside from his painting of the Primavera, Botticelli’s other greatest work, done for the Medici family, is the Birth of Venus. Unfortunately, we do not know for sure which Medici it was painted for, or which location it was originally hung in.

Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, c. 1484-86, tempera on canvas

Before considering the subject matter, it is important to take note of the medium. This is a work of tempera on canvas. During this time, wood panels were popular surfaces for painting, and they would remain popular through the end of the sixteenth century. Canvas, however, was starting to gain acceptance by painters. It worked well in humid regions, such as Venice, because wooden panels tended to warp in such climates. Canvas also cost less than wood, but it was also considered to be less formal, which made it more appropriate for paintings that would be shown in non-official locations (e.g. countryside villas, rather than urban palaces).

The theme of the Birth of Venus was taken from the writings of the ancient poet, Homer. According to the traditional account, after Venus was born, she rode on a seashell and sea foam to the island of Cythera. In the painting we see here, Venus is prominently depicted in the center, born out of the foam as she rides to shore. On the left, the figure of Zephyrus carries the nymph Chloris (alternatively identified as “Aura”) as he blows the wind to guide Venus.

On shore, a figure who has been identified as Pomona, or as the goddess of Spring, waits for Venus with mantle in hand. The mantle billows in the wind from Zephyrus’ mouth.

The composition is similar in some respects to that of the Primavera. Venus is slightly to the right of center, and she is isolated against the background so no other figures overlap her. She has a slight tilt of the head, and she leans in an awkward contrapposto-like stance.

Botticelli paid much attention to her hair and hairstyle, which reflected his interest in the way women wore their long hair in the late fifteenth century. He gave Venus an idealized face which is remarkably free of blemishes, and beautifully shaded her face to distinguish a lighter side and a more shaded side.

Of obvious importance in this painting is the nudity of Venus. The depiction of nude women was not something that was normally done in the Middle Ages, with a few exceptions in specific circumstances. For the modeling of this figure, Botticelli turned to an Aphrodite statue, such as the Aphrodite of Cnidos, in which the goddess attempts to cover herself in a gesture of modestly.

In painting Venus, Botticelli painted a dark line around the contours of her body. This made it easier to see her bodily forms against the background, and it also emphasized the color of her milky skin. The result of all of this is that Venus almost looks like her flesh is made out of marble, underscoring the sculpturesque nature of her body.

The demand for this type of scene, of course, was humanism, which was alive and well in the court of Lorenzo d’Medici in the 1480s. Here, Renaissance humanism was open not only to the use of a pagan sculpture as a model, but also a pagan narrative for the subject matter.

Although the Birth of Venus is not a work which employed Renaissance perspectival innovations, the elegance of the classical subject matter was something that would have intrigued wealthy Florentines who patronized this type of work. However, it would not have appealed to everyone, like those who viewed the worldly behavior of the ruling Medici family as corrupt or vile. By the 1490s, the tension that resulted from the clash between courtly excess and those who wanted religious reform came to a climax when the preacher Savonarola preached his crusade to the people of Florence. One of the people influenced by the preacher was Botticelli, whose change of heart moved him to destroy some of his early paintings by fire.

The Uffizi Dome (click to enlarge)

The post The Birth of Venus appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

Che Palle!*

The Media Guy — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 22:35:00 +0000

Okay, so where am I?

I’m at the airport having a rather pointed conversation with the Alitalia desk manager about the upgrade to business class I just paid for my trip to Rome where I may or my not be going for a short film shoot. Although I paid my $950 to gain entry into a lay flat — I mean seriously, sometimes you

No business class lounge? Che palle!*

need a little luxury on a 12-hour flight — I was not going to get to check an second piece of luggage or get entry into the business class class lounge. Her reasoning was that I paid for the seat but not the “experience” of being in business class.

Che palle!* I semi-loudly told her. In all of the years I’ve flown business class, I was never without access to the business lounge to accompany my ticket. Sadly, I relented taking my boarding pass and reminding the desk manager that no good press could ever occur with the access a business class ticket entitles you worldwide.

Funny thing about his exchange was that I knew exactly three expressions in Italian (“Ciao” – hello, “Addio all’amore” – goodbye with love, and “Che palle!” – what balls!) and this one came in handy, although not very effective. Which got me thinking…

I made pizza from scratch…che figata!

What are the handful of Italian expressions that are an essential addition to any vocabulary, especially when you’re in Rome, Florence, or Milan? (Note to self: Don’t use any of these in Naples or Sicily. Why? Watch the Godfather II.). These are the expressions you’ll hear them all over the streets and if you understand them, it will make you much more fun to speak with.

* – Che palle! (keh PAL-leh). Translated word for word as, “What balls!” it’s the short and sweet equivalent to “What a pain in the ass!” Tack it onto the end of any annoying activity for added emphasis: “We have to climb all those stairs? Che palle!” or mumble it under your breath when someone causes you general agitation: “Put a scarf on or you’ll get pneumonia!” Che palle.

Boxed wine? Mi fa cagare!

Che figata (keh fee-GAH-tah). A journey through Italy will leave you with many opportunities o use and hear, “What a cool thing!” I crushed grapes at a winery today! “Che figata!” We learned how to make handmade pizza! “Che figata!” “It’s official. I found these Pradas for 20% off!” “Che figata!”

Mi fa cagare! (mee fah cah-GAH-reh). Italians take expressing discontent to a another level with the descriptive “It makes me poop,” leaving us English speakers in the dust with our much less dramatic, “It’s terrible.” “That restaurant? Mi fa cagare!” “His tight pants? Mi fa cagare!”

Get a room…Che schifo!

Figurati! (Fee-GUH-rah-tee). “Don’t worry about it!” or “It’s nothing!” As you would in English, you can use it when you mean it: “Thank you so much for the great meal!” “Figurati!” Or to be nice when you don’t: “I’m sorry I spilled red wine on your brand new, white Gucci shirt.” “Figurati!”

Magari! (mah-GAHR-ee!). The Italian version of “I wish!” “Let’s hope!” or “Maybe!” When someone asks you if you plan on coming back to Italy or owning a Tuscan villa, you can respond with “Magari!” (because of course you do). “Magari” is also a good play to for playing it cool before your walk of shame: “Will we ever see each other again?” “Magari!”

Che schifo! (keh SKEE-foh). “How disgusting!” Here are a few cases where you will encounter the need to screech “che schifo” The couple on your boat boat think they’re in their bedroom: “Che schifo!” A pigeon poops on your shirt: “Che schifo!” You see a 69 year-old man boldly hitting on a 19 year-old girl: “Che schifo!”

The post Che Palle!* appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

Travel & Adventure Show: Skepticism Eliminated

The Media Guy — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:45:00 +0000

Okay, so where am I?

No, not underground writing my latest screenplay or those two book projects that are nearing deadline. Believe it or not, the 2012 L.A. Travel and Adventure Show called to me like the North Star in the dead of night.

I know. I know. I was skeptical too. But off to Long Beach I went. No traffic on a weekend morning made for a soothing overcast winter’s drive.

The Fuji exhibit feature the traditional dance of the meke.

Upon my arrival at the show, I pick up my media credentials and the place is packed. Who would have guessed it? In my first thirty seconds on the trade show floor, this excited, attractive girl glides over speaking a million miles and over. At 20 or 21 years old, she wasn’t quite whom I had expected to meet here. She was desperate to find Andrew Zimmern. You know him, he’s the Travel Channel host of Bizarre Foods. I mean she’s in a hurry but she says she forgot her show guide at the scuba dive pool and was now very lost—shades of The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

“Scuba Dive Pool? Are you kidding me? Are you pulling my leg?,” I questioned her, to which she says coyly: “Show me to Andrew’s presentation and I’ll show you to the Scuba Dive Pool.”

For obvious reasons, I’m excited myself as the conversation escalates to the pace of her fast walking. The entire time, however, she’s gushing about Andrew Zimmern. My mind raced with inquisitive thoughts. Is she a true foodie? Or a Zimmern groupie/stalker? What in her rather large Louis Vuitton duffle? All I know is that it’s urgent she get there on time to see him and get her book signed.

When we get theater where he is speaking, it’s packed. Standing room only with hundreds there. As I begin to excuse myself, she asks where I’m going to which I reply that I don’t want to stand for an hour listening to bizarre food talk.

Her reply?

“Wait a minute!” From out of nowhere she pulls out two collapsible seats from her Louis Vuitton and whisks us near the front of the stage.

We sit down and she pours me a homemade cardamom coffee from her thermos and the conversation continues about how she can’t get enough of Andrew Zimmern and how he’s amazing and she waits every year to go to this show in order to plan her vacation for the following year.

The Scuba Dive Pool sponsored by www.beAdiver.com was home to an 18,000 gallon heated dive pool where you could learn the basics of diving.

Again I think to myself, “Are you kidding me? A travel show to plan a vacation? Isn’t that why they invented the Internet? (Yeah I know they invented the Internet for THAT. I mean besides THAT?) What about all the travel shows on Discovery, Nat Geo and the Food Network? What about Travel+Leisure magazine? Aren’t they the experts?”

As I begin to ask her if I was indeed being tricked, she blurted out a huge “SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! He’s coming.”

From there I was on my own.

She was riveted to every word he said. And you know what? He was pretty damned interesting. Along the way I learned a few of his hot spots for traveling foodies, including:

Aleppo, Syria: “This former Spice Route capitol was the world’s greatest food city a thousand years ago and is still one today. Paved with ancient pathways, it’s perfect blend of Middle East and North Africa.”
Barcelona, Spain: “Barcelona offers a remarkable depth and breadth of eateries. The best in Spanish cuisine is well represented here.”
Montreal, Quebec: “It’s a city with more culinary balls than any other on earth. Classic eats, street fare, indulgent, boozy, chef-driven, extreme cuisine.”
Taipei, China: “I love Chinese cuisine, maybe above all else. The night market in Taipei offers what is perhaps the best street eats on the planet narrowly beating out Penang’s New Lane and Singapore’s hawker stalls.”
Venice, Italy: “It’s the perfect walking city, dark and brooding at night, hidden and mysterious, and the food is once again on par with the town itself.”

After the presentation I wasn’t about to wait around for the guy who stole the girl I never had, so I walked the show—and what a glorious walk it was.

Amongst 400 exhibitors, I got a closer look at local and international destinations, familiar favorites and some under-the-radar escapes that are still somewhat crowd free even in high season. Take the Falklands.

For nature and wildlife lovers, the Falklands are the place.

With a life-sized portrait of penguins as the backdrop to the exhibit area, I was able to have a lovely conversation with Kylie, their marketing rep, who was happy to gush about the South Atlantic archipelago of 700 plus islands. Prior to the show, the only thing I knew about them was that it was the flashpoint of the 1982 war where Britain decided to prove to the world they could still fight like a world power. What I discovered was that the Falklands feature raw and unblemished nature with 227 species of birds, whales, dolphins, elephant seals and sea lions roaming the air, land and ocean. And, if you’re a fan of royalty, Prince William is going there in February as part of his duties as a search and rescue pilot with the Royal Air Force. $2900 for an eight-day trip started to sound pretty good by the end of the conversation. Pretty, pretty good.

And as much as I wanted to see Samantha Brown [of the Travel Channel’s Passport show] wax poetic about stellar destinations, I was glued to the Global Beats Stage. There I found dancers from Indonesia, Guam, Taiwan, Spain, China and Malaysia, not to mention some belly dancing and a mesmerizing performance by Vedat. [Click below to see him comically explain Turkish love songs.]

As the day came to an end at 5:00 P.M., I caught a glimpse of my old new friend leaving the convention center, signed book in hand acting as if she won the lottery. It was then when I answered my own question from earlier. Where else could I experience the flavors of Berlin, Taiwan, Hawaii, Fiji, Ethiopia and hundreds of other destinations, climb a rock wall, gather in an Andrew Zimmern presentation, ride a zip line and scuba dive all in a single afternoon?

Only at the L.A. Travel & Adventure Show…

Epilogue

If you missed the show, the same folks who organized this one have three more in the next two months: the Chicago Travel & Adventure Show, January 28-29 at the Stephens Convention Center; the Bay Area Travel & Adventure Show , February 18-19 at the Santa Clara Convention Center; and the Washington D.C. Travel & Adventure Show, March 17-18 at the Washington Convention Center. Click here if you want to know more.

The post Travel & Adventure Show: Skepticism Eliminated appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.