For people who love classic advertising, there are few commercials more irresistible than the TV ads of The Himmel Group. While Himmel Group is not well known, its former brands and ads are. There is that Doan’s Pills “back” and the Porcelana lady. Brands associated with Himmel over the yearsMORE HERE
One of the great forgotten American brands is Coca-Cola’s Tab. While it is still sold, and has a sort of cult following, products like Tab are always at risk of being shut down. After all, who would have thought that there would be no more Polaroid film after this year?MORE HERE
This weekend in Sarasota, we met a fantastic lady, Ruth Hartman, who was one of the early pioneers of advertising in New York. She had worked at three major ad agencies in New York City (including Dancer Fitzgerald) at a time when women were far and few. We asked afterMORE HERE
What’s returning? The House of the Future at Disneyland. No longer sponsored by Monsanto, a company perhaps too busy with corn licensing to find anything amusing about it, will re-open in May in Tomorowland. Knight Rider. NBC is bringing it back, without David Hasslehoff. What’s disappeared? Polaroid. The company willMORE HERE
What makes a brand stand out? Doing something different. Go to The Monkey Room at The Colony Beach and Tennis Resort on Longboat Key in Sarasota, Florida. There you will find: Monkeys painted on the walls doing funky things A piano lounge singer, right out of another groovin’ era AndMORE HERE
It looks likely that there are going to be some airline mergers, including a possible Northwest and Delta combination. In the process, a great airline brand could be lost. We hope it is not Northwest. Because Northwest is one of the coolest airlines around. It still runs the DC-9. AndMORE HERE
NEW YORK – The demolition of New York’s Hotel Pennsylvania looks a bit less likely with troubles on Wall Street, though it is still not safe. Merrill Lynch, the investment firm that would have occupied an office tower on the location, has other things to worry about. There is notMORE HERE
One of the zippiest little Fords of all time will return to the U.S. market. It’s the Fiesta. The folks at Ford didn’t bring it back to please America. If that were the case, Ford would be bringing back the Country Squire, Galaxie 500 and Model A. No, the FiestaMORE HERE
The Detroit Electric brand is set to return almost 60 years after it shut down. Its hopefully the first of many American automotive brands that are is tapping into American automotive history for for some attention. Once only a museum exhibit, the resuscitated brand is a joint announcement between USMORE HERE
AUBURN HILLS – The news on Chrysler isn’t good. The company announced yesterday that it was drastically scaling down its dealer network, only a few months after killing off models like the PT Cruiser. The move will cost dealers millions, and is necessary because Chrysler isn’t selling enough cars toMORE HERE