The Web Page of Kristopher Linquist

By Peter DeLorenzo

"Yes."

Detroit. There have been many memorable automotive ads over the years. There was the famous "The Penalty of Leadership" ad done for Cadillac back in 1915, which was written by Theodore F. MacManus and is simply one of the greatest print ads ever written. The ad appeared only once in the The Saturday Evening Post and never mentioned the name Cadillac but opened with the following sentences:

"In every field of endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested in a man or a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction.

When a man's work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes the target for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be merely mediocre, he will be left severely alone. If he achieves a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues a-wagging."

The ad went on from there, each sentence building on top of the other to deliver an impact that resonates to this day. MacManus closed the ad with this:

"If the leader truly leads, he remains the leader. Master poet, master painter, master workman, each in his turn is assailed and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live - lives."

It was just eight years later that another ad appeared - this one capturing the passion and the spirit of the automobile as an unbridled romantic adventure. Edward S. (Ned) Jordan, who owned the Jordan Motor Car Company in Cleveland, Ohio, just happened to also be a gifted writer who knew that it wasn't enough to regurgitate the standard specification copy of the day in ads. To differentiate his cars from everything else out there, he wanted to get at the raw emotion and feeling of freedom that the automobile had brought to the American scene. So, in the June 1923 edition of The Saturday Evening Post, an ad appeared for the Jordan Playboy with this memorable copy:

"SOMEWHERE west of Laramie there's a bronco-busting girl who knows what I'm talking about. She can tell what a sassy pony, that's a cross between greased lightning and the place where it hits, can do with eleven hundred pounds of steel and action when he's going high, wide and handsome.

The truth is - the Playboy was built for her.

Built for the lass whose face is brown with the sun when the day is done of revel and romp and race. She loves the cross of the wild and the tame. There's a savor of links about that car ***208; of laughter and lilt and light ***208; a hint of old loves ***208; and saddle and quirt. It's a brawny thing ***208; yet a graceful thing for the sweep o' the Avenue.

Step into the Playboy when the hour grows dull with things gone dead and stale. Then start for the land of real living with the spirit of the lass who rides, lean and rangy, into the red horizon of a Wyoming twilight."

The ad created a sensation - and all of a sudden romance and emotional fulfillment became the norm in car ads as automakers tried to emulate the raw spirit of Jordan's brilliant ad copy.

There have been many great ads since those two over the years. And all of them shared a common thread - evocative, emotional writing stirs the soul and creates memorable impact, every time.

Today, I'm happy to comment on a new ad that has been appearing in newspapers and magazines across the country. The ad is simply headlined with the word, "No." - and it's a new image statement from BMW that captures the very essence of the BMW soul - probably even rekindling the company's own internal spirit in the process, reminding them why they actually do the things they do. The copy is simply brilliant - each word resonating with meaning while perfectly setting the cadence for the reader. Here it is:

"The ability to say no to compromise is a rare thing these days. Many companies would like to be able to say it, but so few have the autonomy to actually do it. As an independent company, BMW can say no. No, we will not compromise our ideas. No, we will not do it the way everyone else does it. No, we will not factor designs down to the lowest common denominator. No, we will not sell out to a parent company who will meddle in our affairs and ask us to subject our cars to mass market vanilla-ism.

Because we can say no to compromise, we can say yes to other things - such as building our vehicles with 50/50 weight distribution for superior handling and control, despite the fact that it costs more to build them that way. It's thousands of little things like this that separates BMW from other car companies. By maintaining our autonomy and ability to say no, we can make sure great ideas live on to become ultimate driving machines."

That's it - 175 words that serve as an epic reminder to every other car company in the world of why they will never be like BMW. More important, it reminds consumers how one car company can take "marching to a different drummer" to a high art form.

It's interesting, too, because there are three other companies who would be dying to say the same thing in their ads, but they can't.

Mercedes-Benz? Despite their protestations otherwise and their newly rediscovered arrogance on display in their advertising, they compromised their ideas such a long time ago that they will have a very hard time convincing people that they're back. And with singularly uninspiring vehicles like the R-Class and the loathsome GL truck, they aren't likely to convince me anytime soon.

Porsche? Too many mixed messages, too many instances of three steps forward and five back to convince me that they could stand behind the words in the BMW ad. After all, they're an independent company, too, one fiercely loyal and proud of their autonomy - but on too many occasions they've squandered opportunities to reestablish their founder's spirit and vision. No one put a gun to their heads and forced them to produce the Cayenne - an overweight, overwrought tribute to "mass market vanilla-ism" if there ever were one - when they could have and should have produced something visionary and truly different.

Lexus? Their "relentless pursuit of perfection" is not about the cars themselves, but about the customer service that they wrap them in - albeit unequaled in the industry - but when it comes down to the actual vehicles, they build vacuous, soulless conveyances offering little to the driver beyond that stellar customer service.

But the words in this BMW statement ad hit home in Detroit more so than anywhere else, because engineering to the "lowest common denominator" wasn't just taken to a high art form here - it became a religion. No Detroit car company would dare say them, because except for the True Believers (whom I described last week) - they're not only incapable of believing it, they simply don't get it. The BMW words are anathema to the bean-counter-driven culture in Detroit, where mediocrity is bliss and where it's never about what's right, but on how little they need to spend and how much they can get away with while doing it - which is why the financial types in this town will never save any car company by themselves, not in a million years.

(There is only one other car company in the world that could stand behind the words offered in this latest BMW ad - and that is Ferrari, but last time I checked, they don't have to advertise.) But I digress...

Though I've been highly critical of BMW in the past (I refuse to get on the Chris Bangle bandwagon, by the way. When I see how other car companies are now copying the rear end of the 7 series, I don't consider it a compliment - I consider it a blatant indictment of their own limited vision and proof of their reluctance to do anything but follow. Crap, at the end of the day, is merely crap.), this ad stands alone as the quintessential example of a company not only having a philosophy, but believing in it so much that it drives everything they do. And the fact that it's a sharp stick in the eye of every other car company is just icing on the cake.

In short, other companies say it, but BMW means it.

But it took an ad entitled "No." to remind everybody just how much that's true.

And to that I say, "Yes."