Brand: Harley Davidson
Agency: Carmichael Lynch, USA
Year: 2002
I can imagine a marketing department today looking at this amazing print ad while foaming and yelling something like "Where's the product?" or " Yeah... can we insert the features somewhere? Maybe in bullet points over the image? I mean you can hardly see the motorcycle!" or even "Why can't I read the text? And can you make the headline the bottom copy and the bottom copy the headline?".
In my opinion, this is an ad for the ages. It's so simple, so beautiful and so clearly made with care and dedication that if it hadn't won any awards it would have been a crime.
AD BREAKDOWN
Take a look at that headline. Really. Just take a good look at that headline. If that doesn't make you want to throw your work in the trash and work harder I don't know what will. This headline is a masterclass on how to tell a story in a single line. It's not only funny but it's emotional. You can easily relate to the story it tells, even if you've never been on an airplane. In all fairness the overarching concept has already been done to death but to me this only elevates the ad even more as it takes a lot of effort to be able to create something this original and good out of a concept that's so overused (it's the concept of freedom, just in case you didn't get it).
Then you have the photo. Shot by Chris Winpey, this photo integrates a whole campaign that won many awards in its own right but for me this ad is the best one of the series, not only because of the headline - I mean the other headlines are clever and all but none reaches the heights of this one - but also because of this amazing shot of a motorcycle just going its own way (you know, freedom!). Plus the art direction is also spot on. Choosing this particular photo with this particular framing instead of going the easy way out with a close-up was the touch of genius needed to elevate this ad to the stratosphere and in all fairness to turn a simple line into a great headline. Ok, the layout is a bit dated but it really doesn't take anything away from the mastery of this print ad.
TRIED AND TRUE CONCEPT + WHOLE BEING MORE THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS
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A STORY WELL TOLD
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