the best car ad i ever saw didn't have a car in it
in 2011 i was just getting started in marketing. i didn't have a portfolio worth bragging about, and i was still figuring out what good creative actually looked like.
then i saw these.
mercedes-benz "left brain right brain," paint (2011)
three print ads for mercedes-benz. a brain split down the middle. the left side gray, structured, and precise. the right side exploding with color, music, paint, and motion.
i was obsessed. they were the wallpaper on my laptop, my desktop, and my phone. i'd stare at them for way too long, studying every detail. even back then, i knew exactly what they were doing. i just didn't realize how deeply they'd stay with me.
a bedtime conversation with my 8 year old brought it all rushing back.
a bedtime talk about how we think
last night, my son and i got into one of those big, wandering bedtime conversations. we started talking about creativity and how different people's brains seem to work.
i told him about his mom. she's a kick ass attorney here in connecticut, and she thinks the way the left side of those ads looks. analytical. linear. organized. she sees the path from point a to point b and walks it with total confidence.
then i told him about us. we're the right side. bright, vibrant, a little all over the place. we see colors and ideas and possibilities, and we figure out the path as we go.
neither one is better. our family works because we have both.
and lying there in the dark, it hit me all over again why i loved those ads so much.
look closely. there's no car.
go back and look at them again.
mercedes-benz "left brain right brain," music (2011)
mercedes-benz "left brain right brain," passion (2011)
there's no car. no headlights, no leather interior, no horsepower, no price. not even a mention of driving. just a small mercedes-benz logo tucked in the bottom corner with the line "the best or nothing."
that was the whole trick.
the ads weren't about the car. they were about the person who drives one.
the left side speaks to the engineer, the analyst, the person who reads every spec sheet and wants to know exactly how something works. its copy ends with "i know exactly who i am."
the right side speaks to the dreamer, the artist, the person who buys with their gut and wants to feel something every time they get behind the wheel. its copy ends with "i am everything i wanted to be."
mercedes didn't pick one. they told both people, without ever saying it out loud, we see you.
the story behind the campaign
the campaign was created by Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Y&R Interactive in Tel Aviv. Colmobil, the importer of Mercedes-Benz in Israel, launched it as a new image campaign built around the concept of left brain and right brain, and the ads first appeared in February 2011. the illustrations were created by Gil Aviyam and Lena Guberman.
according to the launch coverage, the main message was that Mercedes-Benz, like the brain, is a combination of opposites that come together to create something perfect: technological innovation and advanced engineering combined with inspiring design, creativity, and passion.
so it worked on two levels. it described the car, and it described the buyer, without ever showing either one.
here's the twist: the science is wrong
this is the part i love most as a marketer.
the whole "left brained vs. right brained" personality thing? it's a myth. after a two-year study, University of Utah researchers found no evidence that people preferentially use their left-brain or right-brain network more often. the team scanned the brains of 1,011 people between the ages of seven and 29 and divided the brain into 7,000 regions to see which were more lateralized. you can read the University of Utah's release on the study here.
so why does the ad still work?
because marketing isn't about how the brain is wired. it's about how people see themselves.
my wife would never describe herself as a free spirit. i'd never describe myself as "always in control." we each recognized ourselves instantly in one side of that ad. the science was wrong, but the insight was dead on.
why feeling beats facts
there's real data behind why this kind of advertising works.
in their landmark research for the IPA, The Long and the Short of It, Les Binet and Peter Field found that emotional advertising is twice as efficient as rational advertising and delivers twice the profit. their analysis covered 996 campaigns entered into the IPA Effectiveness Awards between 1980 and 2010.
even more interesting for a brand like mercedes: emotional campaigns are more profitable because they excel at reducing price sensitivity, which lets brands defend or raise their pricing over time.
that's how you sell a luxury car without showing the car. you don't sell the features. you sell who someone gets to be.
what this means for your brand
you don't need a mercedes budget to use this thinking. here's what those ads still teach me today.
1. sell the person, not the product. your customers aren't buying what you make. they're buying who they become when they buy it. figure out who that person is, then talk to them.
2. know that you probably have more than one kind of buyer. some of your customers want the details, the process, and the proof. others want to feel good about the decision. great brands speak to both.
3. trust your audience. mercedes never wrote "our car is for both kinds of people." they let the reader connect the dots. when people figure it out themselves, it sticks.
4. restraint is confidence. a tiny logo in the corner says more than a giant one ever could. only a brand that knows exactly who it is can afford to whisper.
5. make something people want to keep. i set these ads as my wallpaper for years. that's the real test. would someone save your marketing because they love it, not because they need it?
the best or nothing
after my son fell asleep, i sent the ads to my wife and told her about our conversation.
she was my fiancée back in 2011. we've been married fourteen years now. her reply came back right away: "you loved them so much."
she remembered. fifteen years, a wedding, two kids, and a whole career later, she still remembered how obsessed i was with three print ads for a car they never showed.
that's the power of great creative. it doesn't just sell something. it becomes part of your story.
i've worked on a lot of campaigns since then, and i've seen a lot of great ones. but if you asked me to name the one ad i'll remember for my entire career, it's this one. no question.
and now there's an 8 year old in my house who knows his mom thinks in straight lines, his dad thinks in color, and the world needs both.
that's not a bad lesson for a bedtime story. or for a brand.
want to build a brand people actually connect with, and remember? let's talk. reach out at anthony@theabcfirm.xyz or contact us.
