Sunday, March 15, 2020

"He stopped all conventional advertising of his apparel and devoted his entire ad budget to public service announcements...."

"The second campaign urged people to vote by showing footage of Hitler and suggesting that voting was the way 'to keep fools like these out of our government.'"

From "Herb Goldsmith, the Man Behind the Members Only Jacket, Dies at 92/An aggressive marketer, he used celebrities to promote his brand. Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson and two presidents wore his jackets" (NYT).
On a trip to Germany in 1978, he saw a jacket with epaulets and a Nehru collar. Using a shiny chintz fabric from Japan, he designed his own version of it, with a slim fit, knitted ribbing at the waist and cuffs, and a strap at the collar. He offered it in a rainbow of colors, though he was colorblind, with a discreet “Members Only” tag stitched below the breast pocket....

“Our philosophy was to associate the brand name with a company that cared about critical issues,” Mr. Goldsmith wrote. “The results proved that we were right.”