A
long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… (in Boston, Massachusetts.) Back
when The Beatles were still a group, I was a wannabe advertising guy stuck as a
communications major in a town that invented the “wind chill factor.”
I was
given an assignment to develop an advertising program for an existing company.
Now it’s fair to say that I was more of a muscle car guy (having a GTO) than a
foreign car guy, but for some mysterious reason unknown to me now, I chose
Jaguar as my assignment.
I had long hair, was cocky, and been known to take
mind-altering concoctions. I always thought my advertising ideas were going to
change America, no “plop, plop, fizz fizz,” or “that’s one-a spicey meat-a ball.”
I was going to change things and have a social agenda to boot, probably a Frey
boot, anyway now with the current bruhaha because of Mad Men, imagine, my first
assignment I chose was Jaguar. Not a real macho second-generation Italian kinda
car.
This all came back to me like a “flash back“ because of the recent press on
the XKE. My first attempt was a picture of a pair of Italian gloves…. only $4,957
and they come with a 1967 XKE… lame… maybe.
But remember, it was the 60’s and Nixon was President. My next attempt was
received with, “Mr. Squitieri very interesting…” Another magazine ad with the
following letters taking up most of the page… A B C D F G H I J L M N O P Q R S
T U V W XKE… ”We not only invented the English language we
reinvented the alphabet…”
I would like to say thank God I never made it into
advertising, maybe Jaguar wouldn’t be around today, or I’d be hanging from the
back of my office door, or both.
I would like to commend Jaguar and how they handled
the recent press. We’ve always had reliability as an issue. We are the first to
admit we had and are able to have some fun with it. I guess the real theme is, can
you imagine the most beautiful car ever made was only $4,957?
