Bill Bernbach; the man who made Americans fall in love with 'the people's car', from Hitler

Germany, late 1950s. Heinrich Nordhoff, head of Volkswagen, aims to expand in the US market. By his side is Carl Hahn, head of sales promotion in VW's export department. Over time, he would become the company's president. They face a figure: one hundred thousand. This is the number of Volkswagen Beetles sold in the United States in 1958 alone. However, in a market where sales reach five million vehicles, one hundred thousand is almost insignificant. Thus, a strong advertising campaign is needed.

Carl Hahn visits the United States, exploring the major advertising agencies on Madison Avenue. He cannot hide his disappointment with the bland and cluttered mock-ups shown to him: conventional scenes of families admiring the Beetle in their driveways.

An American dealer tells him about a young advertising agency called DDB. The name comes from the first letter of the founders' surnames: Ned Doyle, Maxwell Dane, and Bill Bernbach. Bill Bernbach is the driving force of this group. Born in New York in 1911, he worked as a delivery boy in a distillery at 22. But his passion for communication led him to convince his boss to let him join the company's marketing department.

On the eve of World War II, he was already a recognized advertiser working at the prestigious Grey Advertising firm. He was entrusted with the portfolios of the most important clients, with the largest budgets like Menen cosmetics. However, he saw advertising very differently, felt uncomfortable, and clashed with some superiors who were too rigid and immobile for his way of thinking.

It was inevitable. In 1949, he left Grey Advertising with the idea of starting a new project, an agency named DDB. Located in the heart of Manhattan, it quickly secured contracts with major companies like Polaroid and Israeli airline El Al, always with a distinctive sense of irreverent humor.

The automotive sector involves large contracts. Accounts like Ford, General Motors, or Chrysler are coveted by advertising agencies. But DDB would enter this sector with an unexpected brand.

Carl Hahn approached DDB and was impressed by Bernbach's honesty: he had no mock-ups, concepts, or ideas to offer, attributing it to his unfamiliarity with the product. Instead, Bernbach and Hahn reviewed a catalog of their previous campaigns. Hahn liked DDB's advertising approach, and a bond was formed between them, signing a $600,000 contract.

And within DDB, conflict erupted: many of Bill Bernbach's collaborators were of Jewish origin and resisted helping to sell in the US the people's car dreamed up by Hitler. Sent to Germany, to the Wolfsburg factory, it is said they did not spare comments on the Nazi war crimes.

Perhaps they did not know, or did not want to know, that if that factory was standing and fully operational, launching the famous Volkswagen Beetles, it was not precisely because of Hitler but because of British commander Ivan Hirst, a 28-year-old engineer assigned by the British, when they entered their zone of occupation in Germany in June 1945, to the fiduciary administration of Volkswagenwerk.

Hirst had to face not only material ruin but also human: hundreds of former workers, wandering and unemployed, struggled to dig up a few potatoes from the frozen ground to have something to eat. An engineer presented him one day with two vehicles, hand-assembled by those hungry, unpaid workers, with parts salvaged from the rubble and with the sole hope of regaining some sense of purpose.

Astonished by such resilience, Hirst decided to move heaven and earth to ensure the facilities were not demolished but instead regained their purpose: car manufacturing. But the task was not easy: destroyed or removed machinery, lack of raw materials, difficulties in supplying food to workers... In such conditions, one had to have very clear ideas and an indomitable will.

And Hirst was the right person at the right time. He searched for machinery and parts among the ruins and managed to save several Kubelwagen chassis. Colonel Michael McEvoy, Ivan Hirst's superior, supported the resumption of civilian production in Wolfsburg. For McEvoy, the car was not unknown: he had already seen the Volkswagen sedan in 1939 at the Berlin International Motor Show.

And to convince the British Military Government, he presented at headquarters a vehicle Hirst had found in the factory and painted khaki. On August 22, 1945, the British military government issued an order to supply 20,000 vehicles to the military administration. Two weeks later, a second order for another 20,000 vehicles followed. This meant the factory's dismantling was postponed for four years... And by 1948, the factory was producing 19,000 vehicles, of which approximately a quarter were destined for export. They had been saved.

So let's return to our story, to 1958. The internal discussions at DDB eventually transformed into a groundbreaking advertising campaign: Helmut Krone accepted the challenge of designing the ads, and Julian Koenig sat behind a typewriter to draft the text. Car advertisements had become excessively monotonous, and the anxiety for status was increasing among potential buyers.

Men felt less socially attractive for not having the latest car models. The advertising industry needed a change of approach, and Bill Bernbach saw the opportunity to create a cultural phenomenon. He was convinced that a singular and creative idea should be the centerpiece of an ad: "the magic is in the product," he proclaimed.

A different car, a different advertisement. While conventional billboards could barely accommodate the five meters of large American cars, Bernbach provoked by "losing" the Beetle in the middle of a large blank page. He imposed his famous slogan "Think small" when "Think big" reigned in the United States.

Another disruptive effect would be the black-and-white ad pages: Volkswagen could not afford to print them in color, which turned out to be an advantage when Life magazine published the ads. The magazine's pages were colorful, and Volkswagen's images created a notable effect... Or the self-critical humor: "It's ugly, but it gets you there."

Bernbach's campaigns won over the public. While American models were presented in ideal settings, with families representing the best face of the "American way of life," the Beetle appeared in less favorable situations (even on the roof...). And in 1962, it reached two hundred thousand annual registrations.

Sixty-five years later, VW and DDB continue their creative collaboration of over six decades. A few months ago, Glen Lomas, global president and COO of DDB Worldwide, stated: "Volkswagen is part of our DNA, and our love for the brand is unconditional. We constantly challenge ourselves and develop our collaboration to deliver more relevant and effective work." And Susanne Franz, Volkswagen's Global Marketing Director, affirmed: "DDB's track record and deep understanding of the Volkswagen brand are unmatched, and the seamless integration of new and existing Omnicom partners will take the collaboration to a new level. Our teams have always felt their dedication, love, and passion for the Volkswagen brand."

Bill Bernbach would pass away in 1982. He was the man who transformed advertising by mixing simplicity, humor, and insolence in his messages, desacralizing the automobile to make it attractive, friendly... His genius, his work, lives on.