Ads Then and Now

Coca-Cola
Target Audience: Anyone at all was the target audience for the old ad, it was simply a free glass and the intent was to get you hooked. It works well because, well it’s free. The new ad is playing off comedy as most new ads do. It doesn’t say anything in particular but tells you Coke is cool, refreshing and everyone wants a taste
Unique Benefit: For the old ad, a free soda. For the new one, a depiction of how a cold Coke on a hot day is great.
Creativity Old/New: The old one is rumored to be the first coupon which is huge, a great way to generate interest. The new one is funny, well carried out and subtle. It has just the right balance of all the aspects to make it effective and easy to digest.
Strategies Old/New: The old strategy is to give you a free taste of the product which almost guaranties they would try it. If they like it and purchase more it’s a homerun, but it might not have yielded a return.
Old Ad: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:19th_century_Coca-Cola_coupon.jpg
New Ad: http://www.toxel.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/cocacolaads1.jpg

Gillete
Target Audience: For both ads its men who need to shave.
Unique Benefit: The old ad is all about shaving at home, in three minutes. This was a big deal at the time and probably sold a lot of razors. The new one doesn’t really have a unique benefit; it’s a well-established product line so they can get away with it.
Creativity Old/New: The old ads creativity is in the innovation of the product itself, the ad is dry and mainly text. The new one is playing off of “No-Shave November” and as usual, going for the punch line.
Strategies Old/New: The old ad sells you something new and convenient while the new one try’s to make you associate the company name positively. This is an attempt to passively make you pick them in the shopping aisle.
Old Ad: http://www.bruceonshaving.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Gillette-Advertisement-Think-when-you-shave.jpg
New Ad: http://www.toxel.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/cads01.jpg

Ford
Target Audience: The old ad is appealing to anyone looking for a car and value. The range of competitors was small so they had the most power available and that, plus price was a good selling point. The new ad uses the sex appeal of the car and the large amount of power to sell men a sports car.
Unique Benefit: The old one has value and a clear advantage over the competition, more power. The new one is all about power and doesn’t really make any claims about it or why you need it which isn’t very effective.
Creativity Old/New: The old one didn’t really have anything spectacular about it but the picture of the car and the ribbon are eye catching. So if you are looking into a car it will grab your attention, the new one is just basic. It uses good design principles but I don’t find it that engaging.
Strategies Old/New: The old one is based on practicality, good car and good value. It’s geared towards people making an educated choice which is a large demographic. The new one is just selling you a fast car, not telling you anything about it or showing you the whole car so your interest drives you to look for more information on your own. This is what makes it rather ineffective in my opinion.
Old Ad: http://www.ctmhv.com/images/images_museum/ford_model_f_ad.jpg
New Ad: http://cdn.stangnet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/2011_mustang_promo.jpg
(I know this is a screen shot of a video ad but I’ve seen an almost identical poster)

Conclusion:
Ad tactics have taken a much more subversive approach to making a connection with customers. Using mainly comedy and vague but vivid or beautiful art work they grab at emotional ties to un-emotional things. If an add makes you laugh, stop in your tracks or talk about it the next day at work than it is considered successful. Instead of sales figures, companies want staying power and brand identification as their paramount points of customer contact.
This is a big change from the days in which these three companies first started advertising. Ads are now more about the people that they are geared towards than the products themselves.