David EilersJanuary 20, 2017

August 1961 You Can't Hide From the Facts Hippo? Brochure

This August 1961 Jeep Family brochure called "You Can't Hide from the Fact" featured a hippo trying to hide behind a small tree. It's not clear to me why they used all the cutesy animal references during this time period. This is Form No. DM61-08.

5 Comments

MikeJanuary 20, 2017 at 1:08 PM
I think part of this cutesy marketing strategy was to appeal to women, get their husbands to buy a Willys Jeep vehicle as a second car. I remember noticing a change in advertising leading up to the introduction of the Wagoneer in the fall of 1962. Up until this point, Jeeps were considered a "MAN'S VEHICLE" and Kasier wanted to change that perception, and increase sales. There were a few of these dealer mailers with specialized themes to appeal to different segments of the market based on the theory that dealers knew their customers, a way of planting a subliminal message. I figured this out when I was a kid, 12 years old in 1962, even then I realized this was, MARKETING GENIUS.
BobJanuary 20, 2017 at 1:56 PM
Love that Jeep Mounted broom
David EilersJanuary 20, 2017 at 4:16 PM
LOL @ Mike :-) They definitely had to shift (bifurcate is more accurate) marketing when they entered the semi-luxury segment with the Wagoneer.
MikeJanuary 20, 2017 at 6:21 PM
A question that comes to mind, Did Kaiser Willys do it's own in house, advertising & marketing, or did they hire a independent advertising agency to do this? Just wondering, I realize a lot of past Kaiser Willys corporate background information has been lost to the passage of time, all this trivial information iinterests me.
David EilersJanuary 20, 2017 at 9:22 PM
It interests me as well. I don't know the answer to that. The answer might be in the Henry Kaiser archives at Cal Berkeley.