The Turbine Drive Buick '60: Buick's All Time Best

In addition to the traditional automobile brochure, the direct mail piece started to become popular in the late 1950's. It was smaller than the full brochure, but offered much more information than the traditional postcard and was an attempt to get people excited enough to call the dealership. It is sometimes referred to as a "teaser."

Buick was only in their second year with McCann-Erickson when this piece was created and the two were still dialing in their message. Mc Cann believed in heroic photography that made the car into the star, and although full brochures included both photography and rendering, this 1960 direct mail piece is exclusively done of photography. It's a very glamorous piece indeed and makes extensive use of lifestyle depiction and well dressedmodels.

There's an understated tone to the piece. The cover shows no car at all, just a peaceful woodsy outdoor scene. The colors are done in cool blues, with a few brighter accents but the overall impression is soft and reassuring. The launch slogan of The Car: Buick 59 was not retained and the new tagline is The Turbine Drive Buick '60. The venerable Dynaflow has been renamed Turbine Drive, and much emphasis is being placed on Buick's updated styling, and new Mirromagic instrument panel, along with performance and comfort that are traditional Buick virtues.

It's not known how effective this piece was as the industry was still suffering the effects of a severe postwar recession and Buick wouldn't recover sales momentum until they launched the compact new '61 Special. But nonetheless it's an awesome of early McCann-Erickson for Buick and is worth checking out.