Marketing that shaped our youth

The sad loss of Willy Wonka aka Gene Wilder last month prompted my Facebook post that read “To the best marketer of my youth, I opened chocolate bars always wishing for a golden ticket” and it seriously was a major influence for my lifelong sweet tooth. So this month, I interviewed the Threesides team to see what marketing influenced and shaped their youth well before the likes of Facebook, Instagram and YouTube came along. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and see how many you remember.

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• “Which bank” hooked you in to save money from the age of five? Dollarmites accounts have survived many generations and it must have worked because guess which Canberra marketing company still banks with them?
• It wasn’t until we were adults that most of us discovered that Yoplait is actually not French for yum but by then it was too late, we were hooked.

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Tunes that stuck and stuck and stuck

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• We were un-Australian to not be a Happy Little Vegemite, mad about Caramello Koalas or drink Cottees cordials with such catchy jingles that repeated year after year after year. We even sang parodies about dad picking his nose and sending it to Snottees but we still drank it.

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But wait there’s more…tunes that the Threesides Team couldn’t let you forget:

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• Roses chocolates – Thank you very much for being helpful and doing the dishes
• Banana Boat – maybe don’t listen to this one, you’ll be singing it for days but if I said Banana Boat, how can you not resist singing “di di didit Banana Boat dit ditit di”.
• Only Mr Matey  in 1988 could get kids to want their CLOTHES OFF!!
• We all call Australia home thanks to Qantas
• And then there was that “Big Ad” – we can all thank Carlton Draught for that.

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Charitable marketing

Works out we’re not just about making money, some of the more charitable and memorable marketing from our earlier years:

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• The Guide Dog Collection Boxes were a hit with the Threesides kiddies.
• One Threesides’ Director (no names disclosed) thought Rotary was a hospital because they were always trying to eradicate polio. Clearly, collecting coins on his classroom world map left a lasting impression because we love marketing the Rotary Club of Hall’s Capital Region Farmers Market at Threesides.
• But who could not donate to creatures great and small thanks to RSPCA, still running this add 28 year later.

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Freebies

However, it is the so called “free” giveaways that the Threesides Team remembered most, McDonalds the clear winner, with Happy Meal toys and the free cheeseburger that they gave away at Little Athletics – ohh, those were the good old unhealthy days.

We’ve thought about ours, did we miss your favourties? What marketing shaped your youth? Jump on Facebook and let us know what marketing still sticks with you today.