Style...An Endangered Species - Vintage Ad Review

Pretentious living in 1970s Ohio

^ Read by a robot trying to impersonate me. Forgive the delivery, it’s doing its best.

TLDR: Quail Meadows of Wildwood is the most stylish place you could live in 1978 Ohio. But it didn't last because this ad lacked one key element.

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This is the first, of hopefully many, Vintage Ad Reviews. I've long been fascinated by advertising (not to be confused with marketing). It's not just a sense of nostalgia or an opportunity to laugh at yesteryear's style. 

Though it is that, too.

It's about the context of an era. Before the internet, ads had to work much harder to inform and persuade. Before computer-aided graphics, page layout was a time-consuming chore with x-acto knives and tape.

Not to mention the extra decades of academic and pop-sci research on persuasion that modern marketers can exploit.

I want to know what we can still learn from these ancient ads. Hence, this series. Let's kick it off with this beauty promoting Quail Meadows of Wildwood from the October 1978 issue of Cincinnati Magazine.

Let's see if we can back our way into this ad's strategy.

First Impressions

Everything about the hero image screams style, which the headline doubles down on. Herringbone pillars, the stack of candles on the coffee table, jumbo chess set end table, the carousel horse flower pot next to...an urn? Damn.

But the elements of 'style' don't stop there. The font, which appears to be Friz Quadrata, is playful and a touch elegant. This further enriches the sense of style associated with Quail Meadows of Wildwood.

Further - that deep burgundy background oozes royal sophistication.

The advertiser clearly has a target market in mind, and they're wearing it on their proverbial sleeve. 

Quail Meadows is for the exceedingly rare and elite gentleman and lady living on a level far beyond the plebs of Cincinnati.

Or those who like to think they are.

Wait. Scratch that. I'm jumping ahead, but paragraph 4 of the ad copy spells out the target market: unencumbered ladies, family persons, just plain single folk, newlyweds, and men of leisure.

So very exclusive!

Reading Further: Ad Copy

The rarer it becomes, the more important it is to pursue.

Oy. They're laying this on thick. Only in the second paragraph do we discover what we're being sold.

Town Properties has created Quail Meadows of Wildwood as a conservatory of lifestyles. Not just one, but many - all different, but all with style.

Cool! A lifestyle conservatory! 

Paragraph three finally spells it out: townhomes. Stylish townhomes.

So, all in all - the ad does an excellent job in its presentation - it's precisely what the men of leisure and unencumbered ladies are after. But, alas, it's not perfect. The ad needs a clear call to action. 

Was it successful?

The only modern reference to "Quail Meadows at Wildwood" I've found is a real estate listing from 2006.

3 big patios, 2 car garage, yard barn with overhead door loft. Must see this extremely well cared for home. Quail Meadows of Wildwood Garden entry with steps to front door 2 bedrooms each bath Vaulted ceilings, WBFP, formal dining Detached garage. $119,900.

There's also the swanky Villages of Wildwood on Ross Road (same as the address in the ad), which is the more likely evolution of such a stylish origin.

I believe that the lack of a Quail Meadows website suggests that the original development did not succeed in its goal of being a conservatory of lifestyles. Though its presumed successor, Villages of Wildwood, seems to be carrying on the legacy of housing for fancy people.

I'm going to blame the disappearance of Quail Meadows on the lack of a solid call to action in this ad, and nothing else.

That is to say: No - this ad was not successful.

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What do you think

Parnell Thill

&

Dan Jandl

does this add pass the 3x3 Analysis?