Lavoris Mouthwash, Adams Gum, Serutan Toner, Rose Milk Body Moisturizer, Ipana Toothpaste and Burma Shave were once successful and well-known brands. Each of them experienced precipitous decline as consumer preferences changed and failed to adapt and evolve. The consumer franchise each built has been largely lost, with the exception of Burma Shave.

The Burma Vita Company originally introduced a liniment based on ingredients purportedly sourced from Burma and Malaysia. Sales never took off. In an effort to find a more mass market product, the Company introduced a brushless shaving cream called Burma Shave in 1925. The shaving cream was not particularly unique or different from other products of the time. The company knew it needed a marketing hook to drive sales.

The 1920s was really the first decade that car culture took off in the United States. Henry Ford’s Model T sold in the millions as he lowered prices by using mass production and perfecting assembly line techniques. States and cities built highways so car owners would finally have all-weather, passable streets and highways to traverse in their new horseless carriages. The service culture on the road was just beginning with the appearance of restaurants, motels and gas stations to accommodate the new mobile population.

Clinton Odell, owner of Burma Shave, saw an opportunity to promote his new shaving cream. He created the Burma Shave recurring billboard ad campaign alongside the road. To anyone traveling the country roads in the mid-20th century, the ubiquitous Burma Shave advertisements were quirky, humorous, cheeky and memorable; all the elements that make Advertising, Marketing and Branding campaigns successful. From 1925 through the early 1960s, this strategy made Burma Shave the second best-selling shaving cream product in the United States.

At its peak, the Burma Shave billboard campaign consisted of some 600 sets of six spaced billboards that constantly rhymed and made car passengers curious as to what the joke in each set would be. Over the years, some of the series would become topical, like a series about drunk driving or World War II. Here are several examples.

Don’t stick/Your elbow/Out so far away/You could go home/In another car/Burma shave

A peach/Looks good/Lots of fuzz/But no man peaches/And never wuz/Burma Shave

Past/Schools/Take it easy/Let the little ones grow/Shavers/Burma Shave

This classic marketing and advertising strategy was doomed to fail as automobiles got faster, road surfaces improved to accept higher speeds, and the interstate highway system was completed and rural roads were largely bypassed. through travelers. Philip Morris purchased Burma Shave in the 1960s and legal counsel advised the new owners to discontinue the program on liability grounds. Burma Shave’s recurring billboard remains a beloved piece of Americana for many older Americans. Burma Shave is still sold in thousands of stores as a cheap product.

Several very successful modern brands have adapted a variant of the Burma Shave strategy. Billboards remain popular advertising vehicles. However, the cost and permits required to display a Burma Shave-type recurring advertisement on multiple equidistant billboards would be prohibitive. The press and television are the best vehicles currently available to take on a contemporary version of this technique.

Progressive and Geico are insurance giants. Both have managed to perfect a video version of the Burma Shave campaign. They run a series of recurring, interconnected ads that use memorable characters to create familiarity, quirkiness, humor, and goodwill for their brands. The Geico caveman, the green gecko, and Flo, the bossy, red-haired clerk, have become cult personalities. The bumbling Scott Trade, the playboy runner, and the E-Trade baby are other examples of campaigns that have redacted much of what made the Burma Shave show so successful in its time and place.

My marketing consulting company often runs a modern print version of the Burma Shave campaign for the right clients. We write and design a series of print advertorials that are informative, soft-selling, light-toned, memorable, and set the customer on how to go to the service provider in their space for answers on a particular topic. This works, it’s affordable, and it provides messaging continuity.

Years ago we had a client who wanted to launch a golf product. His budget was very limited. We created a series of decals that he placed on the bottom of each of the 18 holes of a golf course. When the golfer finished each hole, he had to reach for the cup to retrieve his ball, and as he progressed and completed each hole, the player watched the images and advertising messages. The product was for sale in the pro shop. Dirty rumbled. The pro club, the retail pro shop on the course, and our client all benefited.

The Burma Shave campaign contained certain elements that can be tailored to your specific needs. The flow of humor, fantasy, and reinforcement of your brand awareness are enhanced by employing this strategy. Take advantage and make this work for you.