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It Will Never Be Morning Again In America

by Will

We lost a giant last month. Hal Riney, ad man extraordinaire, died on March 24. In the age of DVRs allowing us to fast forward over commercial breaks, it's hard to remember the impact a television ad can have on a culture. Riney made ads good enough to stop fast forwarding.

Most great advertisers get one, maybe two, legendary spots in their career. Hal Riney had three legendary campaigns. That may not sound like much, but imagine a baseball player hitting three times more homeruns in his career than anybody else. He was that good.

Riney made campaigns that stood out and presented brands with a compelling message, no matter what he was pitching. He played to your brain, making memorable statements, while playing to your emotions without turning saccharine. The Bartles and Jaymes commercials gave the world two deadpan wine cooler salesman who were so engaging they actually made you want to go have a wine cooler. The ads were memorable, funny, and begging to be imitated. In the late 80's, you could deliver the line "thank you for your support" and get a response of riotous laughter.

His branding initiative for Saturn gave us an American car that established a personal connection. Thanks to Riney, Saturn was the only car company that made you feel like you were part of one big happy family -- that's one heck of a differentiator in a marketplace with pretty homogeneous products.

Arguably his most influential campaign gave us the sentence that reelected Ronald Reagan: It's morning again in America. Say what you want about Ronald Reagan, the man knew how to advertise: deliver an intelligent, well-spoken message that lifts you up and makes you feel good about the decision he wants you to make. That's no small feat -- and it's a far cry from what we see in campaign messaging lately.

Thanks, Hal, for appealing to our better selves in your campaigns. You will be missed.