Guest Critic

David Ogilvy once said, “Repeat your winners.” As a boy growing up in Canada, we used to watch all the American TV we could, and especially the advertising. One of the campaigns that always cracked me and my family up—especially my Dad—was the old Doyle Dane Bernbach campaign for Alka-Seltzer. I’m not sure how they came up with the thought that afflictions like gas are funny (it is and probably has been for centuries).

The original “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing” campaign was probably also the original buzz-marketing campaign, making its way ’round the office cooler and the school yard.