Lloyds List: When the publicising of a product was something of which you could be sure: “Long before the giants of Madison Avenue made a virtue of brand association, 'You can be sure of Shell' had entered the national consciousness.” (ShellNews.net) 11 March 05
Mar 11, 2005
BETWEEN the 1930s and 1950s Shell made advertising history through a series of posters showcasing the work of emerging British artists, encouraging them to associate the company not with the dirty business of oil but with the joys of motoring, writes Neville Smith.
Less well known is that the campaigns were the idea of employee Jack Beddington, whose complaint that the company's advertising was too mundane saw him put in charge of it despite his lack of marketing experience.
His natural flair for publicity resulted not just in a series of dramatic depictions of the British landscape and working life but in the building of a robust brand.
Long before the giants of Madison Avenue made a virtue of brand association, 'You can be sure of Shell' had entered the national consciousness.
London auction house Bonhams will offer about 30 original Shell posters as part of its modern prints and posters sale to be held at New Bond Street on Monday, including the pictured image by Tristam Hillier, one of a coterie of Shell artists which numbered Graham Sutherland, Paul Nash and Ben Nicholson among its members.
Hillier's poster from 1934, estimated at GBP500-GBP700 (GBP950-GBP1,320), while obvious in intention, is groundbreaking in its use of perspective and for combining a series of objects globe and map, telescope and pipe which echo the surrealists, just as his fellow artists were deconstructing landscapes and assimilating the impact of technology on a changing world.