I don't work in marketing/advertising, but I've always been interested in how companies sell their products, including model trains. Flipping through some old catalogs and train magazines, I thought about some of the ways and phrases the manufacturers have used to sell us their trains. Some of my favorites are:
"Lionel - The trains railroad men buy for their boys" - really like how they appeal to parents that railroaders choose Lionel.
"Lionel - Big, rugged trains. A tradition since 1900" - Lionel was using this slogan when I got into O gauge in the early 1980s, and I always liked it.
"Quality in the tradition you remember" - a great slogan combined with great graphics on early MTH Railking boxes, do they still use this slogan?
There was an ad by Lionel in the magazines back in the 1990s that I wonder if anyone remembers. It starts out with a narrative describing running a train that goes something like (I'm paraphrasing) - "The train struggles up a grade, the cars straining and groaning under the heavy weight, then the engineer hears a sound that chills him to the bone...." You turn the page and it says "Honey, it's time for dinner". The ad goes on to describe the realism of Lionel trains and shows a picture of the Conrail SD60 they were cataloging back then (about 1994-1995, and again I'm not remembering the exact text of the ad). I thought that was genius, showing how we can get lost in our fun running trains, and then snapping back to reality. I will have to dig through my old magazines and see if I can find it.
What are some of your favorite ads or slogans/marketing?
