4711 Eau de Cologne ad, al-Musawwar 1931
American University in Cairo, Rare Books and Special Collections Library. al-Musawwar. RBSCL believes this item is in the public domain.
The pattern
This still is filed under Iconic figure claim.
Define
A single figure, drawn, silhouetted, or posed, is the whole claim. You can read it across a street.
Mechanism
Compression into a body. The figure is not decoration. It is the sentence. Distance-legibility is the test.
Verdict
Poster scale, outdoor, packaging at a glance
Why it works
A drawn woman in mid golf swing sits beside the bottle, so the cologne is tied to the modern, active woman rather than to an evening out. The copy gives the product a new job: a daily rub after exercise to lift fatigue. The last line tells her which label to ask for, which guards against copies at the counter.
The big idea
Sport is now part of the modern woman's routine, and 4711 is what she reaches for to take away the fatigue afterwards.
The offer
4711 Eau de Cologne for use after tiring exercise. Readers are told to insist on the registered 4711 mark on the blue and gold label.
The proof
The registered 4711 trademark and its blue and gold label, offered as the sign of the genuine cologne.
Lines from the ad
تمرين الرياضيينExercise for sportspeople
«٤٧١١» ماء الكولونيا الحقيقي4711, the genuine eau de cologne
No 4711 Véritable Eau de CologneSteal this when
Moving an established product into a new daily use by pairing it with a lifestyle the reader wants to join.
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