Communication in Print: The power of reading and writing well

In 1983, I lived in Dallas. My ex was a successful young graphic designer working for Robert A. Wilson and Associates and I was teaching Freshman Composition at Southern Methodist University. We were also new parents of a little girl (who will marry in the Texas Hill Country this spring). During the 80s, it was not unusual for companies to execute fairly elaborate advertising campaigns. Paper and printing companies, for example, often launched sophisticated campaigns in collaboration with major, and minor, advertising agencies as a means to show off paper samples as well as the results of print graphics on the paper. Between 1983 and 1986, International Paper Company ran an extremely successful PRINT campaign with the slogal "We believe in the power of the printed word." Remember, this is just 10 years after the first very primitive home computers (1972) and still 10 years before home Internet connections (1992).

Billings S. Fuess, creative director at Ogilvy and Mather in the 80s (and who died in 2011), devised the campaign to appeal to college students and young professionals. Co-branding (before it was popularized), they worked with well-known, respected public figures to answer questions their audiences were asking. The "answers" were published on at least 15 single, 2-sided pages and authored by the likes of Kurt Vonnegut, Bill Cosby, James Michener, Malcolm Forbes and Walter Cronkite. As a young lecturer, I used the ads in class. Many students knew about the campaign too; over 27 million reprints were ordered from International Paper Corporation!

In 1985, the advertising "articles" had become so popular that 13 of them were turned into a best-selling book selling for $5.95! Below is a link to a New York Times article describing the phenomenon in 1985. Today, some 30 years later, the book How to Use the Power of the Printed Word (out-of-print) can be found online at prices ranging from 8 to 300+ dollars!

ADVERTISING; Print Ads Becoming A Book
By Philip H. Dougherty
Published: November 1, 1985

An informational marketing blogger named Lawrence Bernstein has posted a pdf copy of his copies of the ad campaign. He elicited some interesting comments from the posting too.