Burma-Shave: The Rhymes, the Signs, the Times

Way back in 1925 young Allan Odell pitched this great advertising idea to his dad, Clifford. He suggested to use small, wooden roadside signs to sell their product, Burma-Shave, a brushless shaving cream. Dad wasn't wild about the idea but eventually gave Allan $200 to give it a try.

Didn't take long for sales to soar. Soon Allan and his brother Leonard were putting up signs all over the dang place. At first the signs were pure sales pitch but as the years passed they found their sense of humor extending to safety tips and pure fun. And some good old-fashioned down home wisdom.

Strategy in Advertising: Matching Media and Messages to Markets and Motivations (NTC Business Books)

Matching Media and Messages to Markets and Motivations

What one little ad can do

Bluff Your Way in Advertising (The Bluffer's Guides)

In this small book, you can learn the lingo, who’s who in the mess of mystery advertising agency titles, and how to panic appropriately during deadlines. Like all Bluff books it’s very funny, and sometimes so true it’s scary.

Adcult USA

"The history of advertising yo-yo’s between hard and soft sell. During hard times we get the hard sell, during affluent times the soft.Until we got video,cable, and the remote control, we could observe the yo-yoing in approximately fifteen-year cycles. Hard or soft, however, the one thing advertising has not been ironic.