Page Dimensions

Approx. 8" x 10 3/4" (20cm x 27cm)

Story and Details

Any Land Rover ad is deserving of being framed. Each one embodies the creativity and soul of an advertising campaign that is among the best ever - right up there with Volkswagen ads from the 1960s. Framing a Land Rover ad is a way of honoring the talented people that captured the essence of the brand so well, and ultimately, helped their client capture market share. Of course, there are some Rover ads more compelling than others... This 1993 ad featuring not just the latest Range Rover Country LWB (long wheelbase), but also a pair of Nike sneakers, will always be a personal favorite. It's the first Rover ad that caught my eye when I started doing Ad Patina back in 2017. It was definitely those Nike kicks that spoke to my nostalgic side (I was a 12 year-old kid in 1993). I wondered how those Nike Air Max made it into the ad... Well in 2020 I found out after being contacted by Allen Richardson, an adman who helped create that very ad. He told me, "The Nike ad came about because of a new feature in that year’s Range Rover, the Electronic Air Suspension (EAS). We thought an analogy would help explain it to people. We looked down at our feet and there it was. Next we had to figure out how to describe it and since we were comparing a car to a $120 pair of sneakers. We came up with the headline about 'every size budget.' The client loved it and we contacted Nike. They had a new shoe coming out and they were excited to get some free visibility for it. Since we never named the shoe, it didn’t constitute an endorsement and no money changed hands. It was more of a free product placement." Knowing the true history behind the making of this advertisement makes it even more special to me.