Weekly Report | “when It Rains, It Pours” | 7.7.17

Shortly after the Civil War, a new kind of company was born. N.W. Ayers and Son, a Philadelphia-based advertising agency, began an almost 100-year run, creating memorable brands for many companies such as AT&T (Reach out and touch someone), DeBeers (A Diamond is Forever), and even the U.S. Army (Be all you can be).

One of their clients had struggled to differentiate itself for almost 50 years, and they turned to Ayers & Son to create a brand and help them sell more product. Salt has always been an important commodity, but in the early 20th century it was sold in bulk. Due to high humidity, salt tended to clump together and had to be chipped off a block or ground before use. To fix the clumping issue, Chicago-based Morton’s Salt added iodine so it would pour freely and Ayers crafted a logo of the now famous girl with the umbrella and the tagline “when it rains, it pours.”

Today, 105 years later, the logo and the tagline remain. It is one of the most recognizable brands in the world, with Morton’s global sales topping $2 billion last year.

Over the years, I have often tried to explain the true value of creating a brand. Maybe I just did.

We also launched another video for Virginia Energy Sense. Jack’s back with more power-saving ideas this summer. Check it out!