Think Small

You’re reading an excerpt of Great Founders Write, by Ben Putano, writer, entrepreneur, and book publisher. He’s the founder of Damn Gravity Media, a publishing house that inspires and educates tomorrow’s great founders. Purchase now for lifetime access to the book and on-demand video course.

Could the Nano’s fate have been different? Luckily, we don’t have to imagine too hard. History gives us a near-perfect comparison—another small, affordable car built for the upwardly mobile masses:

The Volkswagen Beetle.

In the 1950s, Volkswagen aspired to break into the American market where big cars reigned supreme. They hired ad executive Bill Bernbach—one of the original “Mad Men” of Madison Avenue—to develop the Beetle’s first advertising campaign.

Bernbach was struck by the honesty of the Beetle. It wasn’t trying to be anything it wasn’t. It was small, well-built, affordable, and didn’t take itself too seriously. Bernbach’s first ad tried to capture this honesty and paired it with a bit of self-deprecating humor. It took America by storm:

Think small.

Bernbach’s approach was genius. He took the Beetle’s greatest potential weakness—its size—and made it its greatest strength. The ad lists all the benefits of “thinking small,” such as great gas mileage, small repair bills, long-lasting tires, and fitting into tight parking spots. Best of all, the Beetle had no ego. It poked fun at itself. It was quirky and a little rebellious, just like America’s freedom-loving youth.

The ad was an instant hit, and so was the Beetle. While American car manufacturers rolled out yacht-sized sedans, Volkwagen’s tiny Beetle won the heart of America’s fast-growing counterculture. The campaign ran for over a decade, with each ad highlighting a unique “benefit” of the Beetle:

“Lemon.”

“It’s ugly, but it gets you there.”

“And if you run out of gas, it’s easy to push.”

“Not to be confused with a cheetah.”

One thing you never saw in the Beetle ads?

“Cheap.”

Yes, the Beetle was affordable, but Bernbach knew it stood for so much more.

Tata Motors should have learned a lot from the Beetle’s success. Before the launch of the Nano, focus groups said they liked the car’s ability to park in tight spaces. Tata could have borrowed a few lines of copy directly from the “Think Small” ad—likely to great success.

In fact, the Beetle’s famous ad campaign was a perfect template for marketing the Nano. Bernbach brilliantly highlighted the feeling of owning a Volkswagen Beetle: The joy of finding a small parking space only you can fit in. The relief of seeing that small insurance bill that leaves money in your pocket.

Tata, on the other hand, made a purely rational pitch for the Nano: it’s cheap. No matter how tight your budget, no one wants to be seen as cheap. (Unless you’re already rich; in that case, you may wear cheap as a badge of honor, just like the businessmen who bought the Nano.)

Bernbach understood something that Mr. Tata failed to grasp: buying a car is a huge life moment for most people—even if the car is small and affordable. Volkswagen turned this moment into a movement. After the “Think Small” ad was released, teenagers ripped it out of magazines and pinned it up on their wall. The Nano became the butt of jokes.