After Willys Motors found it’s groove in 1956, the marketing department continued its Saturday Evening Post ad-a-month pace throughout 1957. The company used the same triple-pane style of ads as it had in 1956, the exception being a two-page, color, introductory ad for the FC-170. Marketing also reused some content from the previous year, but combined that older content with information about the FCs.

For example, the first triple-pane ad, in February of 1957, was very similar to the the June 1956 ad, except that it included an FC-150.

Comparison of similar “Gets there … works there … anywhere!” ads from June 16, 1956, and February 23, 1957.

Here are the next four ads for 1957 in the Post:

These ads appeared in the Saturday Evening Post March 30, April 27, May 25, and June 22 of 1957. The April 27, 1957, ad is mostly a repeat of the November 17, 1956, ad. The June 22, 1957, ad is mostly a repeat of the September 26, 1956, ad.

In July, Willys Motors, as they did for the FC-150 in December of 1956, ran a full-color two-page ad for the new FC-170:

This two page ad introducing the FC-170 appeared in the July 13, 1957, issue of the Saturday Evening Post.

The remaining four ads for 1957 are shown below:

These ads appeared in the Saturday Evening Post on August 17, September 21, October 19, and November 11 of 1957. There was no ad published in December of 1957.

After Willys Motors near-montly ads in 1957, I expected to find similar advertising the following year. Instead, I could not locate any ads in the Saturday Evening Post over the course of 1958.

No month or journal name for this ad.

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“Type: This is an original 1947 print ad, we do not sell reproductions.
Year Published: 1947
Format: Black + White
Size: 8.0″ W x 10.5″ L”

Prior to the Kaiser buyout, Willys-Overland was a regular advertiser in the Saturday evening post, with ads appearing almost monthly from late 1941 (after winning its military contract) up until 1952.

From 1952 through 1954, the focus of the advertising shifted to the new Willys Areo line of vehicles, abandoning jeep advertising in the Post almost entirely.

In February of 1954, one ad for the Willys wagon was published, the only jeep-oriented ad of the year. However, the title of the ad was “The Common-Sense Car that Leads a Double Life”. So, even that ad was as much a “car'” ad as a “jeep” ad.

February 27, 1954. The branding emphasis remained on the ‘car’ being a ‘Willys’, rather than jeep, as it had since the 1951 ‘Willys Makes Sense’ campaign.

Given how similar the above ad was to the Willys Makes Sense campaign of 1951, It’s clear that even under the early days of Kaiser’s management, the advertising for the Willys/Jeep line had yet to be changed. That probably explains why no more jeep ads appeared in the Saturday Evening Post for the remainder of 1954 (and Willys Aero ads ceased after June of 1954).

Then, on January 8, 1955,  Willys Motors published a two-page splash with an ad for it’s new model: The CJ-5.

January 08, 1955, Saturday Evening Post

Subsequently, Willys Motors’ advertising in the Post waned again, absent throughout the remainder of 1955. It’s advertising in the Post remained dormant until mid-1956.

On June 16, 1956, Willys Motors published “Gets there … works there … anywhere!”. The ad also appeared to have introduced a new slogan: ‘Jeep’ VEHICLES BY WILLYS KEEP AMERICA ON THE MOVE (that was used by the company at least through the end of 1957 .. I haven’t check past that yet).

June 16, 1956, Saturday Evening Post, “Gets there … works there … anywhere!”

Once again, jeep ads started appearing on a regular basis. On August 4, 1956, the ad, “Gets there … works there … anywhere” was published:

August 04, 1956, Saturday Evening Post, “Traction … Action … Satisfaction!”

Willys Motors continued advertising monthly with the same three-pane theme. These were the next three ads:

Willys Motors ads: September 22, 1956, “Goes more places, Does more Jobs, Save more money”; October 20, 1956, “Takes the lead, On the road, Off the road”; November 17, 1956, “Thousands … Millions … Billions!”. 

On December 29, 1956, the final Post issue of the year, Willys Motors interrupted its three-panel campaign to introduce readers, in a two-page color ad no less, to the new model of jeep: the Forward Control ‘Jeep’ FC-150.

December 29, 1956, Saturday Evening Post 2-page ad, “extraordinary! Now… the completely new Forward Control ‘Jeep’ FC-150”

As well see in a future post, the company continued an almost monthly advertising campaign through out the following year of 1957.

This ad, “Willys-Overland brings Farmers the advantages of 4-Wheel-Drive Power”, was published in March of 1948 most likely in a farm magazine (based on other ads the seller was selling).

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