"I never read The Economist." Management trainee. Aged 42.

Why it works

Nine words that flatter the reader by threatening them. David Abbott noticed The Economist's masthead looked like a 48-sheet poster — white type on red — and launched a campaign that never showed the magazine, never listed a feature, and sold entirely on the reader's fear of being the one who doesn't read it. The launch line is a confession that functions as a warning: stay a management trainee at 42, or subscribe. It is studied as the purest demonstration of tone of voice as brand asset, of knowing an audience well enough to tease it, and of a visual identity (white-out-of-red) so strong the logo became optional. The poster is held in the Victoria and Albert Museum's permanent collection, and The Economist itself credited the campaign's memorable simplicity in its obituary of Abbott.