1977 Honeywell "Electronic Mail" Ad

This 1977 Honeywell ad tried to explain a wild new idea: “Electronic Mail.” The dramatic photo says it all—a terrified office worker getting blasted by invisible email energy. It’s quirky, confident, and made the unimaginable feel real.

Marketing Breakdown

Honeywell takes a complex, futuristic idea and makes it emotional. Instead of talking about tech specs, they show a reaction—shock, surprise, awe. The ad instantly humanizes innovation.

Why It Works

• Curiosity hook: “What the heck is Electronic Mail?” begs a read.
• Emotion over logic: Fear and excitement sell better than jargon.
• Visual storytelling: The glowing lines visualize data transfer, making the abstract tangible.
• Future framing: Uses imagination to make the reader feel ahead of the curve.

Examples

• Apple’s “1984” ad turned computers into rebellion tools.
• Tesla’s early ads made electric cars aspirational, not nerdy.
• Oculus showed people gasping in VR to sell the feeling, not the specs.