Here at Cogent, we get up to all sorts. We’ve been about since 1936, that’s 83 years, and over the decades we’ve done a lot, seen a lot and learnt a lot. We’ve worked with clients from just up the road, to the other side of the world. We’ve created memories, stories and moments. We’ve worked towards change, created movements and rallied pride.

Yet, in today’s fast-moving industry, it’s so easy to get caught up in the here and now, or obsessed with predictions for the future. So, it’s times like these we like to sit back, and throw it back.

Welcome to Cogent’s #ThrowbackThursday, where we reflect on some of the great advertising we’ve done over the eras.

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Picture the scene. It’s the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister, Madness are moonstomping in the House of Fun and Pac Man is all the rage.

Cogent, one of the first major advertising agencies outside of London, pick up the Cuprinol account.

The brand, which was established in 1911, partners with Cogent to promote TimberCare, their range of protective paint for fences.
With imagery and copy, functional and emotional benefits working together, this ad drew on the Latin derivation of the word Cuprinol – meaning ‘Copper in Oil’ – representing its unrivalled, long-lasting golden tan colour.

Ad copy: “Treat your fence with creosote, and in no time at all, you’ll wish you hadn’t. After only a few months it will have faded so much you wouldn’t know you’d ever done it. Treat it with Cuprinol Garden Timber Care, however, and in a couple of years, you might just begin to notice it wasn’t done last week. That’s because Timber Care’s rich light-fast colours resist the bleaching effects of the sun. So your fence will stay beautiful four times longer than it would be treated with creosote. Wood needs protection too, so Timber Care contains special waxes to keep the rain out and an effective fungicide to keep mould and mildew at bay. And unlike creosote, Timber Care is completely harmless to plants (and pets) even when it’s wet. Don’t worry if you used another treatment on your fence last year, Timber Care can be brushed straight on top. But make sure you choose your shade carefully, you’ll be looking at it for years. “

To find out more about our home-related and Moving Minds work, explore here.