Roadrip, USA
Thinking about last week’s post about branding, the state of the economy, my grandfather’s scrapbook, reading Nomadic Matt’s article on the Great American Roadtrip and the lowest gas prices in 4 years, it got me thinking about US automakers and the dream of the open road. I’d love to see a new advertising campaign [by American automakers] focused around the idea of the great American road trip.
What says Americana more than seeing the landscapes of our own beautiful country, with stories by real people in their own cars and the personal encounters we experience along the way? It is something very American (my Cypriot friends joked with me that until they studied in the US, they never really knew the concept of a “road trip” as it takes no more than two hours to get anywhere on their island country). The “roadtrip” is the vehicle (literally) to tell the story of why you need a car, but not just any car, an American-made car. (Ok, now I’m feeling a bit like Don Draper pitching the deeper bond of nostalgia like in the Kodak “carousel” slide projector pitch in season one of Mad Men). It’s a return to the past, yet a way of looking to the future, a way to create memories, and to experience everything our country has to offer. Have pride, buy American. Go where the roads takes you. . .
{rear view mirrors from Troy M. Litten‘s American roadtrip [wanderlust] collection. Postcards for sale here, and click on image directly above to send your own wanderlust postcard from Chronicle Books}
Lara Dunston
January 11, 2009 at 12:52 pm //
The road trip is very much a part of Australian travel culture too – because like the US it’s so vast and it boasts such spectacular landscapes.
In Australia, we do various kinds of road trips from the circuit around the entire country, which can last years, to the Nullarbor Crossing, from Adelaide to Perth. We do road trips of the 4WD kind (Toyota Landcruisers being the vehicle of choice – we call the good old fashioned ones (and the most reliable for doing the sandy outback tracks) Troopies), to the car toting a caravan to the beaten-up old Holden.
And these days – because it’s a growing trend – people are also hiring 4WDs fitted out like campervans, motorhomes, and hippy-style kombi vans. Terry and I are actually about to have a story we wrote published called ‘Road-Testing the Great Aussie Road Trip’, so I’ll email the link when it’s out.
I also love those postcards!