Moog Minimoog ad #2, Contemporary Keyboard 1979

Moog Minimoog synthesizer advertisement #2 from page 10 in Contemporary Keyboard September 1979.

Moog didn't advertise the Minimoog a lot in CK. Because they didn't have to. Everybody knew the Minimoog - it was a legend.

Then, for some reason in mid-1979, Moog decided they needed to up the Mini's profile. Maybe other manufacturers were beginning to get a little to close for comfort, and sales were starting to diminish. Who knows. But in the July and August issues of CK, Moog ran a unique and memorable black and white advertisement with the simple ad-title and ad-copy, "You know what this is - because you hear it everywhere".

That ad had no logo, no contact info, no anything. But everyone knew that silhouette.

After the ad's two-month run, someone at Moog must have though that they needed to turn the heat up another notch and came out with this baby of an ad. They spun that silhouette around, flipped on the lights, and added more than a dash of colour. But the one thing they didn't add was any more text. Again, they kept the title and ad-copy simple.

Readers of CK didn't have to skip a beat. The ad began to immediately run in September and October 1979, and then ran more sporadically in December and the following March.

Even with all these unique qualities, to me the most remarkable aspect of this ad is the colour. And in particular, that green. As much as I can recall, green wasn't too common in CK for ads. Blues and reds, sure. But green. Nerp.

But in this ad, that green really became instrumental in making that Mini pop. Especially those red and green switches. I even feel it helps pull out the wood grain of the Mini's case. But, now I'm probably just getting too dramatic.

Anyways, there isn't much I can say about the Minimoog that hasn't already been said. And, like it says in the ad - with that kind of sound, I don't have to talk about it so much.

And I'm not going to try.