The Tiger Goes Abroad

In Norway, miniature tiger tails fluttered from scooters and sedans last week, and the signs along the highways struck a familiar note: Putt en tijger pa tanken. In Western Germany, it is Pack' den Tiger in den Tank; in The Netherlands, Stop 'n Tijger in uw Tank; in France, Mettez un tigre dans votre mo-teur; in Italy, Netti un tigre nel motore; and in Britain what else but "Put a tiger in your tank." The star of one of the most popular advertising campaigns ever hatched on Madison Avenue, Esso's frisky, whimsical tiger with the high-octane tail has become a roaring success all over Europe.

Though many U.S. ad campaigns are sharply revised and toned down for export, the tiger was crated and shipped with only minor changes, such as substituting "motor" for the untranslatable "tank" in the wording of French and Italian slogans. In just the month since it was introduced with unprecedented hoopla as Esso's first all-Europe promotional campaign, the drive has spread to 14 countries, leaving a trail of 1,000,000 tiger tails and such gimmickry as tiger T-shirts, balloons, pencils, coloring books, key rings, windshield decals and jigsaw puzzles.

Europeans, in fact, have added some touches of their own. Pump hoses are wrapped in tiger stripes, and some Dutch station attendants even dress up in tiger suits. At Rome's Vallelunga auto race track last week, Esso wheeled out a caged circus tiger that stole the show. It has had a German pop singer record a rock 'n' roll song called Tiger in the Tank, with Tiger Rag on the flip side.

The Esso tiger has already stalked into everyday conversation, nightclub jokes, songs, editorials and politics. A British M.P. recently became so fired up by the delaying tactics of the House of Lords that he declared in the House of Commons that the Lords had "put a tiger in my tank." In a straight-faced editorial, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung feared that the tiger campaign could unleash "the beast of prey in drivers." Riding on the tiger tale, Esso stations in Europe are pumping record volumes; in France, April sales of Esso Extra rose 32% over last year. Italian motorists now drive up and ask station attendants simply for a pieno di tigre--a tankful of tiger. Italy's government-run E.N.I, petroleum company has become worried enough to strike back with ads proclaiming, "Our gas is serious."

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