Nola Rose
This airline poster advertising "Fly TAA - the friendly way" was originally a colour lithograph on paper produced by advertising agency Noel Paton Pty Ltd for Trans-Australia Airlines in 1952-1953. (The illustration / artwork was by Ralph Warner, design / layout by Richard (Jimmy) Haughton James)
This bold, early 1950s Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA) airline poster features Nola Rose, a Bondi Beach beauty contest winner, who appears as an air hostess floating in the sky. Her eyes gaze confidently out at the viewer as three Viscount 700 series aircraft fly behind her.
In April 1953, this poster (along with 5 other Australian travel posters) won an International Poster Competition at the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society's Easter show in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Also called the Rand Easter Show, it is an annual show held in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is the largest consumer exhibition in the world outside of the United States.
Nola Rose
In a 2014 exhibition of advertisements and advertising ephemera taken from the Rare Books Collection at Monash University Melbourne, the above "FLY TAA - the Friendly Way" poster rated number 2 in the Classic Australian Advertisements section.
These posters are considered valuable cultural assets, and it is their importance as a social documentary which goes beyond nostalgia of a past long gone.
In the 1950s copywriters began using ever-repeatable catch phrases that they hoped would enter the everyday lexicon of their audience.
"TAA the Friendly Way" would remain one of the airline's most memorable taglines until it was absorbed by Qantas in the 1990s.
Transport Advertising
In 1955 TAA won First Prize in the Transportation section of the annual competition for outdoor advertising held in Sydney.
The theme used was then adapted for use on buses and trams in other cities.
Pioneering Filmmaking
In early 1979 a proposal was put to TAA to film a TV commercial using a camera mounted on the tail of a Boeing 727-76 jet. The jet was VH-TJB.
Still photos taken from the film were used in poster advertisements as well.
Creating Magic
The idea to mount a camera on the tail of a Boeing aircraft came from Mr. Peter Lyell, senior copywriter with McCann Erickson.
After approval from TAA's Advertising Manager, Mr Peter Taylor, the first priority was to determine if a camera and housing mounted on the tail would impair the performance of the aircraft.
After 5000 man hours and a 6 month feasibility study, the project was approved.
The camera housing was constructed from fibreglass and aluminium, three metres long, one metre tall and weighed about 100 kg.
This project by TAA is believed to be the first time that a movie camera was mounted on the tail of a Boeing aircraft for filming commercials.
