A LESSON IN ADVERTISING FROM THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Back in the 1760s, the great Dr Samuel Johnson delivered himself
of the dictum that 'promise, large promise is the soul of
advertising'. It's a good thought, a great thought; and I contend
that what was true then is equally true today. But it seems to me
that modern advertisers are tying themselves into unnecessary
knots in an attempt to reach audiences which they believe are
becoming increasingly indifferent to their blandishments.

Well, yes, markets are turning deaf ears and blind eyes, but they
always have done, though not for the reasons generally espoused
by the world's marketers. I am convinced that despite all the
sophisticated research and marketing effort that goes into
advertising these days, the real reason that markets are
indifferent to advertising is because much of it ignores the many
splendoured principle that people don't buy products, they buy
the benefits of owning those products.

Today, the great proportion of advertisers don't deliver sales
messages, they tell what they hope are emotive stories with which
the market can empathise, then they drop the product in as an
afterthought, hoping that enough emotional cross-communication
has been achieved for people to reach for their credit cards.
That it doesn't and people won't has resulted in huge advertising
budget cut-backs in the developed world in recent years. Only a
manufacturer who has taken leave of his senses will throw even
more money at a strategy that doesn't work.

The strategy responsible operates under the title Emotional Sales
Proposition (ESP), thought in some quarters to be an advance on
the Unique Sales Proposition (USP) which, on the contrary, does
actually work. What has been overlooked or, more likely, ignored,
is that in developing the principle of the USP in the late 1950s,
the brilliant Rosser Reeves was striving to replace an
advertising strategy that had been in situ for 30 or so years and
was fast running out of steam. What was the device he was hoping
to supersede? Well, by any other name, it was the emotional sales
proposition. I won't bore you with the detail, but if you'd like
to find out more, you should lay your hands on Reeves' book,
Reality in Advertising (MacGibbon & Kee - 1961). It could be an
eye-opener.

So, it's true - the one thing we learn from history is that we
never learn anything from history. Let's go back to Dr Johnson.
It's worth remembering that the kind of advertising old Sam was
talking about in the 18th century was fairly innocuous and
largely unexceptionable. It could be read in coffee-house flyers,
in chapbooks and in rudimentary newspapers; and it consisted of
sales messages as diverse as where to get your wig powdered and
the date of the next public hanging at Tyburn. Even so, the
products and services on offer were as important to the people
of the time as mobile phones and computers are to us.

In the human condition, nothing much changes. Our egos still need
to be massaged and we are all in hot pursuit of happiness. Only
our methods for achieving these goals, only our technologies,
vary with time.

So the next time you are tempted to commit advertising, think
about Sam Johnson and give your market a reason for owning your
product. A good reason.

Which prompts me to suggest a visit to www.wordpower3.com. There,
you'll find an e-book that could make your working life a whole
lot easier. It contains close to 200 ready-made headlines,
taglines, copy openers and clinchers, plus a comprehensive theme-
finder that will give you just about every promotional word and
phrase you'll ever need.

It's called Word Power III. Over the years, its content has
helped me make a lot of money. What it has done for me, it can do
for you. And that's a large promise.