Strategy

Adver­tis­ing is much like war, minus the venom. Or much, if you pre­fer, like a game of chess. We are usu­ally out to cap­ture oth­ers’ citadels or gar­ner oth­ers’ trade. We must have skill and knowl­edge. We must have train­ing and expe­ri­ence, also right equipment.

We must have proper ammu­ni­tion, and enough. We dare not under­es­ti­mate oppo­nents. Our intel­li­gence depart­ment is a vital fac­tor, as told in the pre­vi­ous chap­ter. We need alliances with deal­ers, as another chap­ter tells. We also need strat­egy of the ablest sort, to mul­ti­ply the value of our forces.

Some­times in new cam­paigns comes the ques­tion of a name. That may be most impor­tant. Often the right name is an adver­tise­ment in itself. It may tell a fairly com­plete story, like Shred­ded Wheat, Cream of Wheat, Puffed Rice, Spearmint Gum, Pal­mo­live Soap, etc.

That may be a great advan­tage. The name is usu­ally con­spic­u­ously dis­played. Many a name has proved to be the great­est fac­tor in an arti­cles suc­cess. Other names prove a dis­tinct dis­ad­van­tage — Toasted Corn Flakes, for instance. Too many oth­ers may share a demand with the man who builds it up.

Many coined names with­out mean­ing have suc­ceeded. Kodak, Karo etc., are exam­ples. They are exclu­sive. The adver­tiser who gives them mean­ing never needs to share his advan­tage. But a sig­nif­i­cant name which helps to impress a dom­i­nant claim is cer­tainly a good advan­tage. Names that tell stores have been worth mil­lions of dol­lars. So a great deal of research often pre­cedes the selec­tion of a name.

Some­times a price must be decided. A high price cre­ates resis­tance. It tends to limit one’s field. The cost of get­ting an added profit may be more than the profit. It is a well-​​known fact that the great­est prof­its are made on great vol­ume at small profit. Campbell’s Soups, Pal­mo­live Soap, Karo Syrup and Ford cars are con­spic­u­ous exam­ples. A price which appeals only to — say 10 per­cent — mul­ti­plies the cost of selling.

But on other lines high price is unim­por­tant. High profit is essen­tial. The line may have a small sale per cus­tomer. One hardly cares what he pays for a corn rem­edy because he uses lit­tle. The maker must have a large mar­gin because of small con­sump­tion. On other lines a higher price may even be an induce­ment. Such lines are judged largely by price. A prod­uct which costs more than the ordi­nary is con­sid­ered above the ordi­nary. So the price ques­tion is always a very big fac­tor in strategy.

Com­pe­ti­tion must be con­sid­ered. What are the forces against you? What have they in price or qual­ity or claims to weigh against your appeal? What have you to win trade against them? What have you to hold trade against them when you get it?

How strongly are your rivals entrenched? There are some fields which are almost impreg­nable. They are usu­ally lines which cre­ate a new habit or cus­tom and which typ­ify that cus­tom with con­sumers. They so dom­i­nate a field that one can hardly hope to invade it. They have vol­ume, the profit to make a tremen­dous fight. Such fields are being con­stantly invaded. But it is done through some con­vinc­ing advan­tage, or through very supe­rior salesmanship-​​in-​​print.

Other lines are only less dif­fi­cult. A new shav­ing soap, as an exam­ple. About every pos­si­ble cus­tomer is using a rival soap. Most of them are sat­is­fied with it. Many are wed­ded to it. The appeal must be strong enough to win those peo­ple from long-​​established favor.

Such things are not accom­plished by hap­haz­ard efforts. Not by con­sid­er­ing peo­ple in the mass and mak­ing blind stabs for their favors. We must con­sider indi­vid­u­als, typ­i­cal peo­ple who are using rival brands. A man on a Pull­man, for instance, using his favorite soap. What could you say to him in per­son to get him to change to yours? We can­not go after thou­sands of men until we learn how to win one.

The maker may say that he has no dis­tinc­tions. He is mak­ing a good prod­uct, but much like oth­ers. He deserves a good share of the trade, but he has noth­ing exclu­sive to offer. How­ever, there is nearly always some­thing impres­sive which oth­ers have not told. We must dis­cover it. We must have a seem­ing advan­tage. Peo­ple don’t quit habits with­out reason.

There is the prob­lem of sub­sti­tu­tion and how to head it off. That often steals much of one’s trade. This must be con­sid­ered in ones orig­i­nal plan. One must have fore­sight to see all even­tu­al­i­ties, and the wis­dom to estab­lish his defenses in advance.

Many pio­neers in the line estab­lish large demands. Then through some fault in their foun­da­tions, lose a large share of the har­vest. Theirs is a mere brand, for instance, where it might have stood for an exclu­sive prod­uct. Vase­line is an exam­ple. That prod­uct estab­lished a new demand, then almost monop­o­lized that demand through wis­dom at the start. To have called it some dif­fer­ent brand of petro­leum jelly might have made a dif­fer­ence of mil­lions in results.

Jell-​​O, Pos­tum, Vic­trola, Kodak, etc., estab­lished coined names which came to typ­ify a prod­uct. Some such names have been admit­ted to the dic­tio­nary. They have become com­mon names, though coined and exclu­sive. Royal Bak­ing Pow­der and Toasted Corn Flakes, on the other hand, when they pio­neered their fields, left the way open to per­pet­ual sub­sti­tu­tion. So did Horlick’s Malted Milk.

The atti­tude of deal­ers must be con­sid­ered. There is a grow­ing incli­na­tion to limit lines, to avoid dupli­cate lines, to les­son inven­to­ries. If this applies to your line, how will deal­ers receive it? If there is oppo­si­tion, how can we cir­cum­vent it?

The prob­lems of dis­tri­b­u­tion are impor­tant and enor­mous. To adver­tise some­thing that few deal­ers sup­ply is a waste of ammu­ni­tion. Those prob­lems will be con­sid­ered in another chapter.

These are sam­ples of the prob­lems which adver­tis­ing men must solve. These are some of the rea­sons why vast expe­ri­ence is nec­es­sary. One over­sight may cost the client mil­lions in the end. One wrong piece of strat­egy may pro­hibit suc­cess. Things done in one way may be twice as easy, half as costly, as when done another way. Adver­tis­ing with­out this prepa­ra­tion is like a water­fall going to waste. The power might be there, but it is not made effec­tive. We must cen­ter the force and direct it in a prac­ti­cal direction.

Adver­tis­ing often looks very sim­ple. Thou­sands of men claim abil­ity to do it. And there is still a wide impres­sion that many men can. As a result, much adver­tis­ing goes by favor. But the men who know real­ize that the prob­lems are as many and as impor­tant as the prob­lems in build­ing a sky­scraper. And many of them lie in the foundations.

About the Author

Last 5 Posts By Michel Fortin

• How to Capture and Captivate Attention
• The Real Problem With The Flaw of Attraction
• Two Shining Stars in an Age of Darkness
• Changes, Relaunches, and Extreme Makeovers
• Superior Value Equals Superior Sales

Other Related Posts

• Test Campaigns
• Letter Writing
• Use Of Samples
• Individuality
• Getting Distribution