3) Positioning - Make your "brand" stand out among the other brands
1) The Hard Sell
"Annoying ... commercials don't hurt sales and indeed may stimulate them" - NY Times Magazine
"It is better to be remembered than loved."
The Unique Selling Proposition
The USP is a feature or benefit exclusive to a specific product. Many Hard Sell ads focus on the product's USP to create a sense of uniqueness. Many of the most famous advertising campaigns revolve around a USP. Federal Express - "Absolutely, Positively, Has To Get There Overnight". Volkswagen - "Think Small"
The Hard Sell can also mean facts. "visually and aurally battering the man ... with sales points until he caves in and buys the product being advertised." -Rosser Reeves
Price based ads are also examples of Hard Sells.
Hard Sell ads, like the crystal meth campaign on the right, can also have strong emotional impact.
Below is a highly successful hard sell ad that generated a powerful emotion in millions of viewers - hatred. They despise the ad but buy the product.
Soft Sell ads are often "image" ads. These ads may contain no factual information, or the factual information is limited to advancing the "image" or "feeling."
"I want the customer to feel good about the product and also about the advertiser." - Whit Hobbs
Because of the strong imagery, Soft Sell ads are often the most remembered. But advertisers argue whether memory equals motivation. Because you remember an ad doesn't mean it motivates you to make a purchase.
Advertisers do agree, however, that an ad that isn't remembered is worthless. And the purpose of all ads is to sell a product or idea.
Among the more famous current soft sell campaigns are those for Captain Morgan, Axe, and the two below.
The Milk campaign is one of the most visible and memorable image campaigns of the decade. It also is an excellent example of "positioning", which we'll discuss below.
This student paper is a good study on the history of this campaign. Note: the images on this site do not work.
3) Positioning: The Battle for the Mind
Make your "brand" stand out among the other brands.
Positioning is based on the observation that advertising and choice has overwhelmed the consumer. There are too many options and too many ads. The successful product must "position" itself in the mind of the consumer ahead of its competitors.
Both USP and Image ads position the product in the minds of the consumer. But in 1972, Trout and Ries argued that positioning must become an objective in itself, whether through hard or soft sells.
1) Give the product a name or nickname
Here is one of the most famous positioning campaigns of all time - The Uncola
2) Link the product with the user
Aqua Velva Man
Finicky cats
Captain Morgan in You
3) Link the product with when its used
Miller Time
Positioning is now referred to as "branding" in advertising circles.
The Y&R web site on the right explains in detail the philosophy behind "branding" and gives detailed analysis of several brands.
The "Calvin and Hobbes" cartoon on the right emphasizes the unintended consequences of positioning.
And as your media diary showed, the number of advertising messages received each day can reduce the effectiveness of advertising.
"Advertisers seem determined to fill every last one of them. Supermarket eggs have been stamped with
the names of CBS television shows. Subway turnstiles bear messages from Geico auto insurance.
Chinese food cartons promote Continental Airways. US Airways is selling ads on motion sickness bags.
And the trays used in airport security lines have been hawking Rolodexes."
This classic VW campaign contains several key elements.
First, it developed a brilliant USP for VW - different.
In these simple ads, the surface and intended meaning were easily grasped. The cars were inexpensive, small, consistent, reliable, simple.
However, the ideological meaning was much more subtle. There were "anti" ads: anti-complexity, anti-grandiose design, anti-prevailing culture of ostentatiousness, anti-military-industrial complex. They appealed to the rebellious nature of youth in the 1960's.
Next, it created a highly complex campaign around these simple ads. Rather than focusing on a single feature ("Timex Keeps On Ticking", for example) this campaign allowed for several message points, all linked under the USP of "different".
Since not all customers appreciated the "anti" rebellious theme, additional elements of the campaign emphasized the car's dependability. "How does the man who drives the snow plow get to the snow plow?" This appealed to an older audience looking for reliability.
As a result, VW stood out in a market full of larger, faddish, more expensive American cars.
VW abandoned this campaign in the early 70's and introduced bigger "American" cars. At the same time, the Japanese imports took over VW's former position for small, dependable transportation. As a result of loosing its positioning, VW almost disappeared from the American car market.
The new "sweet spot" for advertisers is Gen Y or "The Millennials." That's most of you. Why? They have cash to spend.
"Gen Y is starting to enter the wealth-accumulation phase, and companies that are struggling should look
ahead," said Jason Dorsey, chief strategy officer of the Center for Generational Kinetics, a research and
consulting firm. "Based on our and other research, by 2017, Gen Y could outspend boomers. As boomers
move on, they'll be spending less, but Gen Y is just getting started."
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