Vol. 57, No. 10 — October 1976 —
The Advertising
Business
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People don't make a beaten path
to the mousetrap maker's door unless they know he has made
a better mousetrap and has a stock for sale at a price they
can pay.
That is what the advertising business is all about. Mousetraps
and pig iron, automobiles and breakfast foods are useless
if people remain in ignorance of their existence and unaware
of how they may be used. Advertising serves the man who produces,
by enabling him to dispose of his goods, and the man who consumes,
by telling him what is available to add to his satisfactions
in life.
The question is sometimes asked - and not only by persons
with queer economic ideas - "why advertise?" The answer can
be given by drawing three circles: a big one, a smaller one
inside it, and a smaller inside that. The little circle indicates
the number of prospects that can be met personally by the
sales force, the next larger shows the wider group that can
be reached by a well-built mailing list, while the outer circle
shows the extent to which prospects can be canvassed by advertising
in its various forms of publication and display.
One of the first positive rules is that advertising is an
investment, not a speculation. Gambles in advertising, followed
by disappointment and retrenchment, are wasteful. They upset
the economic equilibrium. They give business that air of starts
and stops so well summed up in the terse telegram of the conductor
of the often-derailed train: "Off again, on again, gone again:
Finnegan."
Another rule is that advertising is fruitless if the advertiser
does not offer something which will genuinely serve some human
want.
A third rule is not to expect overwhelming returns in the
way of sales from the first ad. Advertising does not work
that way. It deposits in the mental storehouse of the prospect
impression after impression until he has a well-defined picture
of the product and the service it will perform for him.
And, last but not least in this small list of principles,
the business executive is headed for disappointment if he
satisfies his ego merely by matching the competitor's advertising
appropriation dollar for dollar, or even by topping it. Not
the size of the appropriation, but the quality of advertising
is important. Every campaign should be tailored to the people's
needs and to show off the advantages offered by the particular
business concern. A follow-my-leader campaign is an evidence
of lack of originality and initiative.
Think of the customer
It does not do, in these days, to concentrate upon techniques
to the exclusion of thought about the consumer. It is the
customer who puts the goods to use. He pays the wages and
expenses from the first stroke of work made in harvesting
a natural resource to the final stroke of the pen by which
a purchaser contracts for the finished product.
How is advertising useful to the consumer? Well, it keeps
him informed. Whether the advertisement be one of the mammoth
billboards, a catalogue, a full page newspaper spread, or
one of the tiny items in the miles of classified ads, it should
be designed and written in the spirit of telling people about
something they may want to buy, not about something the advertiser
wants to sell.
Most of us are specialists, producing nothing which we ourselves
use. In our capacity as specialists we may not need anyone
to help us, but in our sphere as consumers we need to be told
what is available for our use, how good it is, and how we
can obtain it.
We said that advertising works for the consumer as well
as for the advertiser: it also works for the community. It
helps stabilize industry and employment: it emphasizes quality,
which is certainly a community service: and it is a factor
in competition, which helps to keep prices within bounds.
Two kinds of advertising
There are two kinds of advertising, the product advertising
which introduces a commodity or a service, and institutional
advertising, which gives an account of a company's policy
and tells its point of view.
Many Canadian firms are doing good public relations work
through their advertising, and are making institutional advertising
a part of their advertising budgets.
Public relations advertising means telling about the satisfactory
industrial relations within the firm, the unusual provisions
for safeguarding health and welfare of workers, the special
qualifications of the firm for giving the service it offers,
the expertness of its workers, the carefulness to meet or
surpass standards, the use made of raw materials with consequent
spreading of spending over large sectors of the economy, and
the history of the company showing its dependability, its
stability, and its essential place in the welfare of many
people.
This kind of advertising provides answers to those who maliciously
or ignorantly attempt to tear down the private enterprise
system. There are human features in the present economic set-up
which can be used through institutional advertising to explain,
demonstrate and sell the system as well as its products.
One unanswerable presentation of this nature is to show
the contrast between living conditions in private enterprise
countries and in those countries which are hamstrung by dictatorial
government management. The thinking person gathers this lesson
in his daily contact with advertising, but it needs pointing
up for those less observant. As L. S. Lyon says in a scholarly
article in The Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences:
"Consumer advertising is the first rough effort of a society
becoming prosperous to teach itself the use of the relatively
great wealth of new resources, new techniques and a reorganized
production method."
The Western world is learning to produce goods at an ever
faster rate and in ever-widening variety. Advertising brings
this production into everyday life, spreads it around among
people, and thus contributes to the rising standard of living.
Instead of taking a generation or a century to become known,
new aids to comfortable living are made known in a day. By
doing this, advertising brings forward the demand that encourages
manufacturing, provides jobs, and spreads purchasing power.
Raising living levels
It may seem absurd to many persons when we say that the
consumer doesn't know what he wants until he is told about
it, but an example will make it clear,. Not one of us knew,
in 1914, that he wanted a radio, or had the dollars to buy
one. Then, suddenly, we all wanted radios and millions of
persons on this continent had dollars to buy them.
Advertising brings new products to our attention, and teaches
us to use them; at first they are novelties, then luxuries,
then staples, and finally necessities. The fact that goods
considered necessities today were the luxuries of a generation
ago and quite unthought of in the days of our grandfathers
is surely an indication of an advancing level of living.
Two authorities may be quoted: Paul H. Nystrom, Professor
of Marketing at Columbia University, whose Marketing Handbook
is a standard reference book in offices where the objective
is to move goods through the shipping door, and George B.
Hotchkiss, whose Outline of Advertising is a textbook
in advertising courses:
It is generally admitted that advertising tends to raise the
standard of living by acquainting the population with the advantages
of socially desirable products or services, making them available
at lower prices, and stimulating greater effort to attain the
standard of living that goes with the use of such products and
services.
Allowing for a certain amount of advertising that caters
to human vanity, the net effect of the whole has probably
been to cultivate appreciation of better and more wholesome
standards of living. The percentage of people who regularly
use dentifrices, razors and bathtubs has constantly risen.
The family diet has become more varied and sensible; so has
the family clothing. Houses and offices are managed with less
labour and more comfort. Advertising has had a very definite
share in this development. And it has certainly stimulated
individual ambition and morale by awakening desires which
can only be gratified by increasing one's earning power.
Reducing costs
It is a paradox that the more business advertises a worthy
product the less that product costs the consumer. By stimulating
large demand, advertising increases production and reduces
unit production cost. At the same time, big production is
dependent upon bulk distribution methods with a relatively
stable demand over a wide area. And, as Nystrom remarks: "Stability
of demand and a market great enough in territorial expanse
to absorb local shocks without greatly affecting the total
market are fundamental to mass production and continuous employment."
Product improvement is a legitimate offspring of advertising.
Producers strive to outdo one another in finding ways to reduce
prices, increase quality, and provide wider choices. Every
sensible manufacturer is trying to turn out a better product
at a competitive price, and he tells the world about it through
his advertising.
How advertising appeals
Choice of what is called advertising appeal depends upon
the kind of goods, the kind of person to whom the advertisement
is addressed, what we want him to do, and the kind of medium
used. Every appeal, whatever its specific nature, should show
some benefit that will accrue to the purchaser.
This kind of advertising can be orderly, clear and simple,
free from elements of mystery. Women know, or learn by sad
experience, that grab-bag buying, or buying pigs in pokes,
is expensive sport. They wish to learn why a product should
be bought, and if the producer is not willing to tell the
reasons, they view with suspicion. There are, of course, some
who like taking chances, but consumers on the whole are intelligently
aware of the unreliable result of buying blind.
When manufacturers and dealers advertise the quality, usefulness
and desirability of their products they are competing on a
basis of sound values, and the consumer has confidence that
their claims can be substantiated. Advertising a buggy in
1904, a Toronto company said it this way: "We make one style
only and we make it well. It looks well. It wears well. What
more do you want?"
Importance of research
It is good for the advertiser to spend 90 per cent of his
time thinking about the prospect, and only 10 per cent thinking
of what to say. From this there arises research into the buying
habits and preferences of the consumer. One marketing research
company lists 32 points about which research is conducted
in connection with the marketing of goods.
All business people, regardless of their specific work,
can benefit by study of marketing and merchandising. It is
the duty of research to find the facts, to interpret them,
and to enable business to make the most of them.
Marketing research aims at securing facts about consumers,
competitors, trade channels, market conditions and media;
psychological research aims at discovering the reactions of
human minds to elements in the product to be advertised and
the means planned to advertise it. From this comes improvement
in the product, in the packaging, in distribution methods
and in presentation.
Markets change more often than is usually assumed. Take,
for example, the year-by-year change due to births and marriages.
In the year 1971 there were 349,420 new consumers born in
Canada. There were 191,324 marriages- and every marriage changed
the pattern of the market in some degree. These are the changes
in a single year; consider the changes in a quarter century,
which is not long in the life of a business concern, and the
need for continuous research and advertising becomes obvious.
One purpose of research is to find the most suitable sales
channels and sales appeals. How are we to reach this changing
and expanding market?
Advertising stretches all the way from a one-line want-ad
in 6 point type (l/12th of an inch high) to the sky-writing
in which the letters are a mile from top to bottom, and the
message spreads over 15 to 20 miles. Which shall we use?
The principle we mentioned of looking at the product from
the consumer's viewpoint applies also to advertising. An undelivered
message is wasted, so the advertisement must be the kind best
calculated to attract the reader's attention and secure his
interest. It should be clear, informative, and colourful.
Two examples, from opposite ends of the scale, will illustrate
better than any amount of didactic writing. The first is an
exact reproduction of the wording of an advertisement from
a moving picture show which ran in newspapers in the 1920's,
surrounded by gargantuan tear-drops: "Come out and see Cleo
Madison weep. Did you ever see Cleo Madison's tears? Jupiter
Pluvius, but they're wet and big and slippery. She cried 8
minutes and 9 seconds in Damon and Pythias. The best previous
record was 6 minutes and 4 seconds, held by Olga Nethersole
in Camille. When Cleo Madison cries, it's hard to keep the
rest of the cast from crying, she's that affectin'."
Contrast this overdone bathos with the story told of a blind
beggar who had a sign reading "I am blind." When he changed
it for one that read "It is springtime, and I am blind,"
his cup was filled and running over.
Blatancy and exaggeration
A question was asked us when it was learned we were doing
an article on advertising: "Is the suggestive, quiet type
of advertising better than blatant advertising?" It depends
on the audience, its environment, upbringing, sensitivity,
education and susceptibility to suggestion. Obviously, he
would be a daring advertiser who invested his advertising
appropriation. in running advertisements in a pulp magazine
similar to those he used in a scholarly journal.
Somewhat allied to this question is the matter of exaggeration.
Sometimes and with some people exaggeration pays. We live
in an age of exaggerations and on a continent where exaggeration
is as natural as breathing. The time when it doesn't pay is
when it runs over into mis-statement about quality; deceit
as to the service the commodity will give, and illusion about
economy. There is harmless exaggeration such as every one
of us uses every day to gain attention, but no advertiser
can afford to depend for sales upon exaggeration of the basic
worthwhileness of his goods.
Most instances which come to attention are of overemphasis
on a selling point, and this is pretty generally discounted
by people who know that the advertiser is putting his best
foot forward.
Every ex-soldier knows how the quartermaster discounted
requisitions for supplies, on the general theory that any
soldier always asked for twice as much as he really needed.
In the same way, North Americans are fairly well used to stripping
an advertisement of its superlatives, clearing away the puffery,
and disregarding claims of the near-miraculous.
New advertising standards
For its own sake, the advertising business must keep high
standards. As the result of vigorous educational campaigns
carried on by advertising clubs and associations, much objectionable
advertising has been eliminated. Not so much appeal is made
as formerly to mankind's lower motives, though some advertisers
argue that this kind of appeal is necessary because the audience
has not risen above it.
Of all the classes of business men who have sincerely attempted
to work out standards of business conduct, the advertising
men have had the hardest problem. On the one hand they have
many kinds of employers, some of whom are short-sighted when
dealing with the public; on the other hand, advertising men
are dealing with many credulous people who leap at everything
new, and swallow the most outrageous claims without making
a face. Between these two, it is no wonder that some advertising
went astray, and that those who would improve the ethical
concepts of the business found themselves with a difficult
task.
Advertising has done much in the past quarter century to
establish nation-wide standards of good practice. The big
advertisers are substantial concerns, and their success has
been built on maintained quality. The money-back guarantee
is commonplace, and even when such a guarantee is not given
specifically the reputable firm is ready to make any reasonable
adjustment to meet its advertising claims.
Magazines and newspapers are not keen about questionable
advertisements. They recognize that untruthful advertising
lowers the tone, influence and desirability of their publications.
Many include in their policy statements words to this effect:
"It is the policy of this periodical to eliminate from its
columns all questionable medical, doubtful financial and all
other advertising which fails to measure up to the best standards
of advertising practice."
Not regimentation
One of the ridiculous criticisms of advertising is that
it tends to regiment the people, to deprive them of the will
to think for themselves. The fact that so many advertisements
appear for the same class of goods is an indication of wide-open
competition, under which people make choices that keep the
competing advertisements running.
Advertising men are aware of the responsibility that is
theirs. They have organized themselves into associations and
clubs, not one of which is without its ideals. One demands
"fresh and accurate sales and advertising information"; another,
"to do away with unscrupulous claims for media"; another,
"to rid advertising of that load of bunk which threatened
to drag it down in its infancy."
The first object of the Association of Canadian Advertisers
is "to promote the highest standards of advertising." In standards
of practice it pledges its members "to support unequivocally
the principle of truth in advertising, avoiding all manner
of misrepresentation and falsification." Advertising and Sales
Clubs, organized in all big business centres in Canada, have
as their general objective the advancement of knowledge and
sound practice in advertising and selling.
The advertising worker
The advertising business seems to have an unusual lure for
young people. They see the glamorous aspects of what is really
a business of exceedingly hard work.
The beginner in advertising must realize that, as in most
other businesses, drudgery in early years is essential to
development. Our advertising manager informant says: "If a
man has a creative urge, likes people, enjoys selling and
prefers variety and headaches to a comfortable rut with no
headaches; if he enjoys competition with his fellow-men, and
is not obsessed with the 'art' side of the business to the
extent that he becomes difficult to live with, then I think
he might like advertising and make good at it." Junior Advertising
and Sales Clubs, usually proteges of senior clubs, exist to
help young people decide about, and then to learn, the advertising
business.
Advertising is not easy work. No one knows as well as a
creative man the mental wear and tear that goes into the building
of an advertisement.
The writer cannot take the time to work up masterpieces.
It is said that Thomas Gray sat under an elm tree daily for
seven years writing his "Elegy". It would be unfair and untrue
to say that creative advertising men do not share his desire
for perfection. If they are temperamental it is likely blameable
upon the fact that they want to do things right, and know
they could, but they are under the pressure of deadlines.
Most people think they could write if only they felt like
it; and many people honestly believe they could do a better
job than the author of an advertisement, an essay or a novel.
Some executives look upon the ad man or writer as one who
has a kind of juke box for a brain: when the executive wants
an advertisement for Flamboyant Sope or a speech on Possibilities
of Trade with the Moon, the writer presses the appropriate
button and out flows what would be a masterpiece - if the
executive just had time to polish it up a bit.
What advertising does
In summing up, it may be said that advertising has these
qualities: it tends to make for better products at lower cost;
it informs the people about new commodities and new uses;
it helps to raise the standard of living; it fosters understanding
of competitive business enterprise, a service vital to continuance
of our free way of life; it develops employee pride in the
company, and demonstrates management's pride in the workers.
Advertising is here to stay. Whatever some academic people
may say, the activities of marketing are a part of the work
of production. No one can think of anything more futile than
a factory producing goods and stockpiling them forever.
Advertising can be a great force for good, if it is approached
ethically by the advertiser and with common sense by the consumer.
Published by RBC Financial Group. All editions from the RBC
Letter collection are available on our web site at www.rbc.com/responsibility/letter.
Our e-mail address is: rbcletter@rbc.com.
Publié aussi en francais.
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