The Finer Points of Advertising

Found in a privately published book on advertising From One Person To Another. What advertising is all about and how you go about it. By John E O’Toole. (FCB, London & NY 1977 -'Intended solely for the use of FCB people in their work for FCB clients'). A good summary of basic laws from the splendidly named Fairfax Mastick Cone, an advertising wunderkind from the days of Mad Men and before…


 EXECUTION: SOME FINER POINTS.

Fairfax Cone has said only one thing, to my knowledge, that is patently untrue. It is in this brief piece he wrote years ago, something many of us keep in our offices and try to keep in our minds. I include the piece here, not only to see if you can spot the untruth, but because it can serve as a summary of this entire book for those in a hurry.

"It is the primary requirement of advertising to be clear, clear to what exactly the proposition is.

If it isn’t clear, and clear at a glance or a whisper, very few people will take the time or the effort to try to figure it out.

The second essential of advertising is that what must be clear must also be important. The proposition must have value.

Third, the proposition (the promise) that is both clear and important must also have a personal appeal. It should be beamed at its logical prospects; no one else matters.

Fourth, the distinction in good advertising expresses the personality of the advertiser; for a promise is only as good as its maker.

Finally, a a good advertisement demands action. It asks for an order , or exacts a mental pledge.

Altogether these things define a desirable advertisement as one that will command attention but never be offensive.

It will be reasonable, but never dull.

It will be original, but never self-conscious.

It will be imaginative, but never misleading.

And because of what it is, and what it is not, a properly prepared advertisement will always be convincing and make people act.

This, incidentally is all I know about advertising.”

The falsehood, of course is the last sentence. He knows immensely more about advertising than that.

He simply didn’t want amateurs involving themselves in the fine points before mastering the basic skills of the craft. That admonition pertains as we launch into the few aspects of execution that are, perhaps, more entertaining to discuss than the fundamental considerations they follow, but are worthless without them.

Proficiency in the fine points depends heavily on a life-long love and respect for one’s language, a fair design instinct, a reasonable ear for music and a sense of what is appropriate.
It depends equally on learning through trial and error. Discussing work each day with Fax Cone, as a fortunate few of us did for many years, resulted in numerous trials and resulted in abundant errors., but the knowledge gleaned from those conversations is today beyond price.

Selling - 'Walk like a million dollars'

The Opportunity Course in Practical Selling. By Charles B Roth.(Chicago 1952) A correspondence course of a dozen (?) 4 page leaflets.

Handy tips on door-to-door selling. E.g. - 'always sell them through the eyes' -let the goods sell themselves by showing them and using the "eye lock" i.e. keep the buyers attention on the goods. As for looking at the prospect in the eye Roth advises looking at what he calls the "black dot" - an imaginary spot on the bridge of the prospect's nose - it is less embarrassing than looking the person directly in the eyes.

Selling begins before you actually get to the door… Roth gives details of the million-dollar walk.

The approach to the house begins with your walk. It can make the sale for you, keep you from making the sale, just the way you walk to the house. He talks of a seller who was failing to sell goods - saying to him "..you didn't deserve to sell. Your walk was wrong. I watched you. You were all hunched over. You walked like a man who expected failure, not success. Suppose you just made, or knew you were going to make, a million-dollar sale. How would you walk then?"

"Why man how would I walk then!? I'd square my shoulders, swing my arms, and really step off! I'd walk like a million dollars!"

 "That's it exactly - you'd have a million-dollar walk. Well, have one – and you will make million-dollar sales."

 He took it to heart. He walks like a million-dollar salesman now, chest out, head up, arms swinging, confidence in every movement. The first thing to remember in getting up to the house is – walk like a million dollars. 

How to ring a doorbell. A friend took over a faltering direct sales team and literally remade it in the simplest most unbelievable way imaginable – by teaching the team how to ring a doorbell! It seems pretty childish, to think that grown men and women, who know how to make out roadmaps and tie their own shoes, should need to be told how to ring the doorbell. 

There is a language of doorbells which every prospect subconsciously understands. You can ring it as a beggar would. And not get in. Or you can ring it as a person who knows he deserves attention would -and get in – and get an order. The secret of how to ring a doorbell? Two rings, never one. A good old family hearty ring of two sharp blasts, and the woman thinks it's somebody she knows or at least somebody special. So she answers the door -not every time but practically every time -enough times anyway to make you a lot of money. 

Roth advises "when the woman answers the door step back, this is to show you are not trying to force your way and you are not crowding her." 

What does the salesmen do with a slammed door full in the face? The best salesmen handle that in the only way it seems to me possible. They take the door slam in good grace. They do not pout ..and make it a point to call back next time with lines like  "I'm sorry Mrs Watkins I called at such a bad time last week I know how busy you are and how much you must resent interruptions and I don't blame you a bit…" The prospect is on the defensive now..