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Genius is the art of taking pains. The advertising man who spares
the midnight oil will never get very far. Before advertising a food
product, 130 men were employed for weeks to interview all classes of consumers. On another line, letters were sent to 12,000 physicians.
Questionnaires are often mailed to tens of thousands of men and
women to get the viewpoint of consumers. A $25,000-a-year man,
before advertising outfits for acetylene gas, spent weeks in going
from farm to farm. Another man did that on a tractor. Before
advertising a shaving cream, one thousand men were asked to state what they most desired in a shaving soap.
Called on to advertise pork and beans, a canvass was made of
some thousand of homes. There-to-fore all pork and bean advertising has been based on "Buy my brand." That canvass showed that only 4 percent of the people used any canned pork and beans. Ninety-six percent baked their beans at home. The problem was not to sell a particular brand. Any such attempt appealed to only four percent.
The right appeal was to win the people away from home-baked
beans. The advertising, which without knowledge must have failed,
proved a great success.
A canvas made, not only of homes, but of dealers. Competition is
measured up. Every advertiser of a similar product is written for his
literature and claims. Thus we start with exact information on all that our rivals are doing.
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