Persuasive Advertising - J. Scott Armstrong [46]
1.4.12. For inexpensive products, state price discounts as percentage saved; for expensive products, state price discounts as money saved—or present both.
1.4.13. Minimize price information for new products.
1.4.14. Consider bundling prices of features or complementary products or services if they are desirable to nearly all customers.
1.4.15. Advertise multi-unit purchases for frequently purchased low-involvement products if it is also in the consumers’ interest.
1.5. Distribution
1.5.1. Include information on when, where, and how to buy a product.
1.5.2. Feature a sales channel when it is impressive.
1.5.3. Use the package to enhance the product.
1.5.4. If a product is desirable, specify delivery dates rather than waiting times.
1.5.5. Tell customers they can achieve benefits over a long time period if you want to reduce the use of an offer—and vice versa.
1 Remember that you can find some information on the WAPB procedures in the Glossary and even more in Appendix B.
2 As noted in the Glossary, the advertising elasticity shows the percentage change in unit sales brought about by a 1 percent change in advertising expenditures. This means that a 10 percent increase in advertising expenditures for new products yielded a 2.6 percent increase in unit sales, which is more than five times the 0.5 percent increase for established products.
3 I was unable to verify the source of this example.
2. Influence
This section examines strategies that advertisers can employ to influence others to take action. To a great extent they deal with how to present information. The framework draws upon Cialdini (2009). The influence principles sometimes go beyond common sense. As a result, they often get overlooked in the development of advertising campaigns. They are organized as follows:
2.1. Reasons
2.2. Social proof
2.3. Scarcity
2.4. Attribution
2.5. Liking
2.6. Authority
2.7. Commitment
2.8. Reciprocation
2.1. Reasons
In 1904 Albert Lasker, head of the Lord & Thomas Agency, received a message from John E. Kennedy, a copywriter. The message said: “I am in the saloon downstairs and I can tell you what real advertising is. I know that you don’t know …. If you wish to know what advertising is, send the word ‘Yes’ down by messenger.” Lasker replied “Yes,” and Kennedy told him that advertising was salesmanship in print and it depended on “reason-why” copy. Kennedy converted Lasker, who later described this conversation as “the most remarkable thing in my lifetime.” His agency went on to challenge the idea that advertising means simply attracting attention. It ran copywriting classes that used the reason-why approach. One student said this revolution was “an appeal to reason rather than the time-honored assumption that the public was a mass of dumb, driven sheep, who could be swayed with mere pictures and catch-words” (Pope 1983, Fox 1997). Sadly, almost a century later, dot.com companies wasted billions vying for attention.
Reasons are often persuasive. For example, an advertising campaign explained that in contrast to then-current beliefs, harp seals seldom eat codfish. Because this had been the reason for a policy allowing the clubbing of baby seals to control the seal population, the ad was instrumental in leading the Canadian government to change its policy. This campaign saved the lives of an estimated 500,000 harp seals and won an IPA award for effectiveness (Baker 1993).
Reason-why ads are especially relevant for experience goods (in which the product’s success in meeting advertised claims is evident when someone uses it). However, they can also be used for credence goods (when consumers use the product based on faith).1
The reason-why approach is persuasive for utilitarian and high-involvement products. It is especially persuasive when the product has a comparative advantage and the arguments are new to the target market. On the other hand, reasons do not work well when they relate to issues about which people hold strong beliefs.
Examples include: Does the minimum wage law