#26 Your Toughest Copywriting Challenge: The USP

Issue #26 - Tuesday, October 2, 2018
http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2018/10/26-your-toughest-copywriting-challenge.html

Posted by Denny Hatch

Your Toughest Copywriting Challenge: The USP

   

         

The 116 Year-old Unique Selling Proposition

I was born in 1935. We had a cottage near the shore where we summered. No one had air conditioning in those days. In the steamy Long Island atmosphere—especially on rainy days—I remember how salt clumped and caked when it came out of the box and clogged the holes of saltshakers.

The “fix” back then: little grains of uncooked white rice in saltshakers more-or-less eased the problem. The rice grains separated the salt but were too large to go through the little holes.

In 1910 Morton salt started adding magnesium carbonate to its product. This magnesium deficiency supplement made it possible for salt to pour freely in all weather.

“When it rains, it pours” became the Morton Salt USP (Unique Selling Proposition) in 1912. The little girl with the umbrella remains as the logo. Today instead of pigtails, the little girl has a new dress and hairdo. The words of the USP have been dropped.

I don’t know when I first saw “When it rains, it pours.”  But it made absolute sense and became instantly imprinted in my brain. As a result, I have been a Morton Salt customer all my life.

Rosser Reeves: His Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Rosser Reeves (1910-1984) was an early pioneer of television advertising.

He was born in Danville, Virginia the son of a Methodist preacher.

As a 10 year-old boy, Rosser began writing poetry & fiction.

At the age of 19, he started his career during the Great Depression as a newspaper reporter. In 1940, he landed a job as a copywriter at Ted Bates & Co. He was committed to making ads that were simple, direct, and often annoying.

In 1961, Rosser wrote Reality in Advertising, which details the famous USP: Unique Selling Proposition.

• The USP is the one reason ‘why’ the product needed to be bought or was better than its competitors.

• Rosser says, “The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot, or does not, offer.

• It must be unique—either a uniqueness of the brand or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising”

• The proposition simply states 'Buy this product and you will get this specific benefit.'

• The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions.

• Reeves believes that the consumer tends to remember just one thing from advertising—one strong claim, or one strong concept.

—Posted by May-Ann, Tuesday, October 02, 2007 at 5:05 pm

http://cskills.blogspot.com

Originally (Before TV) USPs Were Used in

Print Ads, on Packaging & on Billboards

The Edsel Bomb of 1959

The Edsel was one of the cruelest tributes ever paid a man. Named after Henry Ford's son and the longtime company president--who died at age 49 in 1943--the Edsel was not just a car but a whole division within Ford, created to compete head-to-head with General Motors' Oldsmobile. —Dan Neil, TIME

Tonight Show funnyman Jack Paar described the Edsel as “an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon.”

Edsel was the biggest floperoo in Ford’s history.

Here’s a one-page ad testing seven (Count ‘em!) possible USPs:

 

The Origin of Allstate’s “Good Hands”

 “You’re in good hands with Allstate” was a slogan (and later a USP) dreamed up in 1950 by Allstate’s general sales manager, David W. Ellis. It was inspired by his daughter's recent hospitalization, during which Ellis’ wife was reassured that, under the doctor’s care, her daughter 'was in good hands.”

Ellis’s slogan triggered this ad circa the 1950s that moved me every time I saw it. Note the rough and powerful—yet gentle and loving—hands.

In current TV advertising spots, the action is fast, exciting and emotionally charged. Often the USP is featured in the final shot—a freeze-frame that can last on screen for a few seconds. The USP is the one powerful claim to be remembered by the viewer.

We've been Allstate customers for years.

Alas, the “Good Hands” have become the tacky little icon you see in the upper left of this final frame—something that might signify a beggar or signify a washbasin.

However, the  “Good Hands” USP is spoken at the end of Allstate TV commercials by the mellifluous voice of actor Dennis Dexter Haysbert. Hear his magnificent vocal instrument!

Haysbert is reminiscent of the magnificent basso of James Earl Jones proclaiming, “This… is CNN.”

Or also reminiscent of this long-lost USP articulated by the legendary voice of Orson Welles in 1978. Welles would do anything to raise cash to finance his films—even shill for a so-so wine.

Takeaways to Consider

• The one-line Unique Selling Proposition that catches on can be pure platinum for the advertiser.

• A Dud:

•A Modern Masterpiece:

• Orphan Products and Services with No USP

 By 2021, worldwide advertisers will spend $ .757 trillion in all media!

• Gazillions of products and services—consumer and b2b—have no USPs. Their ads, displays, TV spots and packaging end with a big ho-hum. Blah. [YAWN…]

• Oh! The opportunities for copywriters to make advertising history and get rich in a three-quarter of a trillion-dollar industry!

P.S. For some ideas on how to go about creating a USP, check my August 1^st post, How to Make Your Product or Service Unique and Sexy

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Invitation to Marketers and Direct Marketers: Guest blog posts are welcome. If you have a marketing story to tell, case history, concept to propose or a memoir, give a shout. I’ll get right back to you. I am: dennyhatch@yahoo.com

You Are Invited to Join the Discussion! What USPs have I missed? What are your favorites? Least favorites? Do share! Thank you.