In 1972, marketing tycoon David Ogilvy published a full-page, 1900 word content piece in the New York Times. Its purpose was to attract new clients for his advertising agency. (According to Ogilvy, "Only amateurs use short copy.") Despite revolutionary advancements in how we deliver our messages to our target buyers, the fundamentals he outlined therein still hold up today.
Born in England in 1911, Ogilvy began his career in the early 1930s as a door-to-door cooking stove salesman after working briefly as a kitchen hand. He quickly moved into advertising, and specifically copywriting. His marketing achievements reached new heights in 1965 with the launch of the highly acclaimed New York-based agency, Ogilvy & Mather International. Over time, Ogilvy became known as "The Father of Advertising." He was the face of Ogilvy & Mather, first as Chairman, and later as Head of Worldwide Creative, until his retirement in the 1980s. He wrote several books, including Ogilvy on Advertising (1985,) and Confessions of an Advertising Man (1989.)
Advertising professionals around the world continue to embrace Ogilvy's philosophies. Here we will dive into four of his foundational keys to success that were included in his Times ad. These essential marketing guidelines continue to support effective advertising that drives sales. And the relationship between sales and marketing is absolute: Ogilvy firmly believed that the function of advertising is to sell.
#1: Define your position. In his New York Times content piece, Ogilvy called product positioning "The Most Important Decision." He wrote, "The effect of your advertising on your sales depends more on this decision than on any other." Product positioning (defining your specific offering and building a compelling story that carves out your unique place in the mind of the target buyer) must be established before product marketing can begin. It is the foundation from which all related marketing is developed. Savvy sales and marketing professionals recognize that the most effective sales tool is a well-defined position.
As an example of product positioning done right, one of Ogilvy's best known campaigns involved Dove soap. Ogilvy focused his advertising on the fact that Dove soap's composition was "1/4 cream," and by regularly running advertising that promoted Dove as a moisturizing agent, he uniquely positioned the brand (and set it apart) as a means to achieve softer skin.
Ogilvy chose a previously overlooked characteristic of the product to focus on, and then used specific language in order to manipulate the market landscape. “I could have positioned Dove as a detergent bar for men with dirty hands, but chose instead to position it as a toilet bar for women with dry skin," Ogilvy wrote in Confessions of an Advertising Man. "This is still working 25 years later.”
The lesson is this: In order to gain market share, you must first recognize (or create) the place you occupy in your target market. This is a three step process: first, you must analyze your buyer's needs, then identify what your company uniquely brings to the table, and finally, conduct due diligence on your competition so you can use your position to leverage against it. It is important to maintain objectivity throughout this process so that you can discern your true opportunities and challenges, which may be contrary to your preconceived beliefs or preferences. You also have to be willing to think outside the box, and look at your product from a new angle. Ogilvy capitalized on a product characteristic that no other soap advertiser had considered. Creative product positioning is a marketing skill that is equally developed from informed intuition and proper research.
#2: Pledge, and then deliver, value. Positioning is a skill, and when it is artfully harnessed by marketing strategists (and skilled writers,) positioning can redirect marketplaces and generate sales. But using ideas and language to manipulate buyers is not enough. Ogilvy believed that a product's position must actually support a authentic benefit.
Ogilvy called the value offered by a product the "Large Promise." He wrote, "A promise is not a claim, or a theme, or a slogan. It is a benefit for the customer." Your company's Large Promise should evolve seamlessly out of its position. It should be genuine. And your company must be able to communicate and deliver upon that promise effectively, so that your target market is both compelled to buy your product and subsequently benefits from it. In other words, your buyer must desire not just your product or service, but also the value it offers. And ideally, they will want to continue to do business with you over and over again. Ogilvy said, “I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information. When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product."
#3: Develop your brand image. Brand image refers to the strength of your brand as recognized in its marketplace. Brand image grows through the ongoing interactions your company has with its prospective buyers, its customers, and its industry as a whole.
Ogilvy didn't invent the concept of brand image, but he brought it to the forefront of the minds of advertising professionals when he gave a speech at the American Association of Advertising Agencies in 1955. He explained, "every advertisement must be considered as a contribution to the complex symbol, which is the brand image - as part of the long-term investment in the reputation of the brand."
Ogilvy felt strongly that the key to building a recognizable brand is consistency, and that brand recognition equals consumer recall and response. Ogilvy observed, "What guts it takes, what obstinate determination, to stick to one coherent creative policy, year after year, in the face of all the pressures to 'come up with something new' every six months. How tragically easy it is to stampede into change. But what golden rewards await the advertiser who has the brains to create a favorable brand image - and the stability to stick with it over a long period." This statement is as true today as it was in 1972, and the challenge it presents is greater than ever, as we operate in a world of unprecedented, rapid, and constant change.
Jonah Sachs, another big thinker in the world of marketing, said ”Your brand is a story unfolding across all customer touch points.” This is true, both absolutely and literally. Because of this, it is critical that every customer touchpoint be treated as a brand building opportunity. In Ogilvy's advertising world of the 1970s, customer touch points included advertising in newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV. Today's customer touchpoints are far more prolific and diverse. They include advertising through email outreach, social media platforms, video chats, plus online via content, display, and SEO. And of course, there are the more traditional methods of advertising still used today. Beyond the obvious advertising and marketing channels, customer touch points also include the interactions your prospective customers and customers have with your sales, service and support personnel.
Although our modern technologies allow us to make richer, more integrated and more personalized connections than ever before, the development of omnichannel marketing over a broader communications landscape has created new challenges related to brand consistency. For this reason, systematic brand management is more important today than it has ever been. But leveraged correctly, modern marketing channels present innovative opportunities to escalate brand building.
Ogilvy also felt that the best advertisers actively embraced a recognizable brand personality. There are many standout brand personalities in the retail world today, including Harley-Davidson (rugged,) Tiffany & Co (refined and tasteful,) AXE (youthful,) and Jeep (adventurous.) Nike is another example of a strong brand personality, and one characteristic of Nike (and the other "Big Brand Personalities") is that it does not try to be all things to all people.
In fact, much of Nike's marketing over the past five years has deliberately and publicly aligned the company with social causes considered controversial and divisive. On the surface, that looks like a risky strategy. But according to a Forbes article from 2019, "While cause positioning has the potential to alienate customers who disagree with a cause, as in the case of individuals burning their Nike products, it can also have the opposite effect: deepening the loyalty of those who support it." And in the end, Nike's visibility is enhanced by its willingness to be who it is for those buyers who will respond positively to it. According to Ogilvy, "the (business owner) who dedicates his advertising to building the most sharply defined personality for his brand gets the largest share of the market."
#4: Be bold and innovate. Ogilvy called this section of his document "Big Ideas." He wrote, "It takes a big idea to jolt the consumer out of his indifference....Big Ideas are usually simple ideas." The Big Idea is hard to define, but we know it when we see it.
Companies who have demonstrated success with Big Ideas in marketing include Starbucks, Apple, BMW, Disney, Google, Amazon and Etsy. These companies started with an idea that evolved out of an opportunity in their marketplace. Thy know their customer, and they fill a unique position. Through innovation and bold execution, they continue to market and fulfill the value they promise to deliver. Importantly, each of them has created a position, and developed a brand image, that continues to resonate with their buyers. Each of these companies has also maintained their "sharply defined personality" year after year, even during times of growth and adaptation.
Your organization doesn't have to be a huge, multi-national company to benefit from the Big Idea principle. But it is helpful to grasp how these well-knows business models used the Big Idea to become the brands they are today. Extrapolating from Ogilvy's examples, you can lead your company to greater market share by:
Trusting your (informed) intuition about all areas of your business.
Knowing precisely who you are, and making sure everyone else knows it too.
Doing your homework on an ongoing basis.
Delivering on your promise.
Adapting and innovating while remaining true to your brand.
Big ideas in marketing are equally a product of knowledge and intuition. Ogilvy advised, “Big ideas come from the unconscious. This is true in art, in science and in advertising. But your unconscious has to be well informed, or your idea will be irrelevant. Stuff your conscious mind with information, then unhook your rational thought process. You can help this process by going for a long walk, or taking a hot bath, or drinking half a pint of claret. Suddenly, if the telephone line from your unconscious is open, a big idea wells up within you.”
Final thoughts. One of the biggest challenges you face in establishing your brand position and developing (and maintaining) your brand image is the inherent limitations you face when you try to see your market objectively. Your company is by definition a closed environment, and environment always influences perception. Often, an outsourced professional can more easily see the big picture and help bring focus back to the end goal, identifying challenges and opportunities that are more accessible when not clouded by preconception. This is one of the tools Ogilvy leveraged when working with his clients: The ability to bring an outside perspective.
Positioning specialists, in particular, have expertise in the required process; that is using informed intuition, creative thinking and innovative messaging to help you identify what sets you apart and using that to tell a compelling brand story.
We encourage you to contact us today if you are interested in investigating new opportunities afforded by effective positioning, brand building, campaign development and copywriting.
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