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YOUNG AND WHO?
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YOUNG AND WHO? “We are setting out on a dangerous journey”, said Raymond Rubicam. “Our prospects of survival are slim.” “But if we prevail, we will change the face of world advertising.”
Written by Simon Silvester Executive Planning Director, Y&R EMEA simon_silvester@eu.yr.com For new business enquiries, please contact: Marcus Brown marcus_brown@eu.yr.com tel:+44 20 7611 6890 For press enquiries, please contact: Bernard Barnett bernard_barnett@eu.yr.com tel:+44 20 7611 6425 The emailable version of this document is at www.emea.yr.com/youngandwho.pdf
He was speaking in 1923, as he together with account executive John Young became the first creative ever to open his own advertising agency. The agencies of the day had been founded by space brokers – businessmen making a quick buck on newspapers’ inventories of unsold advertising space. Rubicam and Young’s aim was different. They set out to focus purely on the quality of their advertisements.
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YOUNG AND WHO? “We are setting out on a dangerous journey”, said Raymond Rubicam. “Our prospects of survival are slim.” “But if we prevail, we will change the face of world advertising.”
Written by Simon Silvester Executive Planning Director, Y&R EMEA simon_silvester@eu.yr.com For new business enquiries, please contact: Marcus Brown marcus_brown@eu.yr.com tel:+44 20 7611 6890 For press enquiries, please contact: Bernard Barnett bernard_barnett@eu.yr.com tel:+44 20 7611 6425 The emailable version of this document is at www.emea.yr.com/youngandwho.pdf
He was speaking in 1923, as he together with account executive John Young became the first creative ever to open his own advertising agency. The agencies of the day had been founded by space brokers – businessmen making a quick buck on newspapers’ inventories of unsold advertising space. Rubicam and Young’s aim was different. They set out to focus purely on the quality of their advertisements.
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Life wasn’t easy Rubicam and Young didn’t have television, or full-colour ads or huge photographic billboards at their disposal.
Rubicam and Young were the first to show that what you said mattered much, much more than anything else.
Even radio fizzed and crackled so much it was virtually useless.
As Rubicam put it, “A brand without a powerful idea at its centre is just a commodity with a name. Only with an idea welded firmly to it can a brand enter the American imagination.”
And they were the first to prove the power of ideas.
Their media choice was dirty inky newsprint, or dirty inky posters. They couldn’t rely on fancy production or huge budgets to get their ads noticed. They had to rely on what they said. “We can’t spend our way out of these problems.” said John Young. “So we’ll have to think our way out instead.”
“This is not an advertising agency. This is a religion.”
They believed what you said was decisive At that time, most marketers fell into the trap of believing that because the lion’s share of advertising money went into media, media choice was the decisive factor in advertising effectiveness.
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JOHN YOUNG
And so they set about thinking Rubicam and Young developed ways of cracking marketing problems that didn’t rely on beautiful production values or heavy media weights. They used them to build powerful long-lasting campaigns for consumer goods and services. Their reputation as innovative thinkers grew and grew. “We set out to surround selling problems and penetrate them,” said Rubicam. “And then we solve them with ingenuity”. Then disaster struck In the sixth year of the agency, disaster struck. The US economy went over a cliff.
When you read a newspaper in 1923, most of it ended up on your hands.
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Life wasn’t easy Rubicam and Young didn’t have television, or full-colour ads or huge photographic billboards at their disposal.
Rubicam and Young were the first to show that what you said mattered much, much more than anything else.
Even radio fizzed and crackled so much it was virtually useless.
As Rubicam put it, “A brand without a powerful idea at its centre is just a commodity with a name. Only with an idea welded firmly to it can a brand enter the American imagination.”
And they were the first to prove the power of ideas.
Their media choice was dirty inky newsprint, or dirty inky posters. They couldn’t rely on fancy production or huge budgets to get their ads noticed. They had to rely on what they said. “We can’t spend our way out of these problems.” said John Young. “So we’ll have to think our way out instead.”
“This is not an advertising agency. This is a religion.”
They believed what you said was decisive At that time, most marketers fell into the trap of believing that because the lion’s share of advertising money went into media, media choice was the decisive factor in advertising effectiveness.
ii
JOHN YOUNG
And so they set about thinking Rubicam and Young developed ways of cracking marketing problems that didn’t rely on beautiful production values or heavy media weights. They used them to build powerful long-lasting campaigns for consumer goods and services. Their reputation as innovative thinkers grew and grew. “We set out to surround selling problems and penetrate them,” said Rubicam. “And then we solve them with ingenuity”. Then disaster struck In the sixth year of the agency, disaster struck. The US economy went over a cliff.
When you read a newspaper in 1923, most of it ended up on your hands.
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And the year after it went over another. The automobile market declined by 75%; millions of formerly prosperous people tasted poverty. And most of the advertising agencies in the United States went bankrupt. But Rubicam and Young’s thinking was so powerful, their clients continued to put money behind it. And the agency grew throughout the Great Depression. By its end Young and Rubicam was the second biggest agency in America. A couple of decades later Of course, after the war, a whole new wave of creative agencies built themselves on the philosophies of Rubicam and Young. But their thinking was subtly different. Their ideas were tuned to an era of cheap television. Where you didn’t have to persuade. All you had to do was repeat. In 1923 photographs reproduced as light grey clouds on dark grey clouds. Rubicam and Young didn’t have the luxury of production values. Instead, they had to think. v
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And the year after it went over another. The automobile market declined by 75%; millions of formerly prosperous people tasted poverty. And most of the advertising agencies in the United States went bankrupt. But Rubicam and Young’s thinking was so powerful, their clients continued to put money behind it. And the agency grew throughout the Great Depression. By its end Young and Rubicam was the second biggest agency in America. A couple of decades later Of course, after the war, a whole new wave of creative agencies built themselves on the philosophies of Rubicam and Young. But their thinking was subtly different. Their ideas were tuned to an era of cheap television. Where you didn’t have to persuade. All you had to do was repeat. In 1923 photographs reproduced as light grey clouds on dark grey clouds. Rubicam and Young didn’t have the luxury of production values. Instead, they had to think. v
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In an era when even modest marketers could afford to be in everyone’s living rooms every night of the year, Rubicam and Young’s sharply constructed brand ideas were no longer critical: • You didn’t need to say one thing, when you had so much money you could say several. • You didn’t need to be effective at a time when sales were going up anyway. • You didn’t need to be ingenious when you could carpet bomb the consumer with ratings instead. And so the advertising culture began to change. Agencies began to rely on formulas, rather than consider all problems from first principles. Rather than think, they would say quickly “It’s about image.” Or “key selling points.” Much of early 20th century advertising was just about logos. Most manufacturers believed that the best way of marketing their brand was to paint their logo on the side of houses, shops and rocks. “Our way,” said John Young, “is more effective.” Today though, drive into any city from its airport and all you see are neon logos on buildings. In a hundred years, has advertising really moved on?
Or, “We need to reinforce your brand values.” And they talked about creativity rather than struggle under the much tougher discipline of ingenious marketing thought.
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In an era when even modest marketers could afford to be in everyone’s living rooms every night of the year, Rubicam and Young’s sharply constructed brand ideas were no longer critical: • You didn’t need to say one thing, when you had so much money you could say several. • You didn’t need to be effective at a time when sales were going up anyway. • You didn’t need to be ingenious when you could carpet bomb the consumer with ratings instead. And so the advertising culture began to change. Agencies began to rely on formulas, rather than consider all problems from first principles. Rather than think, they would say quickly “It’s about image.” Or “key selling points.” Much of early 20th century advertising was just about logos. Most manufacturers believed that the best way of marketing their brand was to paint their logo on the side of houses, shops and rocks. “Our way,” said John Young, “is more effective.” Today though, drive into any city from its airport and all you see are neon logos on buildings. In a hundred years, has advertising really moved on?
Or, “We need to reinforce your brand values.” And they talked about creativity rather than struggle under the much tougher discipline of ingenious marketing thought.
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WE INVENTED THE CREATIVE AGENCY Rubicam was the first copywriter to start his own agency. He and Young were the first to place advertising content above all else. They thus invented the modern creative agency. Twenty-five years after they did so, the book The 100 Greatest Advertisements was published. A quarter of those selected came from the copywriters and art directors of one agency – Young and Rubicam.
WE INVENTED ADVERTISING STRATEGY In 1932, Y&R hired George Gallup, a social scientist from Princeton. ‘Don’t make like Einstein,’ said Rubicam. ‘Just help us make better ads.’ Gallup set to work, integrating research into the agency’s processes. Note to account planners: your craft was alive and well in 1935.
Welcome to today Today though, television is no longer cheap, and marketers no longer have money to spend like water. Advertising that once succeeded through repetition is disappearing from our newspapers and TV screens. Today, the fundamental principles and original thinking of Rubicam and Young are needed more than ever. Young and Rubicam. Ideas before advertising. Ideas beyond advertising.
WE INVENTED IMPACT In the 1920s, most people thought that getting your ad noticed meant buying a bigger, more expensive space. “That’s not right.” said John Young. “The stopping power of an ad depends on its content many times more than on its size. We shall call this quality ‘Impact’, and we shall strive to achieve it in every ad we write.”*
* To ensure the rest of the world knew about Impact, Young took out a series of ads in the launch issues of a radical new business magazine he liked the look of called Fortune. One of the first readers of those ads was Samuel Goldwyn – and he appointed the agency within 24 hours. ix
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WE INVENTED THE CREATIVE AGENCY Rubicam was the first copywriter to start his own agency. He and Young were the first to place advertising content above all else. They thus invented the modern creative agency. Twenty-five years after they did so, the book The 100 Greatest Advertisements was published. A quarter of those selected came from the copywriters and art directors of one agency – Young and Rubicam.
WE INVENTED ADVERTISING STRATEGY In 1932, Y&R hired George Gallup, a social scientist from Princeton. ‘Don’t make like Einstein,’ said Rubicam. ‘Just help us make better ads.’ Gallup set to work, integrating research into the agency’s processes. Note to account planners: your craft was alive and well in 1935.
Welcome to today Today though, television is no longer cheap, and marketers no longer have money to spend like water. Advertising that once succeeded through repetition is disappearing from our newspapers and TV screens. Today, the fundamental principles and original thinking of Rubicam and Young are needed more than ever. Young and Rubicam. Ideas before advertising. Ideas beyond advertising.
WE INVENTED IMPACT In the 1920s, most people thought that getting your ad noticed meant buying a bigger, more expensive space. “That’s not right.” said John Young. “The stopping power of an ad depends on its content many times more than on its size. We shall call this quality ‘Impact’, and we shall strive to achieve it in every ad we write.”*
* To ensure the rest of the world knew about Impact, Young took out a series of ads in the launch issues of a radical new business magazine he liked the look of called Fortune. One of the first readers of those ads was Samuel Goldwyn – and he appointed the agency within 24 hours. ix
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Pianos were middle class home entertainment systems, and were advertised as such. “Not any more” said Rubicam. “The radio will destroy the need to make music in the home. But I can give Steinway a new life by raising its sights.”
MAKING AN IDEA ABOUT A BRAND “Make an idea big, powerful and disruptive”, said Rubicam, “and it can change the world.” He was not alone in his belief: “The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared to the gradual encroachment of ideas.” JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES
Rubicam implemented his belief with gusto: 1. Rubicam repositioned into markets of the future When he was asked to produce a campaign for Steinway pianos, Rubicam was inspired. x
NAME THREE BRANDS OF PIANO 1. Steinway 2. ____________ 3. ____________
His campaign ‘The Instrument of the Immortals’, repositioned Steinway as a creative tool, the instrument of choice for composers, concert pianists - and the millions of ordinary Americans who aspired to be like them. And so when the piano market went into decline, Steinway lived on.
Rubicam’s positioning survives today – in 2003 the only brand of piano most people can remember is Steinway. Few of today’s agencies would even think to anticipate technological change in this way.
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Pianos were middle class home entertainment systems, and were advertised as such. “Not any more” said Rubicam. “The radio will destroy the need to make music in the home. But I can give Steinway a new life by raising its sights.”
MAKING AN IDEA ABOUT A BRAND “Make an idea big, powerful and disruptive”, said Rubicam, “and it can change the world.” He was not alone in his belief: “The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared to the gradual encroachment of ideas.” JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES
Rubicam implemented his belief with gusto: 1. Rubicam repositioned into markets of the future When he was asked to produce a campaign for Steinway pianos, Rubicam was inspired. x
NAME THREE BRANDS OF PIANO 1. Steinway 2. ____________ 3. ____________
His campaign ‘The Instrument of the Immortals’, repositioned Steinway as a creative tool, the instrument of choice for composers, concert pianists - and the millions of ordinary Americans who aspired to be like them. And so when the piano market went into decline, Steinway lived on.
Rubicam’s positioning survives today – in 2003 the only brand of piano most people can remember is Steinway. Few of today’s agencies would even think to anticipate technological change in this way.
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2. Rubicam talked one-to-one – to millions Rubicam knew that no one read insurance ads.
“When we listen to research, we are careful not to lose sight of what really matters. Even our greatest scientists concede that not all that can be counted counts. And that not all that counts can be counted.” JOHN YOUNG
To get interest, he argued that you had to speak to people when they were already worried about their future. ‘People live in the here and now’, said Rubicam. ‘Not in the tomorrow. And for that reason, they rarely read ads for long-term financial products.’ Rubicam knew that only at a few times in their lives do people think about their long-term future – and then is the time to reach them. “Most of my contemporaries realized shortly before their fortieth birthdays that they were mortal”, he observed.
And his ad – a worried man gazing at the viewer with the headline:
3. Rubicam believed that to get big, you must start radical
Most food advertisers recognize that new food trends start off as radical niches, and then slowly become mainstream over time. But even today they shy away from creating those radical positionings themselves. Not so Rubicam. He sought out profound truths, and expected three things when he stated them. • First, he expected to be laughed at. • Second, he expected to be violently opposed. • Finally, he expected his truth to be accepted as being obvious. “You can’t make a new food popular and healthy both at the same time”, he said when asked to work on Postum cereal drinks for General Mills. “You have to shock it in there first”. He argued that in the rush of the machine age, unhealthy stimulants like caffeine could break a man’s health and
THOUGHTS AT 39
No insurance ad since has been better read. xii
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2. Rubicam talked one-to-one – to millions Rubicam knew that no one read insurance ads.
“When we listen to research, we are careful not to lose sight of what really matters. Even our greatest scientists concede that not all that can be counted counts. And that not all that counts can be counted.” JOHN YOUNG
To get interest, he argued that you had to speak to people when they were already worried about their future. ‘People live in the here and now’, said Rubicam. ‘Not in the tomorrow. And for that reason, they rarely read ads for long-term financial products.’ Rubicam knew that only at a few times in their lives do people think about their long-term future – and then is the time to reach them. “Most of my contemporaries realized shortly before their fortieth birthdays that they were mortal”, he observed.
And his ad – a worried man gazing at the viewer with the headline:
3. Rubicam believed that to get big, you must start radical
Most food advertisers recognize that new food trends start off as radical niches, and then slowly become mainstream over time. But even today they shy away from creating those radical positionings themselves. Not so Rubicam. He sought out profound truths, and expected three things when he stated them. • First, he expected to be laughed at. • Second, he expected to be violently opposed. • Finally, he expected his truth to be accepted as being obvious. “You can’t make a new food popular and healthy both at the same time”, he said when asked to work on Postum cereal drinks for General Mills. “You have to shock it in there first”. He argued that in the rush of the machine age, unhealthy stimulants like caffeine could break a man’s health and
THOUGHTS AT 39
No insurance ad since has been better read. xii
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destroy him. And he headed his first Postum ad:
On the edge of the trench the foreman had painted a sign:
WHY MEN CRACK
DRIVE SLOWLY.
And once it was clear that it worked, General Foods assigned brand after brand to the agency.
The traffic continued to drive past the trench fast, at considerable danger to themselves.
4. Rubicam was a butcher Rubicam believed that any agency person, who wasn’t part of the solution, was part of the problem
The next day the foreman added:
“A lot of people writing copy for advertisements” he said in the 1920s, “should be digging sewers”.
There was little effect.
5. Rubicam liked catalytic thoughts Rubicam believed even small catalytic thoughts could change human behaviour.
This time he wrote:
He also believed that those thoughts could come from anywhere. Rubicam used to drive into work past a deep trench where road workers were digging a sewer.
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DANGER: DRIVE SLOWLY.
A week later the foreman changed the sign again.
DRIVE SLOWLY. DEATH CAN BE SO PERMANENT.
The traffic slowed down. “That man,” said Rubicam, “should be in advertising.”
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destroy him. And he headed his first Postum ad:
On the edge of the trench the foreman had painted a sign:
WHY MEN CRACK
DRIVE SLOWLY.
And once it was clear that it worked, General Foods assigned brand after brand to the agency.
The traffic continued to drive past the trench fast, at considerable danger to themselves.
4. Rubicam was a butcher Rubicam believed that any agency person, who wasn’t part of the solution, was part of the problem
The next day the foreman added:
“A lot of people writing copy for advertisements” he said in the 1920s, “should be digging sewers”.
There was little effect.
5. Rubicam liked catalytic thoughts Rubicam believed even small catalytic thoughts could change human behaviour.
This time he wrote:
He also believed that those thoughts could come from anywhere. Rubicam used to drive into work past a deep trench where road workers were digging a sewer.
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DANGER: DRIVE SLOWLY.
A week later the foreman changed the sign again.
DRIVE SLOWLY. DEATH CAN BE SO PERMANENT.
The traffic slowed down. “That man,” said Rubicam, “should be in advertising.”
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6. Rubicam believed in difference Most advertising agencies today will tell you that they try to produce relevant and distinctive campaigns for their clients’ products and services. They will argue that those campaigns communicate effectively the brands’ values and their propositions. They think that that is enough. But Rubicam believed something completely different. He believed that the problem with brands was that most of them just weren’t any different. Not products, mind. Brands. “Resist the usual” he used to say. He believed in making brands feel not warm, or nice, or sexy or cool. He believed in making them different. “You can make a brand with any combination of adjectives,” he used to say “and no one will notice it.” A suit with brains: “This agency works,” said Young, “because our thinking is riveted to our clients’ selling problems. The closer we are to our clients and their problems, the better our work will be.” xvii
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6. Rubicam believed in difference Most advertising agencies today will tell you that they try to produce relevant and distinctive campaigns for their clients’ products and services. They will argue that those campaigns communicate effectively the brands’ values and their propositions. They think that that is enough. But Rubicam believed something completely different. He believed that the problem with brands was that most of them just weren’t any different. Not products, mind. Brands. “Resist the usual” he used to say. He believed in making brands feel not warm, or nice, or sexy or cool. He believed in making them different. “You can make a brand with any combination of adjectives,” he used to say “and no one will notice it.” A suit with brains: “This agency works,” said Young, “because our thinking is riveted to our clients’ selling problems. The closer we are to our clients and their problems, the better our work will be.” xvii
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‘RESIST THE USUAL’ In this line of symbols, you are attracted towards the blue square:
“What you should do is make the brand look like nothing they have seen before. If you do that, they will notice it and become interested by it.” “And eventually they will attribute that nice, warm logical set of adjectives to it.” Raymond was talking about what today is called ‘the shock of the new.’
In this line of symbols, you are attracted towards the black circle:
He knew that people were creatures of habit, and that they spend their lives screening out products and services that they don’t use because their lives are too complicated. “If you want people to notice your brand,” he used to say, “the first thing you must do is make it look not nice, or attractive, or glamorous, but different.”
Not because blue, or black, or circles or squares are attractive. But because they are different. Differentiation is the least studied and least measured aspect of a brand, but ultimately its most important.
“In short, you must resist the usual” 7. He knew saying and hearing are not the same Rubicam knew that what you said was not always what they heard. Rolls Royce had been positioned as the ultimate status symbol for the successful entrepreneur and the banker.
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‘RESIST THE USUAL’ In this line of symbols, you are attracted towards the blue square:
“What you should do is make the brand look like nothing they have seen before. If you do that, they will notice it and become interested by it.” “And eventually they will attribute that nice, warm logical set of adjectives to it.” Raymond was talking about what today is called ‘the shock of the new.’
In this line of symbols, you are attracted towards the black circle:
He knew that people were creatures of habit, and that they spend their lives screening out products and services that they don’t use because their lives are too complicated. “If you want people to notice your brand,” he used to say, “the first thing you must do is make it look not nice, or attractive, or glamorous, but different.”
Not because blue, or black, or circles or squares are attractive. But because they are different. Differentiation is the least studied and least measured aspect of a brand, but ultimately its most important.
“In short, you must resist the usual” 7. He knew saying and hearing are not the same Rubicam knew that what you said was not always what they heard. Rolls Royce had been positioned as the ultimate status symbol for the successful entrepreneur and the banker.
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But Rubicam sensed that what all these people needed was not so much recognition, as reassurance that they were making a sensible decision. “Say style, and your brand is not stylish.” “Say luxury to men, and they will hear wasteful, or ostentatious.”
THE DAYS OF CHEAP TV ARE OVER THE PRICE OF THIRTY SECONDS OF CONSUMER ATTENTION INDEX 480
453
“These men invest for a living. We should therefore make this car a good investment – which it is. In all the scrapyards that line our highways, I have yet to see a Rolls-Royce.”
268
And his headline: NO ROLLS-ROYCE HAS EVER WORN OUT
8. Rubicam invented integration Later on, Rubicam’s agency did campaigns for Borden’s milk products. His creative thinking was spread not just across the press campaign, but into sales literature, posters in doctors’ waiting rooms and mailing letters.
100
1923
1954
1984
2003
FIGURES FOR 1954 - 2003 BASED ON ALL ADULT COST PER MILLE FIGURES FOR 30 SECOND TV FOR US AND WESTERN EUROPEAN MARKETS. 1923 FIGURE BASED ON CONTEMPORANEOUS Y&R READING AND NOTING RESEARCH FOR FULL PAGE MONO ADS IN US EASTERN SEABOARD.
Then the effect was stunning. Today, we call it integration. xx
In the second half of the twentieth century, cheap television made advertising easy. All you had to do was repeat. But those days are now gone - and today advertising needs to work harder.
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But Rubicam sensed that what all these people needed was not so much recognition, as reassurance that they were making a sensible decision. “Say style, and your brand is not stylish.” “Say luxury to men, and they will hear wasteful, or ostentatious.”
THE DAYS OF CHEAP TV ARE OVER THE PRICE OF THIRTY SECONDS OF CONSUMER ATTENTION INDEX 480
453
“These men invest for a living. We should therefore make this car a good investment – which it is. In all the scrapyards that line our highways, I have yet to see a Rolls-Royce.”
268
And his headline: NO ROLLS-ROYCE HAS EVER WORN OUT
8. Rubicam invented integration Later on, Rubicam’s agency did campaigns for Borden’s milk products. His creative thinking was spread not just across the press campaign, but into sales literature, posters in doctors’ waiting rooms and mailing letters.
100
1923
1954
1984
2003
FIGURES FOR 1954 - 2003 BASED ON ALL ADULT COST PER MILLE FIGURES FOR 30 SECOND TV FOR US AND WESTERN EUROPEAN MARKETS. 1923 FIGURE BASED ON CONTEMPORANEOUS Y&R READING AND NOTING RESEARCH FOR FULL PAGE MONO ADS IN US EASTERN SEABOARD.
Then the effect was stunning. Today, we call it integration. xx
In the second half of the twentieth century, cheap television made advertising easy. All you had to do was repeat. But those days are now gone - and today advertising needs to work harder.
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9. Meanwhile, Young sought the uncommon thought “In our business, people become easily convinced that there is only one right answer to a problem,” said Young. “But that’s not the way it is.” “The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a deep truth may well be another deep truth.” “We must seek out those opposite truths.”
“This agency is an agency with guts, or it is nothing.”
10. Rubicam knew consumers lied RAYMOND RUBICAM Like Bernbach after him, Rubicam knew that it was human nature to conceal one’s true wants from the world, and that the art of persuasion meant digging beneath the façade. In 1934 all the research said the same thing: In a world of despair and 30% unemployment, there wasn’t much place for added value. The public, brought low by the Great Depression, wanted products that offered economy and efficiency.
In Rubicam’s soul he knew that there was more to it than that. But he couldn’t prove it. Then his planner, George Gallup, proved differently. Rather than ask consumers outright what they wanted advertising to say to them, he looked at what they actually took notice of. The two were very different. The vast majority of economy and efficiency advertising was ignored.
ARE YOU AN ASPIRER? Take our online test at 4cs.yr.com/diys and find out.
In the heart of the Depression, the ads that women read most promised sex, vanity and romance. Gallup had discovered the Aspirer. Today have we learned the lesson? Not in Germany. Faced with a four-year recession, and gigabytes of research saying that the consumer wants things that are cheap, practical and economical, the whole German marketing industry of 2004 is making ads saying cheap, practical and economy.
As a result most advertising within newspapers promised goods that were cheap, practical and money-saving. xxii
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9. Meanwhile, Young sought the uncommon thought “In our business, people become easily convinced that there is only one right answer to a problem,” said Young. “But that’s not the way it is.” “The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a deep truth may well be another deep truth.” “We must seek out those opposite truths.”
“This agency is an agency with guts, or it is nothing.”
10. Rubicam knew consumers lied RAYMOND RUBICAM Like Bernbach after him, Rubicam knew that it was human nature to conceal one’s true wants from the world, and that the art of persuasion meant digging beneath the façade. In 1934 all the research said the same thing: In a world of despair and 30% unemployment, there wasn’t much place for added value. The public, brought low by the Great Depression, wanted products that offered economy and efficiency.
In Rubicam’s soul he knew that there was more to it than that. But he couldn’t prove it. Then his planner, George Gallup, proved differently. Rather than ask consumers outright what they wanted advertising to say to them, he looked at what they actually took notice of. The two were very different. The vast majority of economy and efficiency advertising was ignored.
ARE YOU AN ASPIRER? Take our online test at 4cs.yr.com/diys and find out.
In the heart of the Depression, the ads that women read most promised sex, vanity and romance. Gallup had discovered the Aspirer. Today have we learned the lesson? Not in Germany. Faced with a four-year recession, and gigabytes of research saying that the consumer wants things that are cheap, practical and economical, the whole German marketing industry of 2004 is making ads saying cheap, practical and economy.
As a result most advertising within newspapers promised goods that were cheap, practical and money-saving. xxii
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11. When the world zigged, Rubicam zagged Mr. Average American of 1935 possessed no more than four shirts. A smart new shirt was an expensive item, and to be coveted. And they were always advertised as such. A glance at the Saturday Evening Post would reveal page after page of shirts, each adorning the chest of some film star or aspirational model. “When the world talks up,” said Rubicam, “I shall talk down.” Rubicam knew that the staid conventions of most advertising marketplaces are just that – conventions. And his campaign showed ordinary, ugly Joe Schmos wearing shirts. With the headline beneath: EVEN I LOOK GOOD IN AN ARROW SHIRT
A glance at today’s apparel ads reveals the same glamorous people that wallpapered American magazines in 1934. Advertising thinking has moved little in seventy years.
“I plan to die as far away from my desk as US geography will permit,” said Rubicam in 1944. That year, he resigned from the agency, and headed West. xxiv
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11. When the world zigged, Rubicam zagged Mr. Average American of 1935 possessed no more than four shirts. A smart new shirt was an expensive item, and to be coveted. And they were always advertised as such. A glance at the Saturday Evening Post would reveal page after page of shirts, each adorning the chest of some film star or aspirational model. “When the world talks up,” said Rubicam, “I shall talk down.” Rubicam knew that the staid conventions of most advertising marketplaces are just that – conventions. And his campaign showed ordinary, ugly Joe Schmos wearing shirts. With the headline beneath: EVEN I LOOK GOOD IN AN ARROW SHIRT
A glance at today’s apparel ads reveals the same glamorous people that wallpapered American magazines in 1934. Advertising thinking has moved little in seventy years.
“I plan to die as far away from my desk as US geography will permit,” said Rubicam in 1944. That year, he resigned from the agency, and headed West. xxiv
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WHAT ABOUT TODAY? Today, most agencies have formulaic beliefs about how to make advertising: • Some believe that the solution always lies within the brand, and seek to interrogate it. • Others believe that the solution lies always within the mind of the consumer, and seek insights.
“A formula is another word for rut.”
• Yet others believe that the solution always lies within the conventions of the marketplace, and seek to disrupt it.
RAYMOND RUBICAM
We do not. Following Rubicam and Young’s lead, we use first principles. We approach problems from all possible directions. We surround them. And then we penetrate them. xxvi
“With automobiles, airplanes and radio, life has changed out of all recognition these past twenty years. But the souls of our prospects have not changed. Not in twenty years – not since the Civil War. And it is souls that we must touch with our words.” JOHN YOUNG
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WHAT ABOUT TODAY? Today, most agencies have formulaic beliefs about how to make advertising: • Some believe that the solution always lies within the brand, and seek to interrogate it. • Others believe that the solution lies always within the mind of the consumer, and seek insights.
“A formula is another word for rut.”
• Yet others believe that the solution always lies within the conventions of the marketplace, and seek to disrupt it.
RAYMOND RUBICAM
We do not. Following Rubicam and Young’s lead, we use first principles. We approach problems from all possible directions. We surround them. And then we penetrate them. xxvi
“With automobiles, airplanes and radio, life has changed out of all recognition these past twenty years. But the souls of our prospects have not changed. Not in twenty years – not since the Civil War. And it is souls that we must touch with our words.” JOHN YOUNG
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Today, the price of 30 seconds of prime-time television is many times higher than when the word ‘marketing’ was first coined in the 1950s. The days of cheap TV are gone. And we must work in ingenious ways, using original thought to find new solutions. We have no money. So, like Raymond Rubicam and John Young, we shall have to think.
xxviii
Brand ideas are not always born quietly or dug up like neat nuggets of gold fully formed from the earth. They are more elusive than that. Some are dragged SCREAMING from the soul of the consumer, the dark recesses of the brand or stumbled upon through tearing apart the everyday banality of the marketplace. Ideas may not look like ideas. They sometimes hide their faces, like thoughts whose time has not quite come, as disturbing feelings, fears and challenges. Isolating and polishing those ideas is intensive, difficult work. But that is our job, and the excellence with which we do it is the acme of advertising.
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Today, the price of 30 seconds of prime-time television is many times higher than when the word ‘marketing’ was first coined in the 1950s. The days of cheap TV are gone. And we must work in ingenious ways, using original thought to find new solutions. We have no money. So, like Raymond Rubicam and John Young, we shall have to think.
xxviii
Brand ideas are not always born quietly or dug up like neat nuggets of gold fully formed from the earth. They are more elusive than that. Some are dragged SCREAMING from the soul of the consumer, the dark recesses of the brand or stumbled upon through tearing apart the everyday banality of the marketplace. Ideas may not look like ideas. They sometimes hide their faces, like thoughts whose time has not quite come, as disturbing feelings, fears and challenges. Isolating and polishing those ideas is intensive, difficult work. But that is our job, and the excellence with which we do it is the acme of advertising.
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