If the primary purpose of advertising is to sell, are there any message execution techniques that seem best predisposed to this purpose?
These days, there are some extremely creative ads fighting for our attention. Television spots are often on par with feature films in terms of artistic quality. Print ads and billboards rival works of art. Such ads can move our emotions powerfully. They can make us laugh, cry, or sing; they can produce feelings of guilt, fear, or joy. Ads themselves are often as entertaining as the programming in which they appear. However, although highly creative ads might dazzle us and even win awards from advertising critics, they sometimes overlook a very important fundamental truth: Truly creative advertising is advertising that creates sales. Not all ads have forgotten this truth. But too often, advertisers become so enamored with the artistry of advertising that they forget about the selling part. After all, the ultimate objective of advertising is not to win awards or even to make people like an ad. It’s to get people to think, feel, or act in some way after being exposed to an ad. Ultimately, no matter how entertaining or artistic an ad, it’s not creative unless it sells.
This thinking prompted one of the world’s premiere advertising agencies—OgilvyOne Worldwide—to run a unique contest. Part of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, OgilvyOne launched a contest to search for the world’s greatest salesperson. According to Rory Sutherland, vice chairman for the British operations of Ogilvy & Mather, the goal of the contest is “re-creating the noble art of kaching. There’s an interesting case to be made that advertising has strayed too far from the business of salesmanship.” “Salesmanship has been lost in the pursuit of art or the dazzle of technology,” said Brian Fetherstonhaugh, chairman and CEO at OgilvyOne. “It needs to be rekindled in this postrecession environment, as consumers are making more informed and deliberate choices.” But as Fetherstonhaugh also points out, the return to selling through advertising is more challenging today than ever.
Technologies such as TiVo, spam filters, and viewing on demand through the Internet have put consumers in control of media more than ever. For this reason, advertisers not only need to become great salespeople, but they also need to be salespeople that get invited into the consumer’s environment. According to Fetherstonhaugh, advertising needs to be “less about intrusion and repetition and more about engagement and evangelizing.”