Your Advertising Needs to Promise a Benefit to the Customer

What benefit does your advertising promise potential customers? Whiter teeth? More miles per gallon? Peace of mind?

Today, this idea of promising a benefit gets lost in the shuffle. Whether you hire an agency or create in house, the majority of today’s ads are created with the intention of going viral. These ads aim to garner millions of views on YouTube by using humor and creativity. There’s nothing wrong with this approach…as long as you aren’t expecting a return on your investment.

Just look at Old Spice. “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign was no doubt the viral phenomenon of 2010, with Old Spice body-wash videos racking up a whopping 168 million views. With so much buzz, you would think that sales of Old Spice body wash would be thru the roof, but that hasn’t been the case. According to a November AdAge article:

SymphonyIRI data show Old Spice body-wash sales up 27% to 107% in four-week periods since February. But at typical industry redemption rates, the buy-one-get-one-free and other high-value coupons Old Spice has distributed since February would account for most of the brand’s sales gains and all share gains.

Advertising which fails to promise a benefit to the customer fails to sell. Like many of the campaigns today, Old Spice failed to offer a clear promise.

In his direct ad “How to Create Advertising that Sells”, David Ogilvy shares what he has learned in advertising.

The second most important decision [when advertising] is this: what should you promise the customer? A promise is not a claim, or a theme, or a slogan. It is a benefit for the consumer.

It pays to promise a benefit which is unique and competitive. And the product must deliver the benefit you promise.

Most advertising promises nothing. It is doomed to fail in the marketplace.

“Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement”—said Samuel Johnson.

Let’s test this idea of promising a benefit, compare the two smartphone ads below.

Which ad does a better job at communicating the benefit for the consumer?

Based on the ad, which are you more likely to buy?

Chances are the answer to both these questions is Apple’s iPhone.