By Claude C. Hopkins and Troy S. Laughren

© 2005 Troy S. Laughren All Rights Reserved
No part of this 2005 version May be reproduced in any form.

Advertising is much like war, minus the venom.  Or much, if you prefer, like a game of chess.  We are usually out to capture others' castles or acquire others' market.

We must have skill and knowledge.  We must have training and experience and also the right equipment.  We must have proper ammunition, and enough ammunition.  We dare not underestimate our opponents.  Our intelligence department is a vital factor, as we mentioned in the previous chapter.  We need alliances with dealers, as another chapter tells.  We also need strategy of the ablest of sort to increase the value of our forces.

Sometimes in new campaigns comes the question of a name.  That may be most important.  Often the right name is an advertisement in itself.  It may tell a fairly complete story, like Shredded Wheat, Cream of Wheat, Puffed Rice, Spearmint Gum, Palmolive Soap, etc…

That may be a great advantage.  The name is usually clearly displayed.  Many a name has proved to be the greatest factor in a products success.  Other names prove a distinct disadvantage - Toasted Corn Flakes, for instance.  Too many others may share a demand with the person who builds it up.

Many coined names without meaning have succeeded.  Kodak, Xerox etc.., are examples.  They are exclusive.  The advertiser who gives them meaning never needs to share his advantage.  But a significant name that helps to impress a dominant claim is certainly a good advantage.  Names that tell stories have been worth millions of dollars.  So a great deal of research often precedes the selection of a name.

Sometimes a price must be decided.  A high price creates resistance.  It tends to limit one's field.  The cost of getting an added profit may be more than the profit.

It is a well-known fact that the greatest profits are made on great volume at small profit.  Campbell's Soups, Palmolive Soap, Karo Syrup and Ford cars are obvious examples.  A price that appeals only to - say 10 percent - increases the cost of selling.

But on other product lines high price is not important.  High profit is essential.  The product line may have small sales per customer.  One hardly cares what he pays for a corn remedy because he uses little.  The manufacturer must have a large margin because of small consumption.

On other lines a higher price may even be an incentive.  Such lines are judged largely by price.  A product which costs more than the regular is considered above the ordinary.  So the price question is always a very big factor in strategy.

Competition must be considered.  What are the forces against you? What have they in price or quality or claims to weigh against your appeal? What do you have to win market share against them? What do you have to hold market share against them when you get it?

How strongly are your rivals entrenched? There are some fields which are almost impregnable.  They are usually product lines which create a new habit or routine and which typify that routine with consumers. They so dominate a field that one can hardly hope to invade it. They have volume, the profit to make a tremendous fight.

Such fields are being constantly invaded.  But it is done only through several convincing advantages, or through very superior salesmanship-in-print.

Other product lines are only a little less difficult.  A newly introduced shaving cream for example.  Just about every possible customer is already using a rival shaving cream. Most of them are satisfied with it.  Many are wedded to it.  The appeal must be strong enough to win those people who already have long-established favor with the other product.

Such things are not accomplished by haphazard efforts.  Not by looking at people in the mass and making blind stabs for their favors.  We must consider individuals, typical people who are using rival brands.  What could you say to a potential customer in person in attempt to get him to change to your brand?  We cannot go after thousands of men until we learn how to win one. It is too costly.

The manufacturer may say that he has no distinction.  He is making a good product, but many already like other products.  He deserves a good share of the market, but he has nothing exclusive to offer.  However, there is almost always something notable which others have not told. We must discover it.  We must have a seeming advantage.  People don't quit habits without reason.

There is the problem of substitution and how to head it off. That often steals much of one's business.  This must be considered in one's original plan.  One must have foresight to see all eventualities, and the wisdom to establish his defenses in advance.

Many pioneers in the product line establish large demand.  Then, through some fault in their fundamental strategy, lose a large share of the harvest to competitors.  Theirs is a mere brand, for instance, where it might have stood for an exclusive product.

Vaseline is an example.  This product established a new demand, and then nearly monopolized that demand through wisdom at the beginning.  To have called it some other brand of petroleum jelly might have made the difference of millions in results. 

Jell-O, Xerox, Kleenex, Kodak, etc…, established coined names which came to characterize a product.  Some such names have even been included in the dictionary.  They have become common names, even though they were coined and exclusive.

Royal Baking Powder and Toasted Corn Flakes, on the other hand, when they pioneered their fields, left open the way to perpetual substitution.  So did Horlick's Malted Milk.

The position of retailers must also be considered.  There is a growing tendency to limit product lines, to avoid duplicate product lines and to lesson inventories.  If this applies to your line, how will retailers receive it? If there is opposition, how can we get around it?

The problems of distribution are important and vast.  To advertise something that very few retailers supply is a waste of ammunition.  Those problems will be considered in another chapter.

These are samples of the problems which advertising men must solve.  These are some of the reasons why vast experience is so necessary.  One oversight may cost the client millions in the end. One wrong piece of a strategy may prevent success.  Things done in one way may be twice as easy or half as costly, as when done another way.

Advertising without this preparation is like a waterfall going to waste.  The power might be there, but it is not utilized. We must center the force and direct it in a meaningful direction.

Advertising often looks very simple.  Thousands of men claim the ability to do it.   And there still is a broad notion that many men can.  As a result, much advertising goes by favor.  But the men who know, realize that the problems are as numerous and as important as the problems in building a skyscraper - many of the problems lie in the foundations.