Timeless Marketing Truth: What is Advertising, Anyway?

By Billy Edward


Your first clue towards the truth about advertising was written much more than 100 years ago.

Let me tell you the story of a young, confident copywriter by the name of John E. Kennedy. Early one Might evening in 1904, Kennedy, a former Canadian Mountie, sat in a brand new York barroom.

He sent a note upstairs to the office of A.L. Thomas, the head of the Lord and Thomas advertising agency. "I'm in the saloon downstairs," the note began, "and I can let you know what advertising is. I know you don't know. It'll mean much to me to have you know what it's and it'll mean much to you. If you wish to know what advertising is, send the word 'yes' down by the bell boy. (Signed) John E. Kennedy."

Thomas dismissed the note as arrogance. But his junior partner, Albert Lasker, didn't. The note struck a chord with Lasker and he summoned Kennedy to his workplace that exact same night. That meeting of Lasker and Kennedy changed the face of advertising-forever.

Kennedy told Lasker, "Advertising is Salesmanship in Print." No one has been able to better that definition of advertising, not to this extremely day, much more than 100 years later.

Kennedy was subsequently hired by Lord and Thomas and became the highest paid copywriter of his day-$52,000 a year, a phenomenal sum within the first decade of the last century.

Nearly all the top marketers of today derive their killer ideas from the advertising legends of the past. Why? Because all the top marketers understand what makes individuals buy. They comprehend that human nature just hasn't changed over time. Human beings will continue to be sold by exactly the same emotions that have been utilized since the days of Caesar.

The same issues that produced individuals buy 10,000 years ago will continue to work 10,000 years from now. These principles just don't change. No lesser contemporary marketer than Ted Nicholas says, "Ads which ran 30-50 years ago, even a hundred years ago, are frequently better than those you see these days. You will get great suggestions to make use of inside your marketing, too-human emotions by no means alter." (From "The Golden Mailbox")

Many of those bygone legends, along with writing fantastic advertising, also wrote great advertising books. For instance, Lasker got Kennedy to write all of his principles into a series of lessons known as "The Book of Advertising Tests." Lord and Thomas utilized these and the agency became the training center for all New York copywriters. In 1912 the text was published as Cause Why Advertising. How many billion-dollar advertisers a century later nonetheless just say "Buy our brand" and give no actual cause why?

Kennedy left Lord and Thomas a few years later, leaving Albert Lasker with big shoes to fill. Lasker showed that he had not just been lucky in hiring Kennedy; actually he showed himself to be a genius, by hiring the equally legendary and possibly much more brilliant Claude C. Hopkins. Hopkins' 1927 masterpiece Scientific Advertising revolutionized the industry all more than again.

There's a lot to learn from the Old Masters. How hard is your advertising working-is it truly salesmanship in print?




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