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In the early 1900s, advertising was simply regarded as a way of "keeping your name before the public" by most manufacturers. However Albert Lasker in the Lord & Thomas learned from a copywriter named John E. Kennedy and understood that advertising was really "Salesmanship in Print." As it had been supported by Bates eight years earlier, Kennedy insisted that an ad should say in print precisely what a good salesman would say face- to- face with a customer. Also, instead of general claims, pretty pictures, or jingles, he asserted that an ad should provide a concrete "reason why" the product was worth buying( Fox, 1984). |
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He considered a good ad a rational, unadorned means for selling, and said the "True 'Reason-Why' Copy is Logic, plus persuasion, plus conviction, all woven into a certain simplicity of thought-pre-digested for the average mind, so that it is easier to understand than to misunderstand it." Kennedy added to warn against aiming advertising too high for the public to understand. He urged that advertising needs to find a delicated middle ground, high enough for rational dialogue but not over the public's head (Fox, 1984). In responding to Kennedy's teaching, "Reason why," the statement became the motif of Lord and Thomas agency. The "salesmanship in print" school of copywriting that Albert Lasker established became the training ground for many writers who went on to form their own successful agencies. Also, by the emphatic personality of Albert Lasker, the account executive position was expanded in advertising businesses. With his contributions, the stucture of agency work assumed perpetual form-client on one side, creativity on the other, with the account executive shuttling between them. |
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Behind Story : The concept was so basic and so effective that no one has since been able to improve upon it. After being exposed to this powerful concept, Lasker commissioned the brilliant Kennedy to write down the set of principles into a series of lessons which were then used to train Lasker and the Lord & Thomas copywriters. Soon, Lord & Thomas became the training center for the advertising world. Their copywriters were being paid $4000/year, a fantastic salary for the time. Yet, other agencies were hiring them away by offering salaries up to $15000/year-just to get the magic of Salesmanship-in Print into their agencies. And many Lord & Thomas people left to form their own agencies-John Orr Young, co-founder of Young & Rubicam was one (John E. Kennedy, Reason Why Advertising Plus Intensive Advertising).
* All pictures in this page were from http://www.anbhf.org/laureates/lasker.html
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