The Use of Superlatives in your copy
Yesterday, Christmas day, I popped in an old classic DVD of Abbott & Costello into my labtop to relax and get a good laugh. It so happened that the DVD also carried the early advertisement that went along with the show. These ads were for FAB, AJAX. Colgate Toothpaste and Palmolive soap. I noticed right away that the script used a LOT of superlatives and “scientific proof” to sell their products. Words such as “strongest” “best” “most powerful” and “cleanest”. These are words that would immediately get your ad NOT read today.
But then you were dealing with a different era and a market that wasn’t so satuated with ads. Today all these ads will be dismissed as HYPE! Then why did they work back then and not now? For several reasons I think:
- TV was still a trusted medium and if it was on TV then it had to be true! I can still recall as a small lad how an argument could be easily closed by indicating that you read this “fact” in a book. Once it was in a book then it had to be true because books carried a certain authority.
- There were less advertisements to compete with. Having less competition means that your advertisement will appear fresh to the prospects eyes. Hearing the same claims over and over again tend to reduce their effect. Take for example weight loss products–they all make the same claims and it’s very difficult for a new product to get any “shock” effect and arouse much attention. Someone once said that if any weight-loss program work then there wouldn’t be need for so many!
- Companies were more trusted. There was more company loyalty in those days shown both in purchase behavior and employment history. Those are the days when a daddy worked for the same company for all his life and his son followed in in his footsteps. Now the average American will change jobs at least once every 5 years and the loyalty is to the bottom line and not a company name.
Long gone are those days and today you need a LOT more proof in order to sell your product because the consumer is more informed and more skeptical. A “preponderance of proof” is what you need to sell effectively today, not just superlatives. And you must give as much SPECIFICS as possible instead of making general and broad statements. Because what worked 50 years ago just don’t work anymore.
Filed under: News
