A listener has TWO ears . . . he only listens with half of ONE! Maybe it's because commercials are directed to a twelve-year-old mind. You can't sell somebody something when you begin wounding his intellect! It's a vicious cycle. Or, more probably, he pays little attention to the commercial because it doesn't DEMAND attention . . . it isn't CLEVER enough . . . it doesn't FLATTER the listener into listening, because it doesn't appeal to his intelligence.

Arthur Brisbane said "I have written a good editorial when the reader says "that is just what I would have written myself." And you can accomplish the same thing if you tackle commercial radio copy delicately, but with common sense and truthfulness.

In reality, there is only ONE selling point in any advertising business . . . the imaginative mind must state it untold numbers of ways. It is this: People can be persuaded to try a product ONCE, but only GENUINE SATISFACTION will make them CONTINUE to buy it, day-in, day-out . . . year-in, year-out.

A farmer deals with the soil, and you can't fool him with golden-voiced oratory and clever phrases. You approach him on his own terms . . . putting yourself in his position, whatever you're selling him. He knows that a state-tested flock of chickens are a better gamble than more inexpensive, unselected ones . . . he knows the advisability of buying seed, feed and fertilizer by brand name. Therefore, he'll listen to your story, and, in his unhurried, reasonable way, he'll come around to your way of thinking if you talk in commonsense, down-to-earth . . . but NOT PATRONIZING language. Remember that a farmer is subconsciously en garde where city slickers are concerned anyway, and you've got to be sincere in what you write.

Labels: engineer-guillotine, skill-estate

¶ 11:01 AM