Download History and Development of Advertising: Hard Sell vs. Soft Sell - Prof. Lucinda J. Atkinso and more Study notes Banking Law and Practice in PDF only on Docsity! Lecture Notes 9/27/10 History and Development of Advertising Hard Sell v. Soft Sell (to understand styles of selling and concepts must understand development of advertising in context) Early advertising -new endeavor, largely guesswork, printers putting the ads together without training -products were sold such as patent medicine -pre-the whole branding idea and why to buy a certain product -hard to give people a reason WHY to buy a product Late 1800’s and early 1900’s -much greater variety in kinds of products -branding, packaging (differentiation) -ad agencies emerge (started thinking about ad design) -ads had to give consumers a reason to choose 1 brand over another -advertising was trial and error but also began to be based on scientific research of consumers -emergence of values and ideals Hard Sell proponent Patent Medicines Kennedy (L & T) Hopkins (L&T) Resor (J. Walter Thompson) More copy, explaining to consumers how to use a product.. Soft sell proponents Powers and Wanamaker (honest copy stle) Calkins (Bates, C & H) (Lackawanna train story) MacManus (General Motors—atmospheric advertising) Rubicam (flyer—atmospheric advertising) Hard sell v. soft sell Soft cell is visually oriented, however it is hard to classify the two and one can find exceptions for every ad. Example: prescription ads, one is hard sell and soft sell (old grandmas) Depends mostly on product, market of target audience as to which method is used Hard sell as seen today: Ipad, infomercials, testimonials Hard Sell 1. Product is temporary or has limited use. a. Example: concerts, movies 2. seller is temporary (new websites) 3. buyer is temporary (traveler) Soft Sell 1. Product has long term or repeated use 2. seller is permanent 3. buyer is permanent Atmospheric advertising -form of soft sell, similar to Calkin’s approach (indirect means, product association) -MacManus and Rubicam were proponents (Penalty of Leadership and Steinway are most frequently cited examples of atmospheric advertising) -relies on power of associations -reason-why (focuses on product) -atmospheric focused on consumer Freud’s role in advertising -science behind art of advertising -power of the subconscious -more emotion than rational (people said operated at a subconscious level) Hunches v. Market Research Agencies measured success of advertising based on psychological theories, Freud’s argument -better to suggest subconscious component Women and Advertising Women as consumers -primary shoppers, controlled household purchasing -adv wanted to sell to them and valued them -women’s work was denigrated, ridiculed -consumption was seen as not important as production (man’s job) -adv treated women poorly Women as producers -copy writing dept., worked on products that sold to women -narrow: portrayed women as weak, flighty Adv. And World War 1 2 Challenges: 1. How do you sell products in a time of crisis? 2. How do you build support for the war? How do you sell products in a time of crisis? 1. Advertising in the MacManus style (soft sell) to be respectful of men in battle
