Insist on Brand X

Not much changes in advertising. The mistakes made decades ago are still being made today.

For instance, it's never wise to tell your reader to insist on buying your brand. This is a selfish appeal. It falls flat.

Claude Hopkins discovered this back at the turn of the 20th Century. He writes, "An advertiser suffered much from competition. He said, 'Look out for substitutes,' 'Be sure you get this brand,' etc., with no effect. Those were selfish appeals."

And yet the folly continues.

A week ago I saw a Heinz ketchup bottle. On the side was emblazoned, "Insist on Heinz."

Then, over the weekend, I was thumbing through a Family Circle magazine from 1986. I paid special attention to the advertisements.

One caught my eye. It was to sell a non-stick pan. The brand of the non-stick coating was called SilverStone. The very first sentence of the ad said, "Insist on SilverStone."

Whenever you want to sell something, don't preach by telling your buyer to buy your brand. It's an empty statement. Besides, your buyers don't care about your profit. They care about their own profit.

Many advertising mistakes could be avoided if people would take the time to educate themselves. If you're interested in learning more about what Claude Hopkins learned during his advertising career, go here.