In advertising and marketing some ideas are so good, so smart and effective that they are just as relevant today as they were 50 years ago. No we are not talking about an actual ad or tag line here, but rather the idea of the Single Minded Proposition (SMP) or
the Unique Selling Point/Proposition.
Rosser Reeves of the legendary Ted Bates & Company Advertising Firm, coined the phrase USP in his book Reality in Advertising in 1961.
Here’s how he so eloquently and specifically defines the Unique Selling Proposition. All good USP’s must meet the following criteria.
- Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer. Not just words, not just product puffery, not just show-window advertising. Each advertisement must say to each reader: “Buy this product, and you will get this specific benefit.”
- The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot, or does not, offer. It must be unique-either a uniqueness of the brand or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising.
- The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions, i.e., pull over new customers to your product.
Source: Reality In Advertising by Rosser Reeves. Pub. 1961
In our last blog we talked about the Creative Brief as that critically important document that points the creative team in the right direction. The SMP then is the literal heartbeat of the Creative Brief. Often referred to in today’s Creative Brief, as the Key Takeway, it is the ultimate tool to guide the creative team and the means to measure the strength and efficacy of the work.
In my past agency life as a Creative Director, I can’t tell you how many Creative Briefs I rejected because the account managers had not done a sufficient job of narrowing down the SMP. Often they brought the Creative Teams a MSP (Multiple Minded Propositions) which consisted of many things.
Very simply, the more things jammed into communication about a brand, the less likely the consumer is to remember any one thing. It becomes a muddled mess, or what we commonly refer to as 10 pounds of excrement in a 5 pound bag. Only we usually don’t use the word excrement. Never mind, if all those things are true, you simply cannot, should not claim all of them simultaneously. So how do you decide? How do you distill it down?
Check back for Part Two of this blog to learn exactly how to write an SMP. You will be so glad you did! Your creative work will be smarter and you will become instantly popular and wildly successful. Well…that may be somewhat of an overpromise, but at the very least we promise to give you the tools you need to craft a fabulous Single Minded Proposition.