Specific or General Benefits? View as slide show Describing a benefit Adapted from AdPrin.com

P&G’s Dawn Case In 1972, Procter and Gamble was preparing to launch its Dawn liquid dishwashing detergent. Their top management debated whether to advertise its a) “superior cleaning ability” or its b) “grease cutting action.” Which would you recommend and why? Click to see what worked. Both contain a benefit, but the latter is specific. P&G went with “b” and it was successful. 2

Describe specific, meaningful benefits (Principle 1.1.1): Evidence Analysis of 42 pairs of print ads in which one ad included benefits and the other did not found that print ads mentioning benefits produced better recall, especially when the benefits were specific. Ads with specific benefits had 1.5 times as much recall as did ads with no benefits. – For example, a Visa ad that offered global acceptance of the card and a refund in case of loss elicited better recall than a Visa ad that showed an attractive photo of a beach (Persuasive Advertising p 29).

Based on this exercise, write a small application step for yourself, and set a deadline, preferably within one week. If you are working with someone else, share your application plan and the results of your application. For example, should your ads for high-involvement products have specific benefits? Adapted from AdPrin.com