Morning!

I’m back in the UK for our team social and the weather is incredible. 

I’m starting to question whether I moan too much about the UK weather, it’s been raining in Porto for weeks now. 

Anyway, here’s what you’ll learn today: 

• Who is Albert Lasker? 

• Why did David Ogilvy speak so fondly of him? 

• 6 marketing principles to learn from

Let’s get into it!

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSION

BREAKING DOWN THE STRATEGY

If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll know that one of my favourite marketing books is - Ogilvy On Advertising - by the great David Ogilvy.

 (It’s a great read if you’re yet to check it out.) 

At the end of the book, Ogilvy uses a whole chapter to talk about his marketing idols. 

The idols of my marketing idol? Probably worth looking into. 

So over the last few months, I’ve been spending my weekends researching them one-by-one. Then I came across Albert Lasker and this particular story caught my eye…

At 18 years old, Albert Lasker got his first job at ad agency Lord & Thomas. But it wasn’t the exciting role you might think… he was an office boy. 

But just 14 years later, Lasker had managed to work his way up to being Head of the Agency and had purchased a controlling stake in the company. 

Not a bad decade at work, ay? 

Even more impressive is how Lasker singlehandedly created the trend of drinking orange juice with breakfast.

In the early 1900s, California's citrus industry faced a significant challenge: they were producing more oranges than the market could consume.

Too much supply, too little demand.

(AKA a disaster.)

So, the California Fruit Growers Exchange (later known as Sunkist) came to Lasker in desperate need of a way to boost demand.

And that’s exactly what he did… but in a way they weren’t expecting.

Lasker saw an opportunity to reposition oranges from a luxury fruit to a daily necessity - by promoting orange juice as a breakfast staple.

So that’s exactly what he did…

1. He educated the public on the health benefits of oranges.

2. Promoted "fresh orange juice" as essential for breakfast.

3. Enlisted doctors and nutritionists to endorse orange juice.

The next minute, every diner in the country was serving orange juice with breakfast.

It’s safe to say, this man understood how to market.

But what else can we learn from him?

I spent the last 4 hours researching him. Here are 4 key marketing principles he lives by:

Principle 1: Think Of It As “Salesmanship In Print”

Marketing is not about looking pretty and getting attention - it’s about driving sales.

That simple reframe was the catalyst for Lasker’s entire career in advertising. In fact, his most famous saying is that advertising is “Salesmanship in print”.

And you can easily see this in action when you look at his Sunkist orange campaigns.

Take this ad for example:

It’s direct. It’s to the point. And it drives action.

He isn’t trying to get people to fall in love with oranges, he’s getting them to buy them.

I almost think we glorify the “creative” side of advertising nowadays. You see fancy 3D designs and pretty colours. Maybe more ad agencies need to go back to ads like this from time to time?

They sure converted for Lasker.

Principle 2: Target The Ignored

The easiest people to sell to are the ones who no one talks to.

One of Lasker’s best traits was his ability to identify untargeted parts of the market. The people who were getting ignored.

His campaigns for Lucky Strike cigarettes were a prime example of this.

In the 1920s, smoking was seen as a men’s game. It was massively inappropriate for women to smoke.

But when Lasker was given the Lucky Strike cigarette account, he saw this as a huge opportunity. A market that was completely ignored.

So, he began rolling out campaigns targeted directly at women.

These ads repositioned smoking as a symbol of women's liberation and independence.

And it worked magically.

When Lasker took on the account, Lucky Strike had 5% of the market share. By the time the campaign finished, they were the leading brand in America with a 38% market share.

Talk about impact.

Principle 3: Give Them Something To Feel

Telling someone to do something is impactful, but allowing them to feel the thing they’re trying to avoid takes it to another level.

This is exactly what Lasker did with his "Remove the film” campaign for Pepsodent toothpaste.

Everybody is trying to avoid having yellow teeth, but back then people didn’t really know what was making their teeth turn yellow or why it was happening.

Then Lasker created the idea that there was a yellow “film” over your teeth.

He prompted you to run your tongue along your teeth, to feel it, feel it robbing you of those white teeth you so desperately want.

When you do it, you can feel it.

The truth is, it doesn’t exist. But Lasker created an enemy, made it physical, and found a way for you to feel it.

Principle 4: Start With Why

Every buying decision starts with a “Why” and that’s exactly what Lasker creates his campaigns around.

With Sunkist → The “Why” is to be healthier.
With Pepsodent → The “Why” is whiter teeth.
With Lucky Cigarettes → The “Why” was to be skinnier.

Every campaign he runs gives customers a “Why” behind their buying decision.

This was also perfectly embodied in his infamous Palmolive soap ads

Why buy Palmolive soap? To keep that “School girl complexion”.

He never just told people to buy, he told them why to buy too.

It sounds simple. But how many brands forget this nowadays? Too many.

 🌱 THE GREENHOUSE

Things I’ve saved this week that are worth seeing:

• Coca-Cola’s Storytelling. (See here)

• A great thread on balance. (See here)

TL;DR

Principle 1: “Salesmanship in print”
Principle 2: Target the ignored
Principle 3: Let them feel it
Principle 4: Start with why

There is nothing I enjoy more than finding a hidden gem like Lasker that doesn’t get the attention he deserves.

Yes, he’s in the advertising hall of fame, but these are the sort of people we should be taught about in school.

Hopefully, this gave you a good overview of his approach to marketing + some lessons to take into your own.

Until next Sunday.

— Niall

WAIT… BEFORE YOU GO

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THAT’S ALL!

This has been a breakdown of Albert Lasker’s approach to marketing. I hope you have learned something and can implement a similar strategy in your business!

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