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ROSSER REEVES: OGILVY'S ADVERTISING ARCH NEMESIS
5 Lessons from David Ogilvy's biggest advertising nemesis...
Niall Ratcliffe
November 10, 2024
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Morning!
Today is my last day in Porto. The sun is beaming through the windows behind me, the apartment is covered with suitcases and clothes, and our flight leaves in under 12 hours.
Not the perfect Saturday, but we’ll be back on home soil soon.
I recently noticed that the most popular Growing Viral podcast episode was the David Ogilvy breakdown.
So today, I wanted to write a similar breakdown, but this time on Ogilvy’s marketing arch nemesis - Rosser Reeves.
He never achieved the stardom that Ogilvy did, but his marketing principles were just as influential and today you’re going to learn why.
Let’s get into it!
You can listen to the audio version HERE.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSION
BREAKING DOWN THE STRATEGY
Everyone calls David Ogilvy “The Father of Advertising”. Mainly because his advertising methods still influence how we advertise today.
He was a pioneer, decades ahead of his time, and understood how to make people buy better than anyone on the planet in his day.
Well… almost everyone.
Because across the pond was David Ogilvy’s advertising nemesis - Rosser Reeves.
A man who seemed to disagree with everything that Ogilvy was preaching.
When Ogilvy emphasised being artistic with ads.
↳ Reeves pushed people to hard sell.
While Ogilvy believed in respecting the intelligence of consumers.
↳ Reeves focused on hammering on 1 message repeatedly.
When Ogilvy pushed ads as a tool for building a long-term brand image.
↳ Reeves treated ads as a tool for immediate sales.
They had very different approaches, yet both of them went on to build two of the biggest advertising agencies on the planet.
Yet very few people give Rosser Reeves his credit.
His campaigns sold billions of dollars worth of products.
He helped build one of the biggest ad agencies in history.
He brought the Unique Selling Proposition idea to life.
He’s easily one of the best advertisers to ever walk this earth.
Over the last week, I’ve been religiously studying his work.
Here are 5 key advertising lessons from Reeves that most marketers overlook:
Lesson 1: You’re Nothing Without A USP
Great products don’t sell themselves, no matter how much money you throw at advertising them.
Great products sell because of their USPs.
Today, finding your USP is an obvious step when building a business, but it didn’t exist until 1961 when Rosser Reeves coined the term.
In his best-selling book, Reality in Advertising, Reeves explains that The Unique Selling Proposition has three main parts:
Each ad must make a proposition: Buy this product and you get these benefits.
The proposition must be unique—something that your competitors do not, cannot, or will not offer.
The proposition must sell—it must be something prospects really want; it pulls them over to your product.
He famously proved this with his work on M&M’s strapline: Melts in your mouth, not in your hands.
At the time, M&M’s biggest differentiator was the sugar coating they added around the milk chocolate. So rather than Reeves pushing that M&Ms had:
Healthier chocolate
Tastier chocolate
Richer chocolate
He created their own USP to differentiate them from other brands. It wasn’t about the chocolate anymore, it was about the unique experiences you get when eating M&Ms.
He didn’t say they were better, but he did make them different.
TAKEAWAY: Ask yourself: What’s the one thing you can say that no one else can?
That’s what Reeves would tell you to put at the core of your marketing.
Lesson 2: You Can’t Be Too Repetitive
While Ogilvy was over in the UK telling his team to get more creative with each campaign - Reeves was pushing his team to do the complete opposite.
He wanted relentless repetition.
He didn’t care if people got bored, he knew the average consumer had to hear the message multiple times before it stuck.
So rather than creating 100 different ad campaigns, he and his team would:
Find one core tagline around the product’s USP.
Crank out ads pushing that one core message.
Wait for the sales to fly in.
One of his most famous ads for Anacin repeated the benefit—“Fast, fast, fast relief!”—again and again.
Over the years Reeves received his fair share of criticism for his approach. People called it aggressive and some advertisers laughed at him - but the reality is, it worked.
While we all question if we are saying too much of the same thing, Reeves would say if your ad doesn’t drill a benefit into people’s heads, it’s not doing its job.
TAKEAWAY: Keep hammering the same message - you can’t be too repetitive.
Lesson 3: You’re Not Here To Entertain
I think it’s safe to say that Reeves would hate modern-day advertising because he absolutely hated the idea of trying to entertain when advertising.
Today, 99% of ads are disguised as entertainment.
Brands have influencers dancing.
Vibrant graphics & animations.
TV show-style videos.
In a world where everyone’s trying to create the next “viral” moment, Reeves’ approach would sound almost old-fashioned. Yet his approach sold billions of dollars worth of products.
And it all centred around one simple idea: Ads are meant to sell.
Don’t get me wrong, he also made his fair share of creative ads. But he only thought creativity was useful if it directly supported the USP.
To Reeves, an ad that’s merely entertaining is a wasted opportunity.
Takeaway: Make sure every word, image, and second serves the purpose of selling.
Lesson 4: Show Measurable Benefits
Today, ads are full of vague promises: “boost energy,” “improve focus,” “works fast.” But Reeves knew that broad promises don’t sell. You have to give people concrete, measurable promises.
And Reeves was all about measurable benefits.
When you look at his ads for Colgate the tagline was: “Cleans your breath while it cleans your teeth.” Reeves didn’t just say Colgate “works well.” He went straight to the specifics, claiming that Colgate handled not one but two issues: fresh breath and clean teeth.
To take this a step further following Reeves’ philosophy the ad could have read, “Whiter teeth in just 9 days.”
Because as Reeves says in his book, “vague words mean vague results”.
So, if you’re saying “works fast,” how fast?
If you’re saying “long-lasting,” how long?
People remember measurable promises because they’re grounded in something they can imagine, something they can see.
TAKEAWAY: Ask yourself: Can this benefit be measured? If you’re promoting a new app, don’t say “Saves you time”—try “Finish tasks 30% faster.” If you’re selling skincare, skip “Reduces wrinkles” and go with “Visibly smoother skin in 7 days.” Give people numbers, timeframes, something tangible to hold on to.
Lesson 5: Start With Your Audience’s Questions
One of the most interesting things about Reeves that’s often overlooked is that he played a significant role in helping elect Dwight Eisenhower as President of the U.S.A. - twice, in 1952 and 1956.
Few people talk about how much marketing & advertising goes into election campaigns, but now more than ever it is really moving the needle - and Reeves was one of the first people to prove that.
And his election advertising all centred around another very simple idea: start with the people’s questions.
His “Eisenhower Answers America” campaign was groundbreaking because it featured real Americans asking questions that were on the minds of voters everywhere.
Each ad showed Eisenhower answering these questions in a clear, direct way, without jargon or political spin.
For us marketers, this approach is a reminder of just how important it is to involve customers in your ads.
Imagine an ad for a new health supplement, for example, answering: “Will it really boost my energy without a crash?”
People would listen, people would understand, and people would buy.
TAKEAWAY: Collect questions from customers, then intergrate them in your marketing.
🌱 THE GREENHOUSE
Things I’ve saved this week that are worth seeing:
TL;DR
Lesson 1: You’re Nothing Without A USP
Lesson 2: You Can’t Be Too Repetitive
Lesson 3: You’re Not Here To Entertain
Lesson 4: Show Measurable Benefits
Lesson 5: Start With Your Audience’s Questions
Researching Reeves gave me so many great reminders about how to approach marketing.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the trends and chase all of these new tactics, trends, and strategies. Yet sometimes, it all just comes down to finding a great USP and drilling it home.
With that, I’ll leave you with my favourite Rosser Reeves quote:
“When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.”
Until next Sunday.
— Niall
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