Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

MONDAY MEMO from SUMNER J. LYON, director of radio-tv, Morse International DON'T LET THE ADJECTIVE IN HARD SELL DERAIL YOU We had just screened a mood tv commercial — a good example of emotional persuasion on film. Even after three showings, it still left a lump in my throat. There was a murmur of favorable comment from the agency executives. Then suddenly a heavy voice boomed, "Yeah, but there's no sell in it!" My jaw dropped. What did he mean, "No sell in it?" Do you suppose he had not felt the same emotion . . . experienced the same favorable impression of the product as I had? Yet I am not so sure that our difference in understanding was simply a problem in semantics. No doubt this agency executive in using the word, "sell," meant what is popularly referred to in the trade as "hard sell" — a direct, unabashed appeal to the viewer to purchase the product. But I cannot accept this executive's inference that any approach other than the direct pitch is void of sell, or even of hard sell. Our friend undoubtedly prefers the direct pitch, so he uses sell, interchangeably with hard sell. But when the terms hard sell and soft sell are used, I think it must be clear whether reference is to the degree of persuasion, or to the directness of the sales pitch. If hard sell is meant to refer only to the directness of the sales message, then the term merely describes the nature of the advertising presentation. But I believe hard sell can also be used to describe the degree of persuasion, and, therefore, refers to presentations of all types, including the direct sales pitch. It does not follow that indirectness of presentation automatically rules out hard sell. It is quite possible to sell hard indirectly — without making the viewer conscious of the hard sell. True, examples of such presentations are infrequent because their creation requires a great deal of thought, skill and finesse. They are, nevertheless, in their sales effectiveness, well worth the effort, and should be standards for tv commercial production. THE LITERAL DEFINITION DOES NOT APPLY Let's define sell and selling in an effort to clarify our language. Literally, to sell is "to give up or make over to another for consideration: dispose of to a purchaser for a price." Literally, then, it is impossible to sell via television; or, in other words, to conclude an exchange of goods for coin, or a promise to pay. Since the physical exchange required in the sale process is missing, what does this medium do for us as advertisers? That's right. It advertises our goods, products or services. When we talk about sell on television, we are talking about advertising. Therefore, we are more properly concerned with the latter definition. Our aim in tv — as in all advertising — is to create a desire to buy. This is done by giving information, making public announcement, praising the good qualities of, in order to induce the public to buy. In other words, advertising conditions the consumer to buy. The best way to prompt a purchase is to first provoke an emotional response to your commercial. Already our research experts are becoming disenchanted with the value of recall, and its relationship to sales. So let's relate our products to the consumers' emotions; let us appeal to their appetites, loves, needs, greed, selfpreservation, and pride. Bob Foreman at BBDO put it: "A product which contains advantages that fulfill a basic need, or can whet appetites to create a need — that product's exposure on tv should be sensational." It is the job of those in commercial tv to so present the advertised products as to produce consumer acceptance— a favorable state of mind toward the advertised goods. The prejudice crystallizes into buying when the consumer happens to want such articles. The compelling influence of the tv advertisement may come as a direct pitch from a persuasive personality. It may result from the projection of a desirable atmosphere or mood which has been created by, or around, the advertised product. It may come from product association which appeals to the viewers' pride, greed or need. It may be the effect of a stated "reason why" whose logic is irresistible. Advertisers agree, however, that a promise, and the reason why a given product will fulfill that promise, are basic ingredients for a successful ad. However, there is no rule that these must be explicitly stated. There are many situations in which the implied promise and the inferred reason why of romance, adventure, and clever humor related to the product, may be far more sales-effective. WHY DID PROF. HIGGINS BUY THE VIOLETS? "Who'll buy my violets?" is an advertising pitch, however weak. And it is doubtful that Prof. Higgins was persuaded by that headline to buy a bunch from Liza Doolittle. Or even because of the persuasive personality of the vendor. He bought the violets because of the intriguing quality of her speech. And few advertisers would count on a very large volume of sales with that angle. The smart agency man would have had Liza give an impassioned description of the loveliness of the flowers, the intoxication of their scent, the beauty they would bring into their purchasers' lives. The Camera would HOLD on her, then END on product closeup with Supered Title: "LIZA'S: VIOLETS, Only a Shilling." Perhaps an even smarter agency man would leave the person of Liza in favor of the appeal of a stream-bank strewn with violets, with love and romance rampant. Then he would DISSOLVE BACK to LIZA, now the beautiful Pygmalion, thanks to her violets, not Higgins (Shaw to the contrary). Both these treatments for the sale of violets fall within my definition of the term, hard sell. Certainly, though, the second treatment would not fall within the hard sell definition preferred by the agency executive who said there was no sell in the mood commercial. The mood spot, in my opinion, had plenty of sell in it, although I grant it was not hard within his definition. All in advertising have a similar objective: moving goods. I prefer to think that the selling which advertising effects is. the causing of acceptance or the conditioning of the consumer to buy. This can be effectively accomplished with a variety of presentations, depending upon the product and its problems, variously classified by the trade as hard sell and: soft sell. Sumner J. Lyon, b. June 18, 1909, North Dakota. BA Stanford U . Was with Office of HP JM Strategic Service during World War 11. Be Hr .Jm fore joining Morse International he was a PP* **H writer with Warner Bros., Bathe and Prince ton Film center and in the tv department ,?r of Lennen & Newell. Broadcasting October 21, 1957 • Page 143;