One researcher conducted an enormous amount of library research, medical and general information, on coffee to advertise decaffeinated coffee. The researcher found one scientific article out of a thousand of those reviewed showed caffeine stimulation comes two hours after drinking it. This became the cornerstone for the advertising campaign. Therefore the immediate effects people seek from coffee do not come from caffeine. Removing caffeine does not remove the kick. It does not modify coffee's delights, for caffeine is tasteless and odorless.

Caffeineless coffee has been advertised for years. People regarded it like near-beer. After weeks of reading we found a way to put it in another perspective..

Another example of the rewards of rigorous and time consuming research is a tooth paste advertisment. In the middle of one volume the advertiser found the idea which has helped make millions for that tooth paste maker. Additionally it made this campaign one of the sensations of advertising.

Genius is the art of taking pains. The advertising person who spares the midnight oil will never get very far.

Some useful ideas and research techniques:

• Before advertising a food product, 130 men were employed for weeks to interview all classes of consumers.
• On another project, letters were sent to 12,000 physicians. Questionnaires are often mailed to tens of thousands of men and women to get the viewpoint of consumers.
• A $25,000-a-year man, before advertising outfits for acetylene gas, spent weeks in going from farm to farm.
• Another ad-writer did that on a tractor.
• Before advertising a shaving cream, one thousand men were asked to state what they most desired in a shaving soap.
• When called on to advertise pork and beans, a canvass was made of about a thousand homes. Previously all pork and bean advertising has been based on "Buy my brand." A survey of this particular population showed that only 4 percent of the people used any canned pork and beans. Ninety-six percent baked their beans at home. The problem was not to sell a particular brand, since a brand appealed to only four percent. The right appeal was to win the people away from home-baked beans. Without this knowledge we would certainly have failed. Armed with this research information, the advertising proved a great success.
• The advertiser may survey, not only homes, but dealers. Knowing the competition is essential. Every advertiser of a similar product is known for his literature and claims. Thus we start with exact information on all that our rivals are doing.
• Clipping bureaus are patronized, so that everything printed on our subject comes to the person who writes ads.
• Every comment that comes from consumers or dealers goes to this person's desk.
• It is often necessary in a line to learn the total expenditure. We must learn what a user spends a year, otherwise we shall not know if users are worth the cost of getting.
• We must learn the total consumption, otherwise we may overspend.
• We must learn the percentage of readers to whom our product appeals. We must usually gather this data on socio-economic classes and various groups. The percentage may differ on farms and in cities. The cost of advertising largely depends on the percentage of waste circulation.

Thus an advertising campaign is usually preceded by much research and a very large volume of data. Even an experimental campaign reqiures a great deal of work and time.

Often chemists are employed to prove or disprove doubtful claims. An advertiser, in all good faith, makes an impressive assertion. If it is true, it will form a big factor in advertising. If untrue, it may prove a boomerang. And it may bar our ads from good mediums. It is remarkable how often a maker proves wrong on assertions he had made for years.

Impressive claims are made far more impressive by making them exact. So, many experiments are made to get the actual figures. For instance, a certain drink is known to have a large food value. That simple assertion is not very convincing. So we send the drink to the laboratory and find that its food value is 425 calories per pint. One pint is equal to six eggs in calories of nutriment. That claim makes a great impression.

In every line involving scientific details a censor is appointed. The ad-writer, however well informed, may draw wrong inferences from facts. So an authority passes on every advertisement. The uninformed would be astounded to know the amount of work involved in a single ad. It frequently involves weeks of work. The ad seems so simple, and it must be simple to appeal to the average person. But back of that ad may lie reams of data, volumes of information, and months of research.

Advertising is much like war, minus the venom. Or much, if you prefer, like a game of chess. We are usually out

to capture others' citadels or garner others' trade.

We must have skill and knowledge. We must have training and experience, also right equipment. We must have proper ammunition, and enough. We dare not underestimate opponents. Our intelligence department is a vital factor, as told in the previous chapter. We need alliances with dealers, as another chapter tells. We also need strategy of the ablest sort, to multiply the value of our forces.

Sometimes in new campaigns comes the question of a name. That may be most important. Often the right name is an advertisement in itself. It may tell a fairly complete story, like Shredded Wheat, Cream of Wheat, Puffed Rice, Spearmint Gum, Palmolive Soap, etc. That may be a great advantage. The name is usually conspicuously displayed. Many a name has proved to be the greatest factor in an articles success. Other names prove a distinct disadvantage - Toasted Corn Flakes, for instance. Too many others may share a demand with the man who builds it up.

Many coined names without meaning have succeeded. Kodak, Karo etc., are examples. They are exclusive.

The advertiser who gives them meaning never needs to share his advantage. But a significant name which helps to impress a dominant claim is certainly a good advantage. Names that tell stories have been worth millions of dollars. So a great deal of research often precedes the selection of a name.

Sometimes a price must be decided. A high price creates resistance. It tends to limit ones field. The cost of getting an added profit may be more than the profit.

It is a well-known fact that the greatest profits are made on great volume at small profit. Campbell's Soups, Palmolive Soap, Karo Syrup and Ford cars are conspicuous examples. A price which appeals only to - say 10 percent - multiplies the cost of selling.

But on other lines high price is unimportant. High profit is essential. The line may have a small sale per customer. One hardly cares what he pays for a corn remedy because he uses little. The maker must have a large margin because of small consumption.

On other lines a higher price may even be an inducement. Such lines are judged largely by price. A product which costs more than the ordinary is considered above the ordinary. So the price question is always a very big factor in strategy.

Competition must be considered. What are the forces against you? What have they in price or quality or claims to weigh against your appeal? What have you to win trade against them? What have you to hold trade against them when you get it?

How strongly are your rivals entrenched? There are some fields which are almost impregnable. They are usually lines which create a new habit or custom and which typify that custom with consumers. They so dominate a field that one can hardly hope to invade it. They have volume, the profit to make a tremendous fight.

Such fields are being constantly invaded. But it is done through some convincing advantage, or through very superior salesmanship-in-print.

Other lines are only less difficult. A new shaving soap, as an example. About every possible customer is using a rival soap. Most of them are satisfied with it. Many are wedded to it. The appeal must be strong enough to win those people from long-established favor.

Such things are not accomplished by haphazard efforts. Not by considering people in the mass and making blind stabs for their favors. We must consider individuals, typical people who are using rival brands. A man on a Pullman, for instance, using his favorite soap. What could you say to him in person to get him to change to yours? We cannot go after thousands of men until we learn how to win one.

The maker may say that he has no distinctions. He is making a good product, but much like others. He deserves a good share of the trade, but he has nothing exclusive to offer. However, there is nearly always something impressive which others have not told. We must discover it. We must have a seeming advantage.

People don't quit habits without reason.

There is the problem of substitution and how to head it off. That often steals much of ones trade. This must be considered in ones original plan. One must have foresight to see all eventualities, and the wisdom to establish his defenses in advance.

Many pioneers in the line establish large demands. Then through some fault in their foundations, lose a large share of the harvest. Theirs is a mere brand, for instance, where it might have stood for an exclusive product.

Vaseline is an example. That product established a new demand, then almost monopolized that demand through wisdom at the start. To have called it some different brand of petroleum jelly might have made a difference of millions in results.

Jell-O, Postum, Victrola, Kodak, etc., established coined names which came to typify a product. Some such names have been admitted to the dictionary. They have become common names, though coined and exclusive.

Royal Baking Powder and Toasted Corn Flakes, on the other hand, when they pioneered their fields, left the way open to perpetual substitution. So did Horlicks Malted Milk.

The attitude of dealers must be considered. There is a growing inclination to limit lines, to avoid duplicate lines, to lesson inventories. If this applies to your line, how will dealers receive it? If there is opposition, how can we circumvent it?

The problems of distribution are important and enormous. To advertise something that few dealers supply is a waste of ammunition. Those problems will be considered in another chapter.

These are samples of the problems which advertising men must solve. These are some of the reasons why vast experience is necessary. One oversight may cost the client millions in the end. One wrong piece of strategy may prohibit success. Things done in one way may be twice as easy, half as costly, as when done another way.

Advertising without this preparation is like a waterfall going to waste. The power might be there, but it is not made effective. We must center the force and direct it in a practical direction.

Advertising often looks very simple. Thousands of men claim ability to do it. And there is still a wide impression that many men can. As a result, much advertising goes by favor. But the men who know realize that the problems are as many and as important as the problems in building a skyscraper. And many of them lie in the foundations.

From Claude Hopkins, Scientific Advertising