Headlines and sig lines (or strap lines) can be the most memorable
part of ads. But all too often they're meaningless fluff. "Finest,"
"Best," "Most trusted," "Best value" and others of that vague ilk
are verbal mush without any distinctive hook to aid recall. One
tremendous mnemonic aid is to quantify the claim with a hard number.
Consider these:
Original post date: 1/7/08
"This bread
is very nutritious." or "Builds strong bodies 12 ways?" No contest
which would be remembered. (The Wonder Bread slogan began as eight
ways in the 1930s and grew to twelve ways in the 1950s.) As an
aside, Wonder Bread built strong bodies by throwing a couple of
vitamin enrichment tablets about the size of hockey pucks into the
dough to replace nutrients removed in processing.
"This fine
automobile is really quiet." or "At 60 miles an hour the loudest
noise in the new Rolls Royce
comes from the electric clock," the 1958 Ogilvy classic.
How about:
"We condense a lot of tomatoes to make our tomato paste," or "Who
put eight, great tomatoes in that little bitty can?"Stan Freberg's
wonderful radio jingle. The ending was a thing of beauty: "You know
who. You know who. You know who."The jingle was followed with the spot's only spoken words:"In case you don't, it was Contadina." The final word was the
only mention of the brand. That broke a lot of rules, but it got
tremendous recall, and built the Contadina brand.
Orbachs, New York's recently closed bargain-priced
department store, might have said "A tradition of bargain prices
ever since our founding." Instead Doyle Dane Bernbach (now DDB) said
"Our summer sale began Oct. 4, 1923."
When all
Coca-Colas came is the distinctive six-ounce hour-glass shaped
bottle, an upstart competitor came after them with a jingle built
around a number:
Pepsi-Cola
hits the spot,
Twelve full
ounces, that's a lot.
Twice as
much for a nickel, too.
Pepsi-Cola
is the drink for you.
How 'bout:
"15 minutes
could save you 15% or more." Two numbers that say a little time
could save you a lot of money with Geico.
"Twice as
much of the pain reliever doctors recommend most" (Anacin).
"99 44/100%
Pure?" The slogan worked for Ivory from its beginnings in 1882.
"Rolaids
consumes 47 times its weight in excess stomach acid."
"In Soviet
Georgia, where they eat a lot of yogurt, a lot of people live past
100." Marsteller's classic Dannon campaign was way more effective
than simply saying "Yogurt is good for you." And the commercials
featuring Georgian centenarians were wonderful.
"Four out of
five doctors surveyed recommended Trident sugarless gum for their
patients who chew gum." The beginning of a hoary tradition of
four-out-of-five doctor commercials.
"How can one
calorie taste so good?" helped build the
Tab brand.
"Eight out
of ten cats prefer Whiskas" (although they don't ask for it by
name).
The
specificity of a number makes the claim more believable. After all,
numbers don't lie, do they? It also makes theclaim more memorable. A number has sticking power that simply
isn't there in pure puffery. Four out of five marketing directors
agree.
To learn
more about the impact of numbers, contact us by clicking here or by
calling (865) 330-0033.
