Iconic figure claim

The pattern

This still is filed under Iconic figure claim.

Define

A single figure, drawn, silhouetted, or posed, is the whole claim. You can read it across a street.

Mechanism

Compression into a body. The figure is not decoration. It is the sentence. Distance-legibility is the test.

Verdict

Poster scale, outdoor, packaging at a glance

Why it works

The ad borrows the vocabulary of the magazine it sits in - "Headlines," a cover girl, three captioned looks - so it reads as editorial service rather than an interruption. The endorser is chosen for a job-related reason: a cover girl is paid for how her hair photographs, which makes her a competent witness rather than a decorative one. The core claim is mechanistic and negative, that Drene is not a soap and therefore leaves no film, which lets it attack the whole competing category in one clause instead of one rival. The three seasonal hair-dos give the reader something to do with the product tonight, converting a beauty claim into an instruction.

The big idea

Drene is not a soap shampoo, so it leaves no dulling film, and a cover girl's holiday party hair-dos show what that shine looks like.

The offer

Drene Shampoo with Hair Conditioning Action, plus three holiday hair-dos from Arline Dahlman to copy at home. No price is given.

The proof

Named endorser Arline Dahlman, magazine cover girl and Drene Girl; up to 33 percent more lustre than any soap or soap shampoo; the Good Housekeeping guaranty seal; dandruff flakes removed the first time.

Lines from the ad

Holiday Headlines

No other shampoo leaves your hair more lustrous, yet so easy to manage!

Drene is not a soap shampoo ...and therefore leaves no dulling film on hair as all soaps do.

Steal this when

Use this when your product competes against an entire incumbent category rather than a single brand, and you can name the mechanism that makes the category wrong. Wrap it in a seasonal, magazine-native format so the claim arrives as service journalism.

The emotion

Written to Admiration. It makes the Say move.

Cover girl Arline Dahlman, paid for how her hair photographs, is shown with three holiday hair-dos readers can copy at home, plus the reason: Drene leaves no dulling soap film.