The Theory of Advertising: A Simple Exposition of the Principles of Psychology in Their Relation to Successful Advertising
Walter Dill Scott, director of the psychological laboratory at Northwestern University, turned his Mahin's Magazine series into the first book to apply psychology to advertising.
What it is
Walter Dill Scott, director of the psychological laboratory at Northwestern University, turned his Mahin's Magazine series into the first book to apply psychology to advertising. He opens with an estimate that US business spends $600,000,000 a year on printed advertising, three quarters of it unprofitable by one authority's count, and argues that only psychology can give the trade a theory. Fifteen chapters follow. First come six principles of attention: few counter attractions, intensity, contrast, ease of comprehension, repetition and feeling. Then association of ideas, suggestion, the direct command, the return coupon, fusion, laboratory experiment, perception, apperception, optical illusions and mental imagery. Each is argued on reproduced ads: the Burlington Route, Murphy Varnish's irrelevant headline, White Star Coffee's frog, Cream of Wheat's chef, Pears' Soap and the Gold Dust Twins. In one test, 516 young people looked through a magazine, and none recalled the Whitman's chocolate ad correctly.
Why read it now
Much of the book holds. The six attention principles still describe how an ad gets noticed, and his finding that people take in about four objects at a glance sits close to the limit of about four items that working-memory researchers such as Nelson Cowan report. His praise for a constant recognizable feature, the Cream of Wheat chef that lets each new ad read as an old friend, is what Jenni Romaniuk now calls a distinctive brand asset. His advice to introduce a new product as a variant of a familiar one still guides launches. The direct command works too, as his coupon wording shows, but his explanation from hypnotism and the idea that every thought turns into action has not survived; clear instructions work because they make the next step easy. His tests are small and uncontrolled, he admits he never tested the Whitman's ad he preferred, and the imagery chapters rest on introspection. Use: before launching an ad, run his recall test. Show people a feed with your ad among others, then ask what they remember and whose it was.
Passages worth keeping
It is estimated that the business men of the United States are spending $600,000,000 a year in printed forms of advertising. Furthermore one authority claims that seventy-five per cent. of all this is unprofitable.
يبدأ سكوت بحجم الإنفاق وحجم الهدر ليبرر حاجة المهنة إلى نظرية، فالمال الكبير الذي يُنفق بلا أساس هو المشكلة التي يعد الكتاب بحلها.
Ordinary observers under favorable conditions can attend to about four visual objects at once.
الانتباه ضيق، فالقارئ العادي لا يلتقط إلا نحو أربعة أشياء في اللحظة الواحدة، لذلك ينافس كل عنصر زائد في الإعلان بقية العناصر.
The advertisement with a constant recognizable feature that varies in detail from time to time allows for both change and repetition, and is to that extent the best advertisement.
أفضل إعلان في السلسلة هو الذي يحتفظ بعنصر ثابت يعرفه الناس ويغيّر بقية التفاصيل، فيجمع بين التجديد والتكرار.
We are perfectly willing to obey as long as we are unconscious of the fact. But let any one see that he has been commanded and his attitude is changed; he becomes obstinate instead of pliant.
الناس يستجيبون للطلب ما داموا لا يشعرون أنه أمر، فإذا انكشف لهم قاوموه، لذلك يُصاغ الطلب بحيث يبدو اختيارًا لا إلزامًا.
It is quite certain that a person can best be appealed to through his dominating imagery.
لكل شخص حاسة يتخيل بها أقوى من غيرها، بصرية أو سمعية أو غيرهما، والإعلان الذي يخاطب هذه الحاسة يصل إليه أسرع.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
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