Six 'Very Important Questions' Ron Popeil Asked of All His Advertising

Plus: A six-word question for staying customer-focused

Jun 16, 2023

∙ Paid

“In a classic 1960s newspaper ad to prospective clients, the New York agency Benton & Bowles posed six very important questions about the art of advertising and, in the process, summed up some great guidelines…ones that work just as effectively in infomercials as they do in traditional thirty-second TV spots or the print media.”

So wrote Ron Popeil (1935-2021) in his autobiography and selling manual, The Salesman of the Century. Today, we’re going to go through those six guidelines and learn how Popeil applied them.

Fun fact: It was also Benton & Bowles (B&B) that had one of David Ogilvy’s favorite signs hanging on its wall. The sign read: “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”

DR Dynamite!💥

This is the part of my newsletter where I share wisdom from the ‘Masters of Marketing,’ specifically tried-and-true (T&T) techniques from the world of direct-response advertising. If for some crazy reason you don’t know who Ron Popeil was, below is a fun prompt you can use to get an AI-generated biography.

**Ron Popeil with some of his top products (source: Rolling Stone)**

Go to: Chat.OpenAI.com

Type: “Act as Ron Popeil, author of ‘Salesman of the Century.’ Give me a 500-word autobiography that covers all the major highlights of your life and career. Do it in your famous selling style.”

Now let’s review the six B&B questions Popeil asked of all his advertising.

Is there a big idea? Speaking of David Ogilvy, the phrase “big idea” is credited to him and was #3 on my list of “The 10 Greatest Marketing Concepts.” B&B cited Scope’s “medicine breath” and “the positioning of Pledge furniture polish as a dusting aid” as prime examples of big ideas from yesteryear. Popeil had quite a few of these of his own. More on this below.
Is there a theme line? B&B described a theme line as “a memorable set of words” that present your selling idea. Popeil’s favorite theme lines from his own commercials were: “Hey, good lookin’, I’ll be back to pick you up later” (Mr. Microphone) and “the problem with buttons is they always fall off” (Buttoneer). But of course it was “set it and forget it” that would become his most famous theme line — and a part of advertising history.
Is it relevant? Echoing the sign in B&B’s office, Popeil argued that “advertising that is remembered—but the product forgotten—is…a failure.” B&B was particularly against “jokes that steal attention from the selling idea, celebrities that have no logical connection with your product, and other irrelevancies.” On jokes, it was the great Claude Hopkins who first said, “People don’t buy from clowns.”
Is it a cliché? B&B specifically meant “look-alike, sound-alike advertising.” Popeil was determined to create the opposite type of ad. “I don’t believe in a high-tech production,” he wrote, “just a basic, honest sales pitch—with mistakes and warts, if need be.” He continued: “I stuttered in one of my infomercials, and my producer wanted to edit it out, but I said leave it in. People do stutter when they’re not scripted. And I think the audience responds better to a less slick presentation.”
Is it believable? The aphorism here is: “Better to underpromise and be believable than to overpromise and lose credibility.” With this in mind, I went back even further in the decision-making process and made “credible” one of my Divine Seven criteria for products.
Does it demonstrate? “Nothing works harder or sells better than a demonstration of your product’s superiority,” declared B&B. Popeil said this statement neatly summed up his entire “philosophy of advertising.” Even (especially?) now when attention spans are shorter than ever, the top-selling videos all feature compelling demonstrations of the product. It’s true: Nothing works harder.

News(letters) You Can Use 📰

Greg McKeown, author of New York Times bestsellers Effortless and Essentialism, channels Clayton Christensen (owner of #8 on my list of “The 10 Greatest Marketing Concepts”) in his latest newsletter. He writes:

People aren’t as interested in your products or services as they are in how they solve their problems. This six-word question will keep you focused on solving the right problem at work and home:
What’s the job to be done?

McKeown quotes another famous Harvard Business School professor to make the point.👇

The full article is here.

Chart Watch👁️

The only thing vaguely interesting on the DRMetrix this week is the campaign below, which is three years old and just broke into the Top 20 once again.

My Foldaway Fan

Pitch: “Your personal wind machine - portable, powerful, rechargeable’”
Offer: 2 payments of $19.99, 2nd one for 50%
Marketer: Emson (🏆 2022 True Top Marketer)

This campaign was #26 on last year’s annual True Top 50 and #46 overall the year before that. Right now, it’s actually a few spots above Ontel’s Arctic Air Pure Chill.

Lower down the chart, Mission Instant Cooling Gear is climbing again — as is Allstar’s ceiling fan duster, Blade Maid. ‘Tis the season for staying cool. 😎

The SciMark Report