You only have a few seconds to get your message across and make it stick. It’s a competitive world out there. With stimuli everywhere. And if you try to communicate multiple messages at once, you’ll only dilute your main message, so nothing does.
One message, repeated, makes it easier for your reader to remember what you’re trying to say. But you can’t bore your audience into remembering your message. You’ve got to be smart about it and entertain them. So they remember without even trying.
Today’s trade ad for Purina is a brilliant example and shows you how to do it.
Who made it?
Copywriters: Mick Petherick and Frank Budgen | Art Director: Bill Gallacher | Photographer: Richard Kluczynski | Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi | Client: Jenks Brothers Limited | Year: 1982
Art Analysis
With a consumer ad, you might opt for the more emotional “your dog will love it” approach, but with a trade ad, pleasing your customers’ dogs isn’t the motivation. Sure, emotion plays a role. B2B doesn’t remove that from the equation. But the main question on a pet shop owner’s lips? Is it going to make me money?
The art begins answering.
It’s, simply, a big bag of dog food. It towers over the body copy and takes up a lot of real estate. Big often equates to better value. And better value often equates to smart profiteering. The sheer size of the bag is like a subliminal cue reinforcing its money-making value.
From a product design perspective, notice how there are lots of dog breeds. Whilst this appeals more to consumers (I think?), it still appeals to pet shop owners because it broadens their potential customer base – and thus profit potential.
Headline Analysis
Like a lot of ads I’ve looked at, this too has a double meaning (e.g. Lyons Coffee’s “Has beans?” or Comfort’s “Cacti”). There are lots of ways to stimulate our brains’ right hemisphere. But I think double meanings are one of the simplest, most accessible and most effective.
Not only do they require a bit of thought (*ticks box*), but they can also play into cultural references to give them their twist. This is usually a good thing with advertising because it rewards ‘specialist’ knowledge and lets humour disguise bolder messages so they come to mind more easily in the future.
With our headline, “fastest moving” has two meanings. One is the popularity of the dog food. The other is postmen (i.e. “food”) running from them.
Also, note how within this double meaning is the first mention of their popularity. It’s not explicit and invites some thinking to grasp what they mean, so you’re more likely to accept their popularity because you figured it out yourself. (Levington’s Compost ad did this too)
The Copy
Here’s the copy:
And here’s how I’ve structured the sections – sentence by sentence. I’ve given them names, but it’s, in essence, AIDA.
Let’s chow down and get our teeth into the main body.
Section 1 Analysis
“Purina Dog Chow is the best selling dry dog food in the world.” Start bold. Copywriting 101, right? Why? It gets (and holds) your attention, compelling you to read a little further.
They’ve effectively repeated the popularity claim from the headline, but this time, explicitly. Repetition 1. It’s also a significant tone change, which helps to hold your attention. But when shared so soon after a funny headline, is the popularity believable or taken tongue in cheek?… To be debated, I guess…
Knowing we’re more likely to remember the beginning and end of a communication, the ad also leverages the “Primacy Effect”. They’ve put this, the biggest and most compelling claim of popularity, first. So when the dust has settled, it’s more likely to be remembered.
Section 2 Analysis
Social proof is great – and persuasive – but without answering “What’s in it for me?” it won’t compel any action. So, now they pivot into just that.
They reiterate product specs (from the art) and open the door to its profit potential – the I, interest, in AIDA. It hones in on the social proof, now sharing how its sold.
What I particularly like here is the antithesis: the contrast between the big 20kg bag and the small weighed-out measures. It subtly draws attention to the size of the bag, which then draws attention to its profit potential.
Section 3 Analysis
As a business owner, if someone’s already making money on something, naturally, you’re going to want to too. This is ‘The Bandwagon Effect’ in action. It’s very similar to social proof in that action begets action.
In this sentence, the brackets help to keep a friendly cadence but also draw attention, almost like a whisper, to the fact that ‘many pet shop owners’ think Purina is very profitable. The Bandwagon Effect, FOMO, and/or social proof are means of implicit persuasion. However, stating Purina’s profitability is explicit. It’s layered persuasion and cleverly done.
(Also, note repetition #2 of popularity here!)
Section 4 Analysis
Next, we see another repetition of Purina’s popularity. Only this time, it goes to the root of it: that dogs love it. I think this gives a sense of unchanging popularity, further reducing the perceived risk of stocking Purina. You have to connect the dots to get this. “Dogs love it, so owners will keep buying it, and if owners keep buying it, I’ll keep making money”
We see more brackets that help keep a bouncy, easy-to-read cadence. And we also see the first mention of dogs. It’s ambitious, but I think the dogs act a little like an emotional symbol. They evoke (some) emotion when we think of them and help to persuade.
Section 5 Analysis
As they close up, the ad comes full circle and repeats the headline’s humour. It’s the antidote to lots of logic and facts. And after the information you’ve just read, this carries more oomph.
Rather than mentioning postmen themselves, they mention the Post Office. You have to put 2 and 2 together before experiencing an “aha” moment.
I think ending with humour is smart, especially in brandvertising, because it leaves a positive lasting impression. Coupled with an “aha” moment, you have a brilliant way to nurture mental availability.
Dog food wrap up
So, as we’ve seen, social proof and repetition play huge parts in the ad. It’s the same point (“we’re very popular”) viewed through different lenses, so it doesn’t feel like repetition. Each time they reinforce their popularity, it seems more immutable, reducing the perceived risk of buying and hence increasing the desire to sell.
Also, note how those lenses echo our decision-making process. One repetition reinforces popularity, another profitability and the last, product quality. These are all important buying factors, and they’re viewed through the existing behaviour of others, making the product very appealing.
Chow down on this
Every two weeks or so, I share these with my email list. I pass on extra insights, different perspectives, other ads from the campaign and sometimes helpful tales so you can better use them in your creative work. Of course, I also notify you that the breakdown analysis (like this one) is now live.
Get the best of both worlds. Get all the information. It’ll only cost you an email address.
Join fellow ad-loving creatives from around the world and get the next breakdown in your inbox now.
