A proposition – it’s a benefit, it’s a promise

In advertising, a proposition is to promise something; to offer a benefit. With so many companies competing with their own brands of what are essentially the same items, each brand needs a proposition if it hopes to capture an audience. The Unique Selling Proposition or USP was developed by Rosser Reeves, who was a pioneer of television advertising during the 1950s. His words, “Buy this product and you will get this specific benefit.” describe this marketing concept. Reeves understood that consumers were given too much information in advertisements and streamlined the delivery for them, and in the process, increased the sales of products he produced advertisements for. Naturally, as consumers evolved, and learned to better scrutinise marketing tactics and products themselves, different categories of propositions came into use as marketing tools.

A Single Minded Proposition or SMP is the one thing – the most important thing – that the audience needs to know. While this 1950s commercial for Anacin (produced by Rosser Reeves) lists its benefits compared to its competitors, it hammers home the SMP by the end of the video; that it’s “fast“ pain relief. I admire the short animations in this advert that attempt to visualise the pain of a headache.

Today, Emotional Selling proposition or ESP has essentially replaced USP. A person’s buying behaviour is more closely linked to their brain’s limbic system (which process feelings such as hunger, thirst, response to pain, and levels of pleasure etc.) than their brain’s neocortex (which is in charge of spatial reasoning, and conscious thought etc.). Identifying a product or service’s emotional selling point is now just as important as knowing the unique selling point. Although modern advertisement relies on the theory of ESP, before it was named and capitalised on, the concept was recognised early by the businessman and Revlon cosmetics founder Charles Revson, who knew that he was not simply selling products, but was marketing “hope” (or rather, the feeling of hope) to the consumer.