Salesmanship Versus Art

We discussed recently discussed the advertising philosophies of advertising legends Rosser Reeves and David Ogilvy. Their philosophies on grabbing the attention of the public were completely opposite and the two were often portrayed as enemies even though the two maintained a professional friendship.

Rosser Reeves:

               Rosser Reeves used the “hard sell” method in his ad campaigns, which uses a more direct, forceful, and overt sales message. His philosophy was based on finding a product’s unique selling proposition, which refers to any aspect of an object that makes it different. An example of U.S.P. would be M&M’s slogan “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” 

David Ogilvy:

               David Ogilvy’s used the “soft sell” method to persuade consumers. His work is now referred to as “brand advertising”. It is more subtle than the “hard sell” method. Ogilvy’s method provided a story behind the brand, which he called “story appeal”. He focused on creating a strong brand image that would stick with customers for a long time. Nike would be a company with a strong brand image.

Even though Reeves and Ogilvy’s philosophies appeared to be completely different, it was discovered that their methods shared similar elements. It is believed that Reeves’s U.S.P. philosophy shares ground with Ogilvy’s beliefs. Ogilvy came up with a concept called basic selling proposition aka B.S.P. which was similar to U.S.P. Both of the men viewed advertising as a form of salesmanship versus art.

              

Salesmanship versus Art: 

I feel that advertisers and graphic designers collaborate frequently on accomplishing a common goal. Graphic designers bring the creativity to the table that advertisers may be lacking. A designer’s work may never receive recognition on a large scale without the help of an advertiser.

Advertisers use art to manipulate the consumer. Art can be used as a way of communicating the advertisers message and demonstrates what features their product, service, etc bears. Many cartoonists have worked as advertisers to spread their style to the corporate world.

In 2008, Australian skin company Ella Bache promoted its slogan "skin good enough to eat" by making a giant sculpture of a woman out of 24,000 peaches. They used peaches to represent the "peaches and cream" complexion their product will give you. The sculpture was placed in a public park for everyone to see. Viewers stood in awe.


This is a perfect example of salesmanship versus art because it took art to capture the attention of the public. People who came to see the statue were given a peach that invited them to book a treatment online. The ad campaign included a website and print ads.

The statue named "Ella" generated $600,000 dollars in free media. So in this instance, both the artist and the advertiser win. People were astounded by the statue and the company profited from it.

Designer Paula Scher designed posters for The Public Theater Identity, which were loud (like the shows that were being promoted) and urban (plays took place in NYC). The typography on the posters was designed to look like they made noise. The style of the theater posters became very popular and the identity for the theater.

Scher drew the Citi Bank logo on a napkin effortlessly and in a very short period of time. The logo used to be all over the world even though it is not intricate at all. The "t" in the logo represents an umbrella. It signifies travelers in the city who carried an umbrella.