Imagine a classy and rich office, with two well-dressed businessmen standing side by side, leaning on a desk.
One of the businessmen is old, the other is young. Even so, they look to be equals. They are busy looking over a report the younger one is holding.
Suddenly, a secretary knocks on the door.
“Message for you, Mr. Thomas,” she says as she hands the older man a slip of paper.
Thomas unfolds the paper, and as he reads the short note, his eyebrows shoot up.
He shakes his head and hands the paper to the younger man with a smile. The younger man takes a look at the note. It reads:
“I am in the saloon downstairs. I can tell you what advertising is. I know you don’t know. It will mean much to me to have you know what it is, and it will mean much to you. If you wish to know what advertising is, send the word ‘yes’ down by the bell boy.”
The younger businessman, Albert Lasker, pauses.
What the note says is true. He’s been in the advertising business for a few years now. He’s had tremendous success. In fact, even though he is only 24 years old, he is a partner at one of Chicago’s top advertising agencies, Lord & Thomas.
But he still doesn’t know what advertising really is. He doesn’t why it sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t. So he’s been asking around — other agency heads, copywriters, newspapermen. Nobody can give him a satisfying answer.
Well, nobody except maybe the guy in the lobby downstairs.
You might have already heard this story of the first meeting between Albert Lasker and John E. Kennedy, the mysterious man waiting downstairs.
Lasker did send the word “yes” down by the bellboy. And after a lot of negotiating and finagling, which included buying out Kennedy’s ridiculously expensive contract as a copywriter, Lasker had his answer.
It was all of three words that Kennedy told Lasker. But these three words transformed the Lord & Thomas advertising agency, and they transformed modern advertising.
What Kennedy told Lasker is that advertising is not about keeping the company’s name in front of the public. It’s not about delivering news, either, though news can be useful. Instead, advertising is simply:
Salesmanship in print
For about a hundred years now, nobody’s been able to improve on that definition. Fortunes have been made by taking this simple idea and applying it thoroughly.
But things might finally be changing. Perhaps Kennedy’s definition is not good enough any more. Salesmanship in print is still important. But it’s not enough. And sometimes it can even hurt instead of help.
So what’s a better way to think of advertising today?
It will mean much to me to have you know what it is, and it will mean much to you. If you wish to know what advertising is today, take a look at the following page.