Desire: You Can’t Create It… But You Can Channel It

The power, the force, the overwhelming urge to own that makes advertising work, comes from the market itself, & not the copy. Copy cannot create desire for a product. It can only take the hopes, dreams, fears and desires that already exist… and focus these already existing desires on to a particular product.

It’s there, you just need to tap into it.

By simply directing this gigantic, already existing mass desire –rather than being required to create it – advertising thus commands an economic force hundreds of times more powerful than the mere number of dollars the advertiser can spend on it. This is the amplification effect.

3 Stages of Desire

1. Choose the most powerful desire that can possibly be applied to your product. Every product appeals to 2,3 or 4 of these mass desires. But only one can predominate
2. Acknowledge the desire – reinforce it – and/or offer the means to satisfy it – in a single statement in the headline of your ad
3. Take the series of performances built into your product – what your product does – and you show your prospect how these product performances inevitably satisfy that desire

3 Vital Dimensions of Mass Desire

1. Urgency
2. Intensity
3. Degree of Demand

Choose the mass desire that give you the most power in all 3 dimensions. The single overwhelming desire existing today. Your choice among these alternative desires is the most important step you will take in writing your ad.

Tomorrow we will cover another important aspect of marketing… state of awareness. If you liked today’s show please share with your network, and thank you!