Reeves, Rosser

Definition:
American advertising COPY-WRITER, co-founder in 1940 of the Ted Bates advertising agency, since absorbed into the SAATCHI & SAATCHI worldwide group. The success of Ted Bates was based to a large extent on Reeves's single-minded pursuit of the UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION (USP), a Concept to guide advertising strategy which he explained in his book Reality in Advertising (1961). Reeves spent a great deal of time and money on product research to generate and verify the selling propositions to be incorporated in the advertisements he wrote. It is reported that Colgate were persuaded to spend $300,000 to authenticate the claim that washing the face thoroughly for a whole minute with Palmolive soap would improve the skin. Reeves believed in retaining a viable USP almost indefinitely. This philosophy is not always popular with advertisers, who believe that audiences become tired of the same message, and who furthermore enjoy the excitement of developing a new advertising campaign, rather as they might buy new clothes or redecorate a room. Reeves was also always adamantly opposed to derivative genre advertising, particularly as produced by what he called the 'artsy crafty crowd' and especially if he thought the copy was so clever that the message was lost. In Reality in Advertising, he makes his point forcibly: 'I'm not saying charming, witty, and warm copy won't sell. I'm just saying that I've seen thousands of charming, witty campaigns that didn't. . . . Now, what do you want of me? Fine writing? Do you want masterpieces? Do you want glowing things that can be framed by copywriters? Or do you want to see the goddamned sales curve stop moving down and start moving up?'

Cross-References:
[USP (unique selling proposition)] [Saatchi & Saatchi] [copywriter]

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