{"id":872,"date":"2013-10-25T14:33:02","date_gmt":"2013-10-25T01:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=872"},"modified":"2013-10-25T14:33:02","modified_gmt":"2013-10-25T01:33:02","slug":"promise-writ-large","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=872","title":{"rendered":"Promise writ large"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Free\"<\/a>When I was a young writer, I occasionally worked with another writer who had a sign on his office wall saying: Advertising is but promise writ large.\u00a0 As I recall, the observation was attributed to Samuel Johnson.<\/p>\n

I was reminded of Dave\u2019s sign when, several years later, I was given the task of writing up the results of some research into the likely success (or otherwise) of a proposed new investment product.<\/p>\n

The research \u2013 in-depth interviews with more than 120 potential customers \u2013 suggested that the product was almost certain to fail.\u00a0 Only seven people said that they might give the product serious consideration.\u00a0 And more than 50 suggested that it was a con (or words to that effect).<\/p>\n

The man who had commissioned the research was not happy.\u00a0 It was not the result that he had expected or wanted.<\/p>\n

A meeting was called between the research agency and the commissioning client.\u00a0 And, as the person who had largely written up the final report, I was also asked to attend.<\/p>\n

The meeting began with the client stating, in no uncertain terms, that the researchers had clearly got it wrong.\u00a0 His own gut feeling, and more than 20 years\u2019 experience of selling investment products, told him that the proposed product would be a winner.<\/p>\n

The head of the research agency said that he could understand the client\u2019s disappointment, but the findings were pretty conclusive.\u00a0 The methodology was proven.\u00a0 The sample was robust.\u00a0 And the findings simply did not support the client\u2019s gut feeling.<\/p>\n

\u2018So what did you actually tell these people?\u2019 the client asked.<\/p>\n

The research director explained that, after an initial exploration of the interviewees\u2019 past and present investment experiences, they were given an outline of the proposed product and how it would work, and \u2026.<\/p>\n

\u2018Let me stop you right there,\u2019 the client said.\u00a0 \u2018That\u2019s where you went wrong.\u00a0 If these guys know what the product really<\/i> is and how it really<\/i> works, then of course they are not going to buy it.\u00a0 The secret is to sell them the dream, to sell them the promise.\u00a0 The other bits can be buried in the small print.\u2019<\/p>\n

The client went ahead and launched the new product.\u00a0 And it failed.\u00a0 Spectacularly. \u00a0Although not before a few gullible souls had lost their life savings.<\/p>\n

I guess the moral of the story is: by all means, write your promise large.\u00a0 But not too<\/i> large.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a young writer, I occasionally worked with another writer who had a sign on his office wall saying: Advertising is but promise writ large.\u00a0 As I recall, the observation was attributed to Samuel Johnson. I was reminded … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=872"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":873,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions\/873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}