Schwartz Breakthrough Advertising - Eugene M.

Schwartz introduced two competing forces in the marketplace that every CEO and CMO must understand.

Most marketers believe their job is to create desire. Schwartz argues this is impossible. You cannot force a human being to want something they don't already vaguely want.

A breakthrough in advertising occurs when you stop trying to invent a new desire (security, sex, belonging, health) and instead show the consumer a new path to an old desire. eugene m. schwartz breakthrough advertising

For example: The desire for "social status" is ancient. Before the Model T, you satisfied it with a horse. Henry Ford didn’t invent the desire for status; he invented the automobile as a vehicle (pun intended) for that desire.

His background in mail order gave him a distinct advantage: A brand advertiser in the 1960s could run a TV spot and vaguely hope it increased market share. Schwartz mailed a letter, and he knew within days—by the checks returned or the silence that followed—whether he had succeeded or failed. This environment forged a writer who stripped away all fluff, artifice, and wasted words. Schwartz introduced two competing forces in the marketplace

They know they have a problem but don’t know a solution exists. Solution Aware: They know solutions exist, but don’t know about Product Aware: They know your product but aren’t convinced yet. Most Aware: They are ready to buy; they just need a reason to act now.

Eugene M. Schwartz was a prodigy of the printed word. By the age of 25, he was already a Vice President at Boardroom Inc., a publishing giant known for its brutally effective direct mail. In an era before the internet, Schwartz wrote copy that generated billions of dollars in sales. You cannot force a human being to want

Breakthrough advertising pulls the product out of the mind by aligning with a desire that is already burning—even if the consumer doesn't realize it’s on fire.