1. Describing a benefit
Specific or General Benefits?
Prepared by J. Scott Armstrong (details on him at jscottarmstrong.com).
Please inform Scott about errors and also make suggestions (armstrong@wharton.upenn.edu)
Scott has taken these slides from adprin.com, a site that he founded. That site contains interactive versions of these
slides, along with linked references, videos, and webcasts, all in PPT and PPTX format that you can download.

2. P&G’s Dawn Case
In 1972, Procter and Gamble was preparing to launch its
Dawn liquid dishwashing detergent. Their top
management debated whether to advertise its
a) “superior cleaning ability”or its
b) “grease cutting action.”
Which would you recommend and why?
Go to the next slide to see what worked.
2

3. Both contain a benefit, but the latter is specific.
P&G went with “b” and it was successful.

4. Describe specific, meaningful benefits (Principle 1.1.1):
Evidence
Analysis of 42 pairs of print ads in which one ad
included benefits and the other did not found that
print ads mentioning benefits produced better
recall, especially when the benefits were specific.
Ads with specific benefits had 1.5 times as much
recall as did ads with no benefits.
–For example, a Visa ad that offered global acceptance
of the card and a refund in case of loss elicited better
recall than a Visa ad that showed an attractive photo of a
beach (Persuasive Advertising p 29).
See AdPrin.com for more information

5. Based on this exercise, write a small application step for yourself,
and set a deadline, preferably within one week. If you are
working with someone else, share your application plan and the
results of your application.
For example, should your ads for high-involvement products
have specific benefits?
Adapted from AdPrin.com