Reason-why advertising: how salesmanship in print became the VSL pitch

Reason-why advertising is copy that sells by giving the buyer specific reasons to buy instead of slogans or mood. It took hold at the Chicago agency Lord & Thomas after 1904, when a copywriter named John E. Kennedy told Albert Lasker that advertising is salesmanship in print. Claude Hopkins carried the method on there. A VSL is the same salesmanship, delivered on video.

John E. Kennedy and the note sent up from the saloon

The scene comes from two retellings, by CBC Radio and the magazine Strategy. In 1904 Kennedy, a Canadian and a former Mountie who had written ads for the Hudson's Bay Company, sent a note up to the offices of Lord & Thomas from the saloon downstairs, offering to explain what advertising was. In CBC's telling, Thomas scoffed at it, and Lasker sent a yes down with the bellboy. When they met, Lasker said advertising was news. Kennedy said news was only a technique, and gave his definition in three words: salesmanship in print (CBC Radio, Strategy).

Lasker hired him. In Ad Age's encyclopedia, Kennedy is the copywriter who saw advertising as salesmanship in print, and who believed that what drives it is a reason for the consumer to buy (Ad Age). Lasker had come to Chicago from Galveston, Texas, in 1898, aged 18, to work at the agency Daniel Lord and Ambrose Thomas had founded in 1881. By 1912 he owned it outright.

Kennedy made the phrase famous, but he didn't coin it

The phrase wasn't new in 1904. Ad Age's entry on hard and soft sell says Charles Austin Bates described advertising as salesmanship in print in 1897, and that the idea drew little notice until Kennedy put it to Lasker (Ad Age). The whole arc at Lord & Thomas, from the phrase to the book:

Reason why at Lord & Thomas

From the phrase to the book, by date

1. 1881Lord & Thomas opens in ChicagoFounded by Daniel Lord and Ambrose Thomas.
2. 1897Bates uses the phraseCharles Austin Bates describes advertising as salesmanship in print.
3. 1898Lasker arrivesAlbert Lasker, 18, comes from Galveston, Texas, to work at Lord & Thomas.
4. 1904Kennedy meets LaskerLasker hires him, and under his influence the agency pioneers the hard sell.
5. 1906Kennedy leavesHe forms his own firm, Ethridge-Kennedy Co.
6. About 1907Hopkins joinsClaude Hopkins is hired as a copywriter; the sources give 1907 or 1908.
7. 1912Lasker is the sole owner
8. 1923Scientific AdvertisingLord & Thomas publishes its philosophy as a book, written by Hopkins.
9. 1942–43Lord & Thomas becomes Foote, Cone & BeldingLasker hands the agency to the managers of its three main offices, and on 4 January 1943 it reopens under the new name.

What reason-why advertising is, and what it was up against

Ad Age defines the hard sell as a direct reason-why approach that runs through the headline, the body copy and the visuals, all of it about how the buyer benefits from the product. Under Kennedy's influence Lord & Thomas pioneered it, and Lasker embraced reason why as a doctrine: he trained a staff of young copywriters in its formulas and created what Ad Age calls an updated copy department, the first of its kind.

Ad Age's entry on hard and soft sell contrasts it with the soft sell, pointing to Theodore MacManus's 1915 Cadillac ad as an example of the other school. It also notes that David Ogilvy considered an ad's content its most important element, and taught copywriters that what you say matters more than how you say it.

The school outlived Lord & Thomas. Ad Age names Rosser Reeves, at Ted Bates Inc. in the 1940s, as another innovator of the hard sell: he insisted that every ad offer a unique selling proposition, which had to name a specific product benefit, be unique and sell. Among the lines it credits to the agency are "M&M candies melt in your mouth, not in your hand" and "Colgate cleans your breath as it cleans your teeth." Both are short enough to pass for slogans, yet each names something a buyer can check, which is what makes a line a reason.

Either school can sell a product. A VSL, though, has to win an order from a stranger in one sitting, and that is reason-why work. The difference, on one fictional product:

One product, two schools

Edgewise, a fictional chef’s knife

Asks for trustSlogan and mood

• The last knife you'll ever need.
• Precision, perfected.
• Loved by home cooks everywhere.

Any competitor could say it, and the buyer can't check any of it.

Gives reasonsReason why

• Forged from one bar of steel, so the blade and the handle can't come apart.
• Sharpened to 15 degrees a side, and the angle is printed on the box.
• Mail it back once a year and we sharpen it again, free, postage paid.
• Cook with it for 30 days. If it isn't the knife you reach for, send it back for a full refund.

Each line names something the buyer can check, and each one has a document or a process behind it.

How Claude Hopkins carried the school on

Kennedy left Lord & Thomas in 1906 to form his own firm, Ethridge-Kennedy Co. What Lasker needed, in Ad Age's account, was someone who could spread the method and make it work. He found him in Claude Hopkins, hired as a copywriter, who added his own touch to Kennedy's style by building brand images into the ads. The sources disagree on the year Hopkins joined, 1907 or 1908 (Claude C. Hopkins, Albert Lasker).

Hopkins also wrote the philosophy down. In 1923 Lord & Thomas published it as Scientific Advertising, written by Hopkins; our Scientific Advertising summary covers the book and turns its rules into a testing playbook for a VSL. Kennedy's own writing survives in short books with titles such as Reason-Why Advertising and Intensive Advertising, both available today in a modern reprint (Leanpub).

Why a VSL is salesmanship on video

Kennedy's definition fits a VSL better than it fits a magazine page. A salesperson across a table watches the buyer's face, hears the objection and answers it. An ad can't hear anything, so it has to answer every objection in advance, in the order buyers tend to raise them. Our history of who invented the VSL follows the printed sales letter onto the screen.

A VSL has the same handicap, with one consolation: afterwards, you can see where people stopped watching. RevvyScales draws a second-by-second retention chart for each VSL, with the pitch marked (analytics), and that chart is as close as a video gets to watching the buyer's face. When it drops steeply right after one line, ask what the viewer stopped believing there, and answer that objection at that point in the next cut.

An illustration, with invented numbers: 58% of viewers are still watching when the presenter names the price, and 49% ten seconds later. Some of those nine points were never going to buy, but the drop tells you which objection to test first. Put the price per day and the guarantee straight after the number in the next version, run both on the same traffic, and compare the two charts at that second.

Think of the pitch as a sequence of objections, each met with a reason. For a supplement, the sequence might run like this:

• Will it work for me? Answered with proof and with how it works, as far as your evidence goes.
• Why is this different from what I tried? Answered with the mechanism.
• What's in it, and has it been tested? Answered with the label and a lab certificate.
• Why does it cost this much? Answered with the price per day and the bundle math.
• What if it doesn't work for me? Answered with the guarantee, in plain terms.
• Why now? Answered with a real deadline, or with nothing at all.

Which objection comes first depends on what the viewer already knows. Someone who doesn't yet know they have the problem needs a reason to keep watching before they need a reason to buy (the levels of awareness).

How to write reasons-why that you can prove

Kennedy's premise was that advertising runs on a reason to buy. The modern version adds a second question: can you prove the reason? Six steps:

1. List every reason someone might buy, in buyers' own words, from reviews, support emails and refund notes.
2. Sort them by kind: what's in the product, proof that it does what you say, price, risk, timing, and anything about health, which has a rule of its own.
3. Attach the document behind each one: the label, a lab certificate, a study, the refund policy, a dated price change. No document, no reason.
4. Rewrite each as a checkable sentence, with a number, a name or a date in it.
5. Order them by objection, in the order buyers raise them.
6. Show the evidence on screen when you state the reason, and list it on the page.

Here are six reasons for Halewater, a fictional electrolyte drink mix, each with what backs it:

Six reasons, each with its proof

Halewater, a fictional electrolyte drink mix

What's in itProofPriceRiskTimingHealth claims

What's in it

"1,000 mg of sodium in every stick."

Backed by: the facts panel on the label. Say the number exactly as the label does.

Proof

"Every batch is tested by an outside lab, and each lot's certificate is linked below the video."

Backed by: each lot's certificate of analysis, published where the viewer can open it.

Price

"30 sticks for $33. That's $1.10 a run."

Backed by: the price list. Do the math on screen so the viewer can check it.

Risk

"Your money back for 60 days, opened boxes included."

Backed by: the refund policy that the checkout links to, in the same words.

Timing

"The price rises on 1 June, when the new lot ships."

Backed by: a dated price change you will actually make. If there's no real deadline, there's no timing reason, so leave it out.

Health claims

"Hydrates you faster than water."

Backed by: competent and reliable scientific evidence for this product or the same formula. Without it, this line doesn't go in.

The last tab is where supplement VSLs get into trouble. The FTC's Health Products Compliance Guidance, published in December 2022, says health-related claims need competent and reliable scientific evidence, that the research should be relevant to the specific product advertised, and that individual experiences are no substitute for research (FTC). This isn't legal advice; our VSL compliance guide covers claims and testimonials in more depth.

A source the viewer can open does more than one you only mention. RevvyScales pages have a Scientific References block for that: a numbered list of sources near the bottom of the page, each with a title and a link (comments and references). Before a reason goes into the script, run it through these questions:

Does this reason go in the VSL?

1Is it true of the product you're selling today?

YesNo, or not yet

2Is it a health claim, about what the product does in or for the body?

YesNo

3Do you hold competent and reliable scientific evidence for it, on this product or the same formula?

YesNo

4Can you show a document for it, such as the label, a lab certificate, the terms or a dated price list?

YesNo

Best fit

Cut it

It isn't true of the product you're selling today, so it isn't a reason at all. Take it out of the script, the page and the ads.

Best fit

Keep it, with the evidence in reach

It's true, it's a health claim, and you hold competent and reliable scientific evidence for this product or formula. Say it no more broadly than the evidence does, and list the source on the page.

Best fit

Narrow it or drop it

You believe it and it's a health claim, but you don't hold competent and reliable scientific evidence for this product or formula. Cut it back to what your evidence supports, or leave it out.

Best fit

Keep it, and show the proof

It's true, it isn't a health claim, and you can show a document for it. Put the number or the name on screen when you say it.

Best fit

Get the document first

It's true and it isn't a health claim, but nothing you can show proves it yet. Find the label, certificate, terms or record before the line goes in.

Show each reason on screen

A spoken reason is still a claim; a reason the viewer can see is closer to proof. Decades after Kennedy, David Ogilvy passed on George Gallup's finding that viewers forget what is said if it isn't also shown (Ogilvy's rules for TV). In a VSL pitch, that turns into a few habits:

• Hold the label to the camera when you say what's in the product, and let the number fill the screen.
• Open the lab certificate on screen, lot number visible, when you mention testing.
• Type out the price math as the presenter says it: $33 for 30 sticks, $1.10 a run.
• Show the refund terms, in the same words as the policy, when you state the guarantee.
• Never show what you can't back. A doctored lab report or a borrowed review on screen does more damage than leaving the reason out.

Reasons that are really slogans

Some lines look like reasons and do a slogan's job. Watch for these in your script:

• "Clinically proven" with no study named, or a study of a different formula.
• "Doctor formulated" when a doctor only looked over the label.
• "Number one" or "best-selling" without saying in what, where and when it was measured.
• "Only a few left" or "ends tonight" with no real limit or date behind it. Our VSL offer guide covers urgency that's real.
• A testimonial in place of a reason. One buyer's experience isn't evidence for a health claim.
• A feature nobody asked about. A reason has to answer a question the buyer actually has.

Before you record the pitch

Seven checks for the script; the ticks stay in this browser:

Before you record the pitch

• List every reason in the script, with the document that proves it beside it.
• Mark every health claim, and confirm you hold competent and reliable scientific evidence for this product or formula.
• Replace each adjective with a number, a name or a date you can show.
• Order the reasons by the objections buyers raise, in buyers' words.
• Put the source on screen when you state the reason, and list it on the page.
• Check that every reason to act now has a real date or limit behind it.
• Read the pitch aloud as if to one buyer across a table, and cut any line you wouldn't say to their face.

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