🍫 The Sweet Success of M&M's Iconic Slogan

Have you ever heard of a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

Of course you have.

A man named Rosser Reeves coined this term back in the ‘50s. He’s responsible for creating the famous M&M slogan above and the ads below.

Here is his criteria for USPs:

1. Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer. Not just words, not just product puffery, not just show-window advertising. Each advertisement must say to each reader: “Buy this product, and you will get this specific benefit.”

2. The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot, or does not, offer. It must be unique—either a uniqueness of the brand or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising.

3. The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions, i.e., pull over new customers to your product. The USP forces the mass promises into a very specific promise of benefits and values, whether functional or emotional.

Here are my favorite Reeves lessons: