Rosser Reeves

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Rosser Reeves (1910–24 January 1984) was an American advertising executive and early pioneer of television advertising. He was committed to making ads that were simple, direct, and often annoying. His most typical ad is probably that for Anacin, a headache medicine. The ad was considered grating and annoying by almost all viewers but it was remarkably successful, tripling the product's sales. Reeves did not believe ads should reassure, entertain, or educate, he argued they should exist only to communicate the slogan. In several works of advertising theory that he wrote he advocated a rigidly scientific approach shunning artistry and creativity.

His ads were focused around what he called the unique selling proposition, the one reason the product needed to be bought or was better than its competitors. These often took the form of slogans — Reeves oversaw the introduction of dozens, some that still exist to this day, such as M&M's "melt in your mouth, not in your hand." He argued that advertising campaigns should be unchanging with a single slogan for each product. Reeves also insisted the product being sold actually be superior, and argued that no amount of advertising could move inferior goods. He also disagreed that advertising was able to create demand where it did not exist.

Reeves did not shy from questionable ethics, including using doctors to sell cigarettes.

Reeves is also notable for creating Dwight Eisenhower's presidential ads for the 1952 election. He packaged Eisenhower as a forthright, strong, yet friendly leader. The commercials all included a regular person asking a question to the upper right of the screen. They would cut to Eisenhower, not wearing glasses to look stronger, looking to the lower left and then turning to the camera and responding. They were created by letting Eisenhower speak for a number of hours. Then questions were crafted later that best fit his answers.

In the 1960s Reeves' techniques began to fail. Consumers became more savvy and learnt to tune out uninteresting commercials, and within the advertising industry itself the Creative Revolution (exemplified by Bill Bernbach's "Think Small" campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle), which rejected many of his precepts, began. At age 55 Reeves retired. He declared that he had always planned to retire at that age, but many felt it was because of the decline in his influence.

Despite some decline in receptivity to Reeves' style of ads, many companies still use his techniques when creating television commercials. His methods and ideas are still taught in many marketing schools.