Unique Selling Proposition

USP is defined as:

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.”

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.

The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions, i.e., pull over new customers to your product.

I was reading through some stuff and stumbled on an old post at Brandglue. Here is an excerpt:

Every advertising and marketing communications agency out there has a process for establishing a brand’s uniqueness. Or should. All these processes are just different ways to arrive at the same place: one word, or one short phrase, that says, in plain terms, what differentiates a brand in the marketplace. Think ‘Safety’ for Volvo. The real challenge comes in executing creative work based on this proposition. Advertising, direct marketing, interactive, events, collateral, etc. It’s imperative that each and every piece speak to the same underlying brand proposition. By keeping key messaging consistent across media over time, you will have gone a long way to establishing a bulletproof proposition.

Good stuff. Think about what it did for President Obama and his hope campaign. It was strong, consistent, and it offered change. This may be common practice to some of you, but I learned something new. Why offer the same thing when you can offer something entirely different?

You can read the full post here