Five Principles of Advertising

 In 1922, Wilbur Dick Nesbit in his popular book called First Principles of Advertising categorized the advertising principles as:[1]

1. What quality should an advertising man cultivate?
2. What should underlie an advertising campaign?
3. How should you study the task of preparing an advertisement or campaign?
4. How should you visualize the reader of your advertisement?
5. What must you try to make your advertisement accomplish?

Successful advertising is an art and science. [2]  Wilbur Nesbit’s principles go to define the character of a successful advertiser, but some of his principles, stand to be true and effective in today’ s market. This list is a good approach in better understanding the principles of advertising: [3]

1. establish relevance to target audience -  good understanding of the customer, their habits, their preferences and the competition
2. exhibit uniqueness from competition - branding mastery
3. prove credibility through product characteristic or use – build an emotional tie, or a rational deduction to why they need the product
4.  add to consumer knowledge – educate and convince the market
5. Execute through relevant touchpoints

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[1] Wilbur Dick Nesbit, First Principles of Advertising, The Gregg Publishing Company, 1922

[2] Advertising: More Science Than Art, Forbes, Aug. 23, 2010

[3] Five Principles of Great Advertising, emmgroup, Aug. 19, 2009 – found online at http://www.emmgroup.net/organic-growth-blog/five-principles-great-advertising