The Quickest Way to a Dazzling Smile

In a society where instant gratification is the norm, people expect immediate results. And an immediate result is just what people want when it comes to having white teeth. White teeth make a smile more beautiful, and give the consumer confidence in his or her appearance. In this specific ad, Crest is selling the means to the results of white teeth that consumers desire: whitestrips. Through the use of the appeal to need for attention as well as USP that promises immediate results, this ad for Crest effectively makes this brand of tooth care products more desirable than other competitors.

This Crest ad relies on the appeal to need for attention to convince consumers to buy the whitestrips. In the ad, a picture of a woman with a beautiful, pearly white smile is placed to the left of the unique selling proposition (USP). The consumer’s eye immediately focuses on this picture. The ad promotes the idea that using Crest’s whitestrips makes smiles brilliantly white, like the smile of the woman featured in this ad. By using this product, the consumers can grab other people’s attention with their new and improved smiles in the same way that the woman in the ad caught their attention with her dazzling smile. In addition, the ad employs the use of cool colors of blue and purple to make the viewers feel relaxed and calm. The viewers don’t have to worry about whether or not the whitestrips will actually work, but instead can feel calm and assured when looking at the ad. The blue and purple background colors also allow for the white text in the ad, which happens to be the USP, to stand out. The lighting in the ad is bright around the woman and the picture of the product itself in the ad, which makes sure that the consumers recognize what the product can do and what it looks like.

While the appeals and visual techniques in the ad are well-done, the part of the advertisement that makes the product so compelling to consumers is the USP. For this ad in particular, the USP is written in a bold font saying, “start seeing a whiter smile in 3 days”. “3 Days” is in larger font than the other parts of that phrase, to put an emphasis on the efficiency of Crest’s whitestrips. Wow! Who wouldn’t want to buy a product that promises such an immediate result? The unique selling point pushes consumers to at least sample the product because of the immediate results that come from using the product. Another reason that this USP is so enticing is because it promises that Crest is better than other competing brands. For example, a Colgate advertisement for whitening toothpaste uses the same appeal to need for attention with a picture of a woman with a gorgeous smile. One of the big differences between these two ads is the USP. Colgate promises a smile that is “one shade whiter after one week”. Crest advertises faster results for their product. As a consumer, since both of these are similar tooth care products and accomplish the same thing in the end, I would be persuaded to pick Crest because it promises quicker results.

Ultimately, the USP in the Crest ad effectively sways consumers toward using Crest over other brands of tooth care products because does the fastest job of making teeth white. The USP is the deciding factor in the Crest ad, making the whitestrips the obvious choice. In order for a company to successfully beat out their competition, they must have advertise a USP that effectively makes their product the superior choice.