Brands Don’t Need Unique Selling Propositions

In the 90s Pampers’ ‘unique selling proposition’ (USP) claimed it was the driest diaper on the market.

Procter & Gamble prided itself on this benefit, investing heavily in research and development to maintain its USP.

In the end, that sole focus blinkered the company’s understanding of what mothers really wanted.

And while they believed that Pampers was the driest diaper, that wasn’t enough to stop moms from buying more of the newer Huggies brand which successfully used storytelling to appeal to their hearts not just their heads.

The marketing concept ‘unique selling proposition’ was introduced in the 1940s by the pioneer of TV advertising Rosser Reeves.

Reeves invented the term USP to explain how successful advertising, (not necessarily great products and services) could convince the masses to switch brands.

The golden rule was that adverts must include a USP that said “Buy this product, and you will get this specific benefit.”

More than seventy years later we’re still trying to make something that applied to an analog world fit into our digital landscape.

Crazy, huh?

Marketing departments try to pass off cheaper, faster, stronger, and longer-lasting as unique benefits of a product or service. But in a world where most things are good enough, it’s getting harder and harder to turn ‘being different’ into an advantage.

Unique by definition means one-of-a-kind, unlike anything else.

That was an easy claim to make half a century ago when there were three kinds of washing powder — not so much today.

People don’t want to be sold on the reasons why you think your brand is better or best.

They don’t want different.

They want difference.

Starbucks, Google, Instagram, Amazon, Innocent Juices, Oprah, and on and on, didn’t succeed just because they were different and could tell us how.

What makes a brand unique is the difference it makes in people’s lives.

So, organize for difference not different. It’s much harder to replicate.