After WWI, television production exploded. 

This forever changed the advertising landscape.

People assume t.v. ads were so popular (and effective) because the medium was new and fresh, exciting. Nobody’d ever seen such ads.

But in fact, the effectiveness of early t.v. adverts had less to do with novelty and more to do with repetition. With only 3 channels for millions of viewers, most people were seeing the same few commercials over and over.

You see, repetition was, is, and always will be the key to effective marketing.

Think of it this way: the 1st time you see an ad, it creates a space in your brain, a small space, barely anything.

The 2nd time you see that ad, the space grows a bit. Not a lot! Just a bit, slightly. The 3rd time it grows some more.

Each time you see the ad, it takes up more space in your brain, more perspective.

In 1885, a businessman named Thomas Smith wrote a book called Successful Advertising. In it, he breaks down the impact of repeated exposure to an ad.

According to Smith’s research, the average consumer needs to experience an ad 20 times before she’s sold, before it takes up enough space to compel action.

So creating a great ad isn’t enough.

You also need to run it a lot.

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Hey there, thanks for reading. :)

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Eddie Shleyner
VeryGoodCopy, founder

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