"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."

"These three points are summed up in the phrase 'UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION.'

This is a U.S.P." Rosser Reeves. Reality in Advertising

Today's image: Howl. By Fred Winston. Great shot. Thanks, again, for sharing.

We can all learn something from the great Rosser Reeves. Celebrated as one of the creators of modern advertising, Reeves invented the notion of U.S.P. or what we now commonly refer to as positioning. In his 1961 book, from which we have liberated the above excerpts, Reeves also offered a new definition of advertising.

"ADVERTISING IS THE ART OF GETTING

A UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION

INTO THE HEADS OF THE MOST

PEOPLE AT THE LOWEST

POSSIBLE COST."

The definition is as he originally wrote it, in all caps.

My thought is Reeves' thinking is as fresh, relevant and important today as when first published. This classic writing belongs in your library, and you're in luck. After being out of print for decades, it's again available at a very affordable price. Use the link above - the book title - to purchase via Amazon. Reality in Advertising is a must-read for every serious student of media, marketing and advertising.

More good reads and a great listen deserving of your attention:

Kipper McGee, the venerable radio programming ace and marketing maven, has a book out. Brandwidth has dropped and available now in soft cover here and Kindle here. Don't have a Kindle? No worries, the Kindle eBook version can also be read on any computer by downloading a free reader. Highly recommended.

It's official, we have a winner. Sean Ross delivers the dernier cri and reveals the Summer Song of 2015, here Bravos, Sean. Thanks for again doing a thoughtful and thorough judging.

There's a bunch of good writing on the web but none finer on the subject matter relevant to radio than jacoBLOG. Fred Jacobs and his Jacobs Media gang do a simply exceptional job of presenting the important and interesting. Fred's latest post, Making the Donuts AND Driving the Trucks, is another example of why you need to make jacoBLOG a part of your daily weekday reading. Don't miss it if you can, here.

Related: We wrote about this distribution premise of Fred's post as a paradigm shift, one we called "Export vs Import" in 2007. It was the first year we began to advise clients on the importance of exporting content. My sense is our thinking, while perhaps ahead of its time, remains relevant today. Read the post, here

Creating killer content

has become the first

big step. It's no longer

the finished art.

Vox Jox Redux: The great Claude Hall in collaboration with the always amazing Rollye James delivers the goods via a cool new site. Updated each Monday morning, it's a curation of interesting conversations about radio and more. Rollye is also providing a killer set of links to all manner of good stuff. Congrats and cheers to Claude and Rollye on a wonderful, fun read! Worth the jump, here

Highly recommended: Penn Jillette's Marathon Life in Magic. Here's The Thing, a podcast by Alec Baldwin via WNYC, here

As many of you know, I have been absent from this space for some time. Some 48.5K tweets later, I've decided to come home and invest more attention here. Now, how to get used to a channel that is longer than 140 characters. Thanks to all for your support and encouragement.

"The breakthrough innovations come when tension is greatest and the resources are most limited. That’s when people are actually a lot more open to rethinking the fundamental way they do business." Clayton M. Christensen

"Creativity is thinking new things. Innovation is doing new things." Theodore Levitt

"Planning, by its very nature, defines and preserves categories. Creativity, by its very nature, creates categories or re-arranges established ones." Henry Mintzberg

Today's image: ...my home town by -Just John- Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

The following text is an excerpt taken from the Sean Ross email newsletter and is shared here in the hope it will prompt you to remember a pro now out of work, cause you to take action and reach out to those in need. My thanks to Sean.

This Holiday Season, You Make The Call

Every ROR (Ross On Radio) reader undoubtedly knows a programmer with a great track record and without a radio station. You may not have reached out to this person in a while: maybe over guilt about being the one who's still working; maybe because you don't know how to help; perhaps because there's no good way to respond to somebody who is (justifiably or otherwise) frustrated and angry about being cut off from an industry they contributed to for so many years - an industry that is hardly flourishing without them.

So, if you are in any way touched by Dene Hallam's death, chances are excellent that you have phone calls of your own to make this holiday season. However few resources you may be able to offer somebody, you have the opportunity to make them feel less marginalized.

Buy a cool book, help a charity. As you may know, Turn It Up! American Radio Tales is the wonderful book by Bob Shannon. It's the must-read for radio geeks. Just in time for holiday gift giving, Bob is offering his book at a special discount and he will make a donation to the Conclave for each book sold. Get more info, purchase the book at the not otherwise available deep discount, here. [FD: I serve as a director for the charity and as an unpaid adviser to the author]

Bonus: Killer value proposition. Attend the Conclave 2010 Learning Conference and pay the early bird rate of $199 or get a group of ten together and pay only $149. More info, here.

"We have to understand that the world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is more important than the eye." Jacob Bronowski

"Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination." John Dewey

"Reality is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one...If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it." Albert Einstein

Today's image: Periphery by persnicketydame. Beautiful. Thank you!

SUCCESS

In the office near my desk is a framed New York Times Magazine cover.

Its first home was in my first office. It was the first piece I had professionally framed.

Over the years it has been showcased in each of my offices. Chicago, Boston, New York, Minneapolis, Dallas, Vancouver, Portland and now it's back where it started, in Madison.

Many have asked to copy it, a few have offered to buy it (two of those offers would qualify as crazy, stupid, large amounts of money).

Copies were made. No serious consideration ever given to selling the piece.

It's a pyramid of success.

Fifteen blocks in five tiers representing "one coach's edifice."

The coach is John Wooden.

Some thirty plus years after that New York Times Magazine cover, Coach Wooden and Steve Jamison wrote the book on the pyramid. If you're looking to buy a book for the leaders on your list this one deserves your serious consideration (Amazon info).

Today the pyramid is shared with you. Top to bottom.

Competitive Greatness
"Be your best when the best is needed"

Poise - Confidence
"Just being yourself. Being at ease in any situation. Never fighting yourself."
"Respect without fear. Confident not cocky. May come from faith in yourself in knowing that you are prepared."

Condition - Skill - Team Spirit
"Moderation must be practiced." "A knowledge of and the ability to properly execute the fundamentals. Be prepared. Cover every detail." "An eagerness to sacrifice personal interests or glory for the welfare of all. The team comes first."

Self-Control - Alertness - Initiative - Intentness
"Emotions under control. Keep judgment and common sense." "Be observing constantly. Be quick to spot a weakness and correct it or use it as the case may warrant." "Cultivate the ability to make decisions and think alone. Desire to excel." "Ability to resist temptation and stay with your course. Concentrate on your objective and be determined to reach your goal."

Industriousness - Friendship - Loyalty - Cooperation - Enthusiasm
"There is no substitute for work. Worth while things come from hard work and careful planning." "Friendship comes from mutual esteem, respect and devotion. A sincere liking for all." "Loyalty to yourself and to all those dependent upon you. Keep your self-respect." "Cooperation with all levels of your co-workers. Help others and see the other side." "Your heart must be in your work. Stimulate others."

Bravos: Sean Ross, programming ace in residence at Edison Media Research, on his simply outstanding series The Ten Best Markets for Radio Listeners. Very well done and a great start to the month of year end lists.

Bonus: To Do List Blog. If you like PostSecret you'll love this blog by the world's leading to-do-list-ologist. Kudos to Sasha Cagen on the blog and the new book! Closed circuit to programming aces: A New Year's List Slam makes good morning show and web stuff, plus a potentially great sales promotion at the right venue.

Wheat beer: Much enjoyed our first six of Woody's Wheat. Brewed here in Wisconsin (Black River Falls), the beer is a classic hefe-weizen. Bravos to the crew at Sand Creek Brewing Company. Highly recommended.

Have an amazing week. Catch someone doing something right!

"There is no such thing as a good script, only a good film, and I'm conscious that my scripts often read better than they play." Alan Bennett

"The cinema is not a craft. It is an art. It does not mean team work. One is always alone; on the set as before the blank page." Jean-Luc Godard

"We are all actors now...Everyone in America now explains a moment in their lives by saying, 'It was like a scene out of...'" Peggy Noonan

Today's image: Thinker by Ron Fell. Thank you so much Ron!

With the books rolling out there is lots to think about. Kudos to Rick Martini and his Fresh 102.7 FM team on a fine showing. Back in the threes (and #8 25-54A, #7 25-54W) where those 7th Avenue guys belong. Joel Hollander greenlighted Fresh but will not be remembered for it. Cheers to WSKQ #1 25-54. Congrats to Z100 #2 12+ repeating that 4.6 Winter posting and to K-Rock #14 to #5 25-54 men. WAXQ #2 25-54 men.

Buzz: Hearst to acquire UGO.com for over $100 Mil. UGO.com is a collection of sites targeting young men.

He's back: Dave Winer offers up Why Feedburner is trouble, day 2. You decide.

Dems on CNN: For all the fuss about the game-changing YouTube questions, the answers were just more of the same. These are not debates but candidate press conferences. Too short on substance. Not enough interaction between candidates. C+ to MC Anderson.

Back to the future: WCKG, Chicago from Free FM back to the original Reid Reker branding The Package. Congrats to Steve Dahl, the evangelist of this move. (Stever's take on Tammy Faye here.)

Bonus: A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy - Clay Shirky. Thanks to Hugh for the tip.

"This talk is in three parts. The best explanation I have found for the kinds of things that happen when groups of humans interact is psychological research that predates the Internet, so the first part is going to be about W.R. Bion's research, which I will talk about in a moment, research that I believe explains how and why a group is its own worst enemy.

The second part is: Why now? What's going on now that makes this worth thinking about? I think we're seeing a revolution in social software in the current environment that's really interesting.

And third, I want to identify some things, about half a dozen things, in fact, that I think are core to any software that supports larger, long-lived groups." The entire writing here.

Let us now praise editors: An excellent writing by Gary Kamiya via Salon. My thanks to programming ace Tom Teuber for the tip...

"The truth is, you have to learn how to be edited just as much as you have to learn how to edit. And learning how to be edited teaches you a lot about writing, about distance and objectivity and humility, and ultimately about yourself...The art of editing is running against the cultural tide. We are in an age of volume; editing is about refinement. It's about getting deeper into a piece, its ideas, its structure, its language. It's a handmade art, a craft. You don't learn it overnight. Editing aims at making a piece more like a Stradivarius and less like a microchip. And as the media universe becomes larger and more filled with microchips, we need the violin makers." Read the entire writing with letters (comments) here.

The Greatest Hits of The '60s, '70s ... And '80s? Sean Ross writes about WCBS-FM, the oldies format and that pesky question of eras here. Bravo Sean, well done! Cohort replacement is a beautiful thing.

Congrats & cheers: Jay Gould and Aaron Cohn on their now out of beta WikiYou. Farday Media on today's launch of their very cool new sidebar Particls.

"Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it; and a man becomes famous because he has the proper stuff in him." Goethe

"Whatever course you have chosen for yourself, it will not be a chore but an adventure if you bring to it a sense of the glory of striving - if your sights are set far above the merely secure and mediocre." David Sarnoff

"He is the best leader who most fully understands the nature of things, so that his plans are not doomed to ultimate failure; who possesses an active, far-ranging imagination which can see many possibilities; who has a sense of values, so that among possibilities he is able to choose the most excellent; who has a sense of order, to give form, design and program to the values and purposes he selects; who has practical sense and judgment, and so uses the most feasible means to accomplish his ends; and who has the energy and enthusiasm to carry his plans persistently toward fruition." Arthur E. Morgan

"Confirm the instructions you give others, and their commitments, in writing. Don't assume it will get done!" William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number eleven...

"The point is that we often believe we have communicated clearly when we have only transmitted clearly. It is just as important to make sure that the message has been properly received and that you and your team agree on what everybody is committing to.

Confirming instructions and commitments in writing helps to give structure to the communications process and to ensure that everybody knows what needs to be done, and who will do it.

In addition, verbally ask others to replay your instructions back to you, then put the instructions in your own words and make sure you still get an affirmative nod from the recipients.

Keep the confirmation of instructions and commitments clear and crisp so as not to bureaucratize the process."

Bravo to William Sullivan! Dedicating understandings to the written word is important for all involved. Equally important is his suggestion to ask others to "replay your instructions back to you." Smart, very smart. Please keep in mind, it's not what you say that's important, it's what they hear.

In my experience, there are eight words that will help you to make a complete and total difference in practically every outcome; it's one of the secrets that sets the winners apart from everyone else. It's one of the golden rules of business, break it and you put yourself at risk, you set yourself up for failure or, in the least, a potentially expensive disagreement. Here are eight words to live by, no exceptions, period...

"If it's not in writing, it's not real"

Google's Marissa Mayer on The Future of Search, a presentation at Searchnomics 2007. Nitin Karandikar provides an excellent recap via Read/Write Web here. Jeremiah Owyang offers up good detail on Marissa's session via Web Strategy here. Kudos to Nitin and Jeremiah for their outstanding coverage of the session.

Danger, Will Robinson: FTC suggests caution in any Net Neutrality regulation. Staci D. Kramer has the story via paidContent here. My sense is this, properly, is an FCC issue. By their 5-0 vote to do nothing the FTC leaves any decision making to others. The telecom tribe will read this FTC report adoption as favorable.

Very cool iPhone vid: NYT's Dave Pogue shows off his new phone here (YouTube). Bravo Dave, very well done!

Oldies revisited, again: Sean Ross reviews the bidding on oldies..."Oldies broadcasters have to ask themselves: What can they do to reactivate the passion for the format that now manifests itself as several potential shares' worth of phantom cume? Stations hear from those listeners when they change format. But broadcasters--particularly those considering new Oldies stations--need to figure out how to activate that passion now." Bravo Sean! Read his entire post with comments here.

Bonus: Bruce Ravid weighs in with a field report to wit "I was recently in the bay area for a few days...I thought that KFOG was the most compelling station that I heard in the market. I've always thought Benson has done a good job, but it seemed even more enjoyable this time around." Kudos to Dave Benson and team on getting the Ravid Rave and thanks, as always, to Bruce for the intel. Bruce has posted his latest Go Deep webcast here. Highly recommended.

"It's time to take our audience back. We have great brands, let's invest in them again. The age of cutting is over. Consolidation 2.0 is on. And it's all about the operators. I love that!" Bill Figenshu

Fig checked in; today's quotation is from his email. Bravos Fig! A good broadcaster and a gentleman. The outfit lucky enough to sign him may reasonably expect nothing less than great things to happen.

A bunch of emails about the Eric Zorn writing on Chicago things gone but not forgotten. Mel Markon's was on Lincoln Park West just south of Fullerton. America's #1 morning radio anchor, Lee Harris, pings and reminds me...another Chicago late nite hang was close by - the Medina on Clark. Programming ace Tom Teuber weighs in with his Chicago list...The Little Corporal, The Brief Encounter, Punchinellos, Riccardo's, The Bergoff, Eli's, and Medici on Surf. The Little Corporal was a Lyle Dean and Fred Winston favorite, as "the kid" on staff they would send me off on early morning "breakfast runs" - the help at the joint well knew the preferences of Mr Dean and Mr Winston. Tom goes on to add some Madtown favs...Holy Mackeral, Big Mama and Uncle Fats, the original Ella's on State Street.

My first days in Madison, way back when, I recall The Brat House on State being an incredible value, not so today. Living at Langdon Hall I enjoyed walking around the corner to eat at the "counter" of the Rennebohm Drug store. Trips to the Twin Cities in those days always included dinner at the Nankin Cafe.

Method in Mel's madness: Getting $250 mil in senior from Morgan Stanley buys Mel more time and creates the war chest needed for his coming renewed battle with XM. My sense is the merger is dead and Mel knows it. The FCC opened their formal inquiry into the merger today. My odds remain 6 to 5 against.

Reading Mel's mail: David Rehr writes Mel a three page letter requesting the merger application be withdrawn. The letter, in pdf format, here.

The big four: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL captured 85% of the gross online ad dollars in 2006. The top ten online sites, the big four included, captured 99% of all gross ad dollars in 2006. Jeffrey F. Rayport writing at MarketWatch says Advertising's death is greatly exaggerated, a good read here.

Hot fun in the summertime: Sean Ross bows his annual handicapping - The Summer Song of 2007. Read his nominees and jump into the conversation with your own pick here.

Summer reads: NPR's Susan Stamberg favors us with Booksellers' Picks for the Beach - or the Backyard.

Spanish grapes: Another fine Tempranillo. My quest to find good red wines for $10 or less continues. Montecillo Crianza 2002, Bodegas Montecillo. Noteworthy bottle since the 2002 grapes were not exceptional. Cheers!

Bonus: A favorite waste of bandwidth - cykam airtos online game. Warning: addictive. Enable audio, click on new game and enjoy!

Have a wonderful weekend.