My definition says that an ad or commercial has a purpose other than to entertain. That purpose is to conquer a sale by persuading a logical prospect for your product or service, who is now using or is about to use a competitor’s product or service, to switch to yours. That’s basic, or at least, it should be. In order to accomplish that, it seems to me, you have to promise that prospect an advantage that he’s not now getting from his present product or service and it must be of sufficient importance in filling a need to make him switch. —Hank Seiden, Vice President, Hicks & Greist, New York
