Long ago, November was a time of rejoicing and giving thanks for the family, friends and blessings in our lives. This all changed when “Black Friday” (a day of mass retail sales following Thanksgiving Day) became what Americans looked forward to most in the month – shifting thoughts away from thankfulness to big, big savings on an enormous flat-screen TV. With but a few keywords and promises of huge savings, businesses seem to wrap us in the tendrils of temptation. Join Wordsmith as we examine how simple copywriting techniques create powerful shopping urges.
Wall Street’s panic during the 1869 stock market crash.
A bit of history
Have you ever wondered how Black Friday came to be? With such a negative sounding name (first coined on 24 September 1869 when a pair of speculators crashed Wall Street by inflating gold prices), you’d think that it’d be a day of despair for consumers. On the contrary, it’s a day of hope for snagging great deals (well, maybe despair for the people who missed out on these deals).
Post-Thanksgiving sales launched in 1924 when American department store Macy’s began organising large-scale advertising and parades. Since then, many Americans have eagerly awaited the shopping bonanzas following their turkey dinners. The most infamous post-Thanksgiving shopping spree took place in the 1950s, when a huge influx of shoppers and visitors flooded Philadelphia in conjunction with a highly anticipated Army-Navy football game. The local police department dubbed the day “Black Friday” due to the carnage caused by traffic, chaos and shoplifting.
The name “Black Friday” became immortalised after a magazine for stamp collectors, The American Philatelist, released an ad from Apfelbaum’s (a buyer and seller of rare stamps) in 1966. This was the first time the term appeared in print media (copy courtesy of Bonnie Taylor-Blake):
“Philadelphia’s ‘Black Friday’” written by Martin L. Apfelbaum
January 1966 – “Black Friday” is the name which the Philadelphia Police Department has given to the Friday following Thanksgiving Day. It is not a term of endearment to them. “Black Friday” officially opens the Christmas shopping season in center city, and it usually brings massive traffic jams and over-crowded sidewalks as the downtown stores are mobbed from opening to closing.
This year proved to be no exception – especially at Apfelbaum’s…
Since then, the post-Thanksgiving Day shopping spree became widely known as Black Friday.
Other countries and online retailers began taking notice of the phenomenon in 2010, creating a paradigm shift in spending for international consumers – transcending borders and brick and mortar stores with e-commerce.
Decoding the terminology
Advertising for Black Friday sales (much like other sales) relies on specific keywords to capture people’s attention. Plastered over adverts and storefronts, you’ll usually find some combination of the following terms:
· Value-related – ie. savings, special offers, doorbuster deals
· Time-sensitive – ie. limited-time offer, while stocks last, today only
As humans, we are inherently (and undeniably) greedy – a trait we can blame upon our ancient ancestors, as self-preservation dictated that they try and accumulate as many supplies as possible to ensure their survival. Now that most people are no longer at constant risk of starvation, we feel inclined to amass material wealth because it makes us feel good (through the economic concept of utility, or the amount of satisfaction we receive by consuming/using a commodity).
Although we may already own the items offered in Black Friday sales, it’s the low prices that attract us. For example, the utility gained from buying a third television wouldn’t be as high as the gain from buying our first. However, as long as the utility outweighed the cost (the money spent, as well as the time and effort to lug the thing home and set it up), we could rationalise the purchase by telling ourselves a TV would come in handy in the kitchen and we’re getting a good deal on this one. By stressing the value (utility), ad copy can guide readers to overlook the cost.
Why are we so fond of value though? When we need something, we go to the store and begrudgingly shell out the store’s asking price (after scouring the internet for the best prices of course). When the store inevitably announces a sale, we feel psychologically obligated to take their deal and snag a “win” against them – because by paying less for an item, we suddenly have more disposable income to spend on buying more stuff (and also because we perceive the retailer to earn less – but this may not necessarily be true, as Black Friday sales tend to promote outdated or lower-quality “Black Friday-exclusive” models).
Furthermore, when stores slap on notices like “for today only”, “while stocks last” or other sorts of FOMO tactics, we suddenly feel a strong urge to get in on the deal. Even if it’s a product that we don’t really need or care about, the thought that we could lose out on “the deal of a lifetime” (or worse yet, have someone else steal it away from us) is a bitter pill to swallow – encouraging us to abandon rationality in favour of an impulsive purchase (like that margarita mixing machine you bought and only used once). In highly competitive cities like Singapore, FOMO has become so ingrained into the local culture that “letting opportunity pass is tantamount to failure”. Dubbed “kiasu” in Hokkien dialect, this fear of being left behind manifests itself in many aspects of daily life – whether it’s helping your child apply for a spot at a prestigious kindergarten or snagging a prime table at the hawker centre.
Is it too cheap?
We don’t mean the price listed on the advertisement, we’re talking about the copy of the advertisements themselves. Although it’s easy to lure in customers with promises of great deals or limited time offers, have you ever stopped to consider whether such great savings make the brand appear cheap? Consider Audi’s 2018 advert above.
Audi is without a doubt a luxury brand given their hefty price tags and impressive tagline: “Vorsprung durch Technik” (“advancing through technology”). But in the advert, do you see any keywords that signify premium quality or technological superiority? One could argue that “intense” is a power word with plausible associations to luxury or tech, but without a supporting term that links it to Audi’s tagline (ie. intense luxury or intense innovation), intense is an adjective that equally applies to coffee. If you ignore the visuals and focus only on the headline and subhead: “Black Friday, just got Intense. Holiday Cash Giveaway – 3 Days only…” would Audi be the first brand that comes to mind?
In contrast, let’s take a look at a Black Friday ad that conveys its message while also keeping on brand:
Following BMW’s brand slogan: “The Ultimate Driving Machine”, we see powerful words resonating within the ad’s headline. Being able to “conquer” with “confidence” definitely sounds like something you can achieve driving the ultimate car. If you had to make a choice between the Audi or BMW based solely upon the two headlines (assuming both brands provided the same Black Friday savings), which brand would you roll with?
When creating any ad, it’s essential to ensure that the language follows your brand tone – otherwise, you risk falling into a marketing pitfall that could hurt your brand’s image. With clever copywriting and a strict adherence to your brand’s style guidelines, your Black Friday advert will definitely look and sound too good to pass up!