I bet you never realized the indoctrination power of ads….it’s the unconscious side of the marketing force. We refer to tissue as “Kleenex” and any type of digital video recording as “TiVo”.  How about “Coke”, “ChapStick”, “Scotch Tape” or a “Band-Aid”?  These aren’t common nouns–They are brand names so masterfully marketed that they became “the word” for things like tissue, soft drinks, and adhesive.  Just “Google” it.

Two particular brands have done an exceptional job at literally manufacturing societal norms and generally accepted rules. We buy diamond engagement rings because it’s traditional, right?  Nah.  That was the genius concoction of De Beers and their ad agency.  Prior to the Depression, advertising for diamonds was considered vulgar.  However, in 1939, De Beers, motivated by a global surplus of diamonds, presented their “A Diamond is Forever” campaign, showing diamonds as the symbol of a long-lasting marriage (not to mention popular and worn by all the Hollywood starlets!).  By the end of WWII, it was the standard for engagements, and by 1965, 80% of couples were choosing to purchase diamond engagement rings.  Today, everyone thinks that the diamond engagement ring came first, not the slogan.

De Beers isn’t the only brilliant marketer.  Ipana toothpaste ads in the 1950s featured a cartoon character known as “Bucky Beaver”, who reminded us to “Visit the dentist every six months.”  Dentists today assert that there is no scientific basis for that claim (most people with good dental hygiene can go a year or more between visits).  We now completely believe that going to the dentist every six months is practical medical advice when really it was just a shrewd marketing campaign.

If you believe that branding is unimportant, that positioning is irrelevant, consider these marketing geniuses.  They came up with a slogan and forced it into our psyche in the most sly way possible, so sly that we didn’t even know it was there.  They didn’t stuff it down our throats or blanket the world with verbal vomit in the form of crappy print ads or annoying pitchmen.  They just stated their slogans and stayed consistent.  Want your idea to stick?  Rule #1: Be consistent.