I’m reading a second biography about Albert Lasker, The Man Who Sold America. This biography is more detailed than the first and provides more context around events and decisions that shaped Lasker’s journey. Lasker is a famous marketer who founded his own agency and is known for pioneering marketing techniques still in use today. Interestingly, he didn't want to go into advertising, but his father persuaded him to pursue it instead of journalism.

Within a year of going to work for an ad agency, the early ’20s Lasker was selling ads better than seasoned salesmen there. But he still didn’t understand advertising. His clients were spending ungodly sums to advertise, but no one could tell him what advertising is. They couldn’t define it. For context, this was 1904, so there was no internet, no television, and no radio. Only newspapers and magazines.

Lasker’s thinking was that if he could understand what advertising is, he could do an even better job of selling it to his clients. So, he asked around, but no one could really define advertising, which perplexed young Lasker. People told him it was sloganizing, it was news, it was keeping your name in front of people, and other things that didn’t make sense to him. For example, Lasker reasoned that you could keep your name in front of people, but the business could still go broke. Then one day, John E. Kennedy gave Lasker the perfect definition that set the tone for the rest of his career: advertising is “salesmanship in print.”

It was a lightbulb moment. From then on, Lasker viewed advertising as doing the same work as a salesman. It was convincing others to purchase a product. With this understanding and the help of great copywriters like Claude Hopkins, Lasker developed playbooks and techniques that changed how products were sold in ads.

This simple definition from Kennedy stuck with me too. Thinking about great advertising as salesmanship is helpful and reframes how I think about advertising. I now look at ads and think, Is this ad doing a good job of selling me a product?

Lasker had a fascinating way of thinking and a unique temperament. It’s interesting to read about how they combined to make his agency the go-to firm of his day, even during the Great Depression. I’m looking forward to finishing this book and learning more about Lasker and his lasting impact on the advertising world.