Weak strategies

Generic and Pre-emptive strategies describe the two weakest forms of advertising that were most popular through the 1940s.

A generic strategy gives a product attribution. An example of this would be how the beef industry chose to advertise their product. With their slogan, “Beef, it's what's for dinner,” consumers aren't learning anything new about the product.

The Beef slogan simply states beef as a dinner item. It enhances the product in no other way.

A pre-emptive strategy is a form of advertising that makes a generic claim stronger. An example of a pre-emptive strategy can be found in Folgers Coffee. As many of us know, most all coffee is grown in the mountains. Folgers took that fact and claimed it as their own with their slogan, “Folgers: Mountain Grown Coffee.”