What's important to the reader?

I was helping a rep work out the copy for a customer's ad. The customer felt that the headline should tell readers "Family owned since 1949." The customer was very proud of the longevity of his business but is this a good lead for the ad? Do readers really care how long a business has existed? Will they look at the headline and think "So What!" or even worse think "They're probably out of date." An ad should speak to the reader and tell them how our customer's business can help them. Our job is to create the best ad for our clients. Sometimes we need to confront our customers and challenge their assumptions. Remind them that we are the advertising experts and that we know what we're talking about. They can still tell people they've been in business for 60 years, but they need to tell customers why they are better than the competition if they want to survive for another 60.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch