Has USP just surfaced in Europe or is it emerging from a decades-long hibernation? I can’t remember the last time I heard the term before TradeTech 2008 in Paris were people were flinging around USP (short for Unique Selling Proposition) like there was no tomorrow. (Hmm, judging by the hoarse voices at panels on Thursday one suspects some revelers had been out entertaining Wednesday night as if there would indeed be no tomorrow. Wrong, they learned, as they struggled to achieve clarity in the face of unforgiving microphones).

Anyway, the term USP dates back to the 1960s and the ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach, I think. The guys who did the VW Beetle and Avis – “We’re Number Two – We Try Harder.”

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