A Single Letter Can Make A Difference In Copywriting
You’re probably familiar with the idea that in copywriting every word counts. But how about the difference a single letter can make? There’s a fairly famous case…
Category: Advertising
“Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” – Part 15 “Test Campaigns”
If there is one idea that justifies the use of the title “Scientific Advertising” by copywriter Claude Hopkins it’s this… “Almost any question can be answered, cheaply, quickly and finally, by a test campaign. And that’s the way to answer them – not by arguments around a table. Go to the court of last resort [...]
“Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” – Part 14 “Getting Distribution”
Chapter 14 of the Claude Hopkins copywriting classic “Scientific Advertising” is all about getting the product to the customer – “Getting Distribution”. Now, for the classic direct response marketer or someone doing business on the internet, this subject may seem of little or no interest. But there are 2 reasons why this may be useful…
“Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” – Part 13 “Use of Samples”
This next chapter, “Use Of Samples” in the copywriting classic “Scientific Advertising” by Claude Hopkins is one that I’ve always found particularly interesting. Hopkins was one of the pioneers in this area and the insights he gained are still relevant today. Unfortunately, all too many marketers either are unaware of these insights or choose to [...]
More About Copywriting Legend Rosser Reeves
In a previous post (“Attention Copywriters – Differentiate Or Die”) I mentioned legendary copywriter and ad-man Rosser Reeves. Here’s a little more about the man. Reeves was a disciple of the Claude Hopkins / John E. Kennedy school of advertising and was an advocate of what was known as the “Hard Sell” approach to advertising. [...]
“Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” – Part 12 “Strategy”
Welcome back to this series of articles discussing the copywriting classic “Scientific Advertising” by Claude Hopkins. Chapter 12 deals with the topic of “Strategy”. Hopkins clearly saw business and marketing as a highly competitive endeavour…
Attention Tourism Australia…Here’s “How To Advertise Foreign Travel”…
…and tourism, in general, for that matter. Serious copywriters and direct response marketers will be familiar with the classic work of David Ogilvy promoting tourism and foreign travel. In the the classic “Ogilvy On Advertising” (a must-have for all copywriters and marketers), one chapter is devoted to the subject (titled, no surprise, “How To Advertise [...]
Memo To Dell: The “Cool” Position…
…is taken! Been meaning to comment about this item for a while and was reminded yesterday when I popped into the city and saw the offending ads once again. Dell computer has been running some ads down here in Sydney promoting their computers as being cool, hip and stylish (the theme seems to be the [...]
Some Schadenfreude Over Bank Advertising
I’ve mercilessly poked fun at bank advertising in the past, so it was with some glee that I came across this article in “The Economist” (“Bank Slogans – Ad Nauseum”). The tagline “Because They’re Worthless” sets the tone. Who can resist a wry chuckle reading this…
How To Flush $300m Down The Toilet…
Every now and again a major corporation really raises the bar in ludicrous advertising. And Microsoft has just stepped up and probably just flushed $300m down the toilet with it’s new advertising campaign (“Bill Gates And Seinfeld In Bizarre $300m Ad Campaign For Microsoft”). Briefly, the ad shows Jerry Seinfeld running into Bill Gates in [...]
“Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” – Part 9 “Art In Advertising”
In this next part of this series “Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century”, legendary copywriter Claude Hopkins turns his attention to the use of art in advertising. Not surprisingly, his key criterion is whether or not including a picture will help the sale and improve results. Hopkins observed… “Pictures in advertising are very expensive. Not [...]
“Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” – Part 8 “Tell Your Full Story”
Welcome to the next part in my series “Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century”. In chapter 8 of his classic book, Claude Hopkins deals with what might be described as the “long copy” versus “short copy” issue. His conclusion… “There is no fixed rule on the subject of brevity. One sentence may tell a complete [...]
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