How To Flush $300m Down The Toilet…
By Kevin Francis | September 6, 2008
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 a discount show store and helping him out buying a pair of shoes.
On the way out of the store Jerry asks Bill if Microsoft might be working on something that makes computers “moist and chewy like cake so we can just eat them while we’re working”. Bill seems to suggest the answer is “Yes” and the tagline at the end is “The Future - Delicious” (over the Windows logo).
Brilliant, huh?
Of course, there’s a stunning concept behind all this…
“However, Microsoft said that the advert - created by Crispin, Porter and Bogusky - was designed to provoke a debate.
The company said ‘These initial ads are the first in a creative campaign to spark a conversation about the Windows brand - a conversation that will evolve as the campaign progresses, but will always be marked by humour and humanity.’”
Gee, and there I was thinking it was all about making sales.
Got to hand it to Crispin, Porter and Bogusky. There’s a certain genius in getting the suckers at Microsoft to hand over $300m for this kind of thing.
You can watch see the bizarreness for yourself and marvel right here…
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Classic Tip For Power Copywriting
By Kevin Francis | September 4, 2008
Latest post from copywriting genius John Carlton is titled “Your Tip For The Week” and contains some great pointers to make your copywriting more punchy and effective.
It’s timeless advice that anyone familiar with John’s teaching will recognise but it bears repeating.
In a nutshell…
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What A Master of The “Voiceover” Can Teach Copywriters
By Kevin Francis | September 3, 2008
There are many copywriting and marketing lessons available from a study of movies and movie trailers.
I’ve commented before about the the power of stories in copywriting and how movies can be good illustrations and examples of storylines and themes.
Movie trailers can also contain useful lessons, particularly now that video is becoming increasingly important in online marketing.
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Fantastic Example Of Concise Copywriting
By Kevin Francis | September 2, 2008
A few weeks back Frank Kern was causing a bit of a storm with his marketing for his “Mass Control” program. One of the tips he shared was what he referred to as John Carlton’s 3-step copywriting formula. To recap, it’s…
1. Here’s what I’ve got.
2. Here’s what it will do for you.
3. Here’s what I want you to do next.
(Let’s leave aside for the moment the fact that John Carlton himself talks about 4 steps.)
With this fresh in my mind, I came across a wonderful example of a concise, tighly written lead generation ad on Lawrence Bernstein’s “Info Marketing Blog” (a real treasure trove of direct response marketing information).
It’s from legendary copywriter Bruce Barton and it’s in the post titled “Bruce Barton: The Advertising Copywriter”. It’s a letter promoting The Alexander Hamilton Institute, which was a highly regarded executive development organization.
What struck me about the letter was it’s simplicity and elegance. The headline was “To Men Who Want To Work Less And Earn More” and from that opening thought the letter just flows so smoothly.
To illustrate what I mean, here are the subheads…”How To Work Less”…”How To Earn More”…”Here’s Proof The Institute’s Training Pays Financially”…”Send For The Facts”.
You could use this letter as a template for almost any lead generation project.
Well worth your time to read the whole post.
P.S. Just got Ben Settle’s “The Copywriting Grab Bag” today. Once I’ve had a chance to go through it, I’ll let you know what I think.
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“Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” - Part 10 “Things Too Costly”
By Kevin Francis | August 30, 2008
Chapter 10 of copywriting classic “Scientific Advertising” is titled “Things Too Costly”. By this, the great Claude Hopkins means…
“Many things are possible in advertising which are too costly to attempt. That is another reason why every project and method should be weighed and determined by a known scale of cost and result.”
Put another way, there are some projects that will never make money for you, no matter how good the copywriting and how worthy the project.
Here are some of the examples Hopkins mentions…
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When It’s OK To Brag…
By Kevin Francis | August 26, 2008
…maybe!
Let’s face it, nobody likes a braggart. Which is why one of the guidelines for effective copywriting is to focus on your prospective customer rather than indulge in chest-thumping about how great you or your company are.
However, there is a lot of poor copy out there and you often see ads loudly proclaiming “We’re #1 In XYZ” without anything to back up the claim.
I saw a couple of ads like this today, which prompted this post.
But, it did occur to me that there are occasions where it is OK to “brag”. They are…
- When you’ve genuinely got something to brag about and you can back it up; and…
- What you’re bragging about is relevant to the customer
Basically, when you’ve got something that enhances credibility and helps advance the sales argument, then it’s fine to include it.
Just make sure, as always, that the focus is on the customer rather than being self-indulgent.
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“Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” - Part 9 “Art In Advertising”
By Kevin Francis | August 24, 2008
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 in the cost of good art work alone, but in the cost of space.”
And his general principle…
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Copywriting Notes - Olympic Lessons
By Kevin Francis | August 22, 2008
Coming towards the end of the 2008 Olympics, couple of observations about success occur to me.
Now, I will confess that I’m not a great sports fan and I haven’t been watching the games much. I’m also somewhat dubious about the idea of using athletes and sportsmen and women as role models in other fields of endeavour like copywriting.
However, there’s no question that top athletes have succeeded in an extremely competitive environment and so it’s of value to understand what they do to be successful.
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Master Copywriter John Carlton On Closing The Sale
By Kevin Francis | August 20, 2008
Fascinating discussion of the psychological dynamics involved in closing a sale in this video from master copywriter John Carlton.
Copywriting has been defined as “Salesmanship In Print” (or, alternatively, “Multiplied Salesmanship”). To me, one of John Carlton’s great strengths is his very clear eyed focus on what the purpose of your copy is. That is, to make the sale, whether that’s the final step of placing the order or an intermediate step along the way.
In this short video, John hammers home a number of points.
And what do you think is the first thing on someone’s mind when they come across your ad? The answer may surprise you…
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If It Ain’t Broke…
By Kevin Francis | August 19, 2008
…no need to fix it!
I was reminded of this adage while doing a little background research on Robert Ludlum for yesterday’s post.
As mentioned, I bought the new Jason Bourne novel (”The Bourne Sanction”) and while glancing through the list of other Ludlum novels, I couldn’t help notice that the titles all looked…well, pretty similar.
For example, not just the “Bourne” series but “The Bancroft Strategy”, “The Ambler Warning” and “The Tristan Betrayal”, to name but a few.
In fact, Wikipedia notes that…
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