Marketing Time Lord Claude Hopkins
Not sure if an episode of Dr Who with the title of this post would attract much interest…
…but no matter!
Today (23 November 2013) is the 50th anniversary of the very first episode of the Science Fiction TV series “Dr Who”.
There’s no doubt the show has been tremendously successful. It attracts a cult-like following around the world.
Now, I confess I wouldn’t regard myself as a big fan of the show. When I was a child I certainly watched it and remember often being terrified at the various monsters The Doctor confronted (the Cybermen were particularly scary to me).
However, being reminded of a mysterious figure who travels through time to confront villains threatening humanity did make me think that one of the great men of direct response marketing is a little like that.
I’m talking about Claude Hopkins, direct response legend and author of the timeless work “Scientific Advertising”.
Now “Scientific Advertising” may have been published in 1923…
…and Hopkins moved on from this physical realm in 1932…
…but his influence continues to travel through time…
…rescuing many a modern day marketer from marketing blunders every bit as deadly in their way as the Daleks.
Advertising and marketing giants such as Drayton Bird, Jay Abraham, John Carlton and the late David Ogilvy all sing the praises of Hopkins and his masterwork “Scientific Advertising”.
And yet, outside of direct response marketing circles, Hopkins and his work is strangely little-known…
…and his tested principles rarely understood and applied.
It’s as if some dastardly villain had used a mind ray on the world of mainstream marketing to remove from the collective memory the discoveries that Hopkins made all those years ago!
Fortunately, through the “time machine” of the printed word, the smart marketer, especially in the realm of direct response marketing, can still access and profit from the hard-won discoveries of Claude Hopkins.
So if you’re confronted with an existential threat to your “marketing world”…
…it’s well worth consulting the “Doctor” and applying some Scientific Advertising.
The book is easily available and here’s a great free resource as well…
“Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins”.
UPDATE:
A few years back I wrote a chapter by chapter commentary on “Scientific Advertising” to look at how well the words of the master had traveled through time to the current era. You can find the first in the series here…
“Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” – Part 1.
And I guess I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to include this mini-episode prequel to “The Day Of The Doctor”…