Lawrence Bernstein

Wrinkles FEAR Her

Helena Rubinstein came to the United States as a penniless Polish immigrant who went on to build one of the largest cosmetics empires in history.

And direct response advertising played a key role in pushing her products at retail stores from coast to coast.

This ad was created by Ogilvy and Mather in 1952 and is part of an incredible series of 20 or so “page-one advertorials.”

Unlike ordinary advertorials, which are ads formatted to look like editorials or news, these ads are laid out like page one of a major newspaper. [Read more…] about Wrinkles FEAR Her

Jewish Adman Swipes a Catholic Saint? “Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes”

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Thomas Aquinas spelled out the Seven Deadly sins or vitia capitalia (capital sins) in the 13th Century.

Pride, covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth. (I’ve only nailed down four of these within the last hour.)

800 years later, Max Sackheim is sitting in his office on 5th Avenue trying to come up with a great headline for a full page display ad for his ad agency.

What does he do? He smartly swipes Aquinas.

And thanks to Saint Thomas, Max not only gets the seed for a great headline but the whole structure of his ad. Click here for this behemoth of an ad.

A Google search of “seven deadly” mistakes reveals this is heavily swiped.

Here’s a few results I found based on this versatile headline.

Seven Deadly Mistakes Presenters Make

Seven Deadly Web Development Mistakes

Seven Deadly Home Buying Mistakes

This is a headline that’s always going to have juice because of the magic of the number seven and the proof mechanism built into the headline. See Max Sackheim’s earlier home run ad here.

With some stylistic updates, there’s hardly an advertiser today who couldn’t profit from a careful read of this ad.

Ask Yourself These Questions About Your Advertising

1. Does it give the reader a reason for NOT reading?
2. Are we using headlines that whisper sweet nothings?
3. Are we using pictures that do not talk?
4. Is our advertising cursed with cleverness?
5. Does our approach go around Robin Hood’s barn?
6. Do our advertisements leave ’em dangling?
7. Do our advertisements contain “Yackety-Yack” copy?

Why should anyone read your advertising? Is it NEWS? Does it PROMISE anything of importance for the reader? Or is it just “another ad?”

Why should anyone believe your advertising? Are you really convincing – or just “talky?”

Why should anyone do anything about your advertising? Do you give them a chance – or do you leave them high and dry?

Can we get a hallelujah for Max?

An Interview with Mystery Writer Chris Grabenstein

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He went from the Downtown comedy clubs to the hallowed halls of the J. Walter Thompson ad agency.

He started by writing ads and followed his mentor, James Patterson, into the world of writing mysteries, becoming an advertising creative director along the way.

Who is he?

He’s mystery writer, copywriter, screenplay writer, creative director, improvisational comedian and now children’s book author, Chris Grabenstein, that’s who.

And I was fortunate enough to be able to interview him… oh, so many years ago back in November 0f 2009. (I was stunned by how much wisdom is here on review in July 2025.)

How has Chris been able to achieve so much in so many different areas?

It’s really no mystery.

Chris shares over 30 years worth of strategies for succeeding in the world of advertising and fiction, attention getting communication and winning productivity habits.

Here’s some of the nuggets you’ll glean from this interview:

How a cream pie in the face can earn you millions
Why there are no losers in advertising…only unemployment
How to “leave out the part that readers tend to skip”
Why improvisational comedians outperform door-to-door salesman in advertising…sorry Claude Hopkins
Why no one cares about your product (or if you spent a year on R&D)
A foolproof system fiction writers can use to hold themselves accountable
Why there’s always another winning idea…even after everyone else has given up
Why you must EARN people’s attention in advertising (or any kind of writing)
The copywriter-mystery writer connection

George Haylings: Info Marketer Who Laughed at the Depression

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(This was one of my first entries on Info Marketing Blog, waaay back on June 11 2007.

I decided to revisit it nearly 18 years later. Haylings’ mainstay in the 30s and 40s was the classified ad. )

Imagine facing the Great Depression as a 19-year-old who’s left the despair of Detroit for a new start in rural southern California.

You’re flat broke, never held a job, never been beholden to a boss and are still too young to have a family to support.

What do you do?

Here’s how George W. Haylings played this hand.

First, he consolidated.

He sold his car for $200 and lived on that $200 for two whole years. That’s two dollars a week: $1.50 for food and 50 cents for charging the battery in his radio. [Read more…] about George Haylings: Info Marketer Who Laughed at the Depression

The Case Against Swiping Part 1 (UPDATE)

(March 2025) I needed to pull an old rabbit out of a hat for a client recently, and THIS was the ~~swipe~~… foundation for the promo… that leapt to the fore.

Here’s a hypothetical to demonstrate how powerful this little known headline is. [Read more…] about The Case Against Swiping Part 1 (UPDATE)

Promise + Proof = Profits

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Company bought out for $24 million
not long after this direct mail hit

This entry was originally published waaay back on July 27, 2011.

Thankfully, not all of the stuff I put out then was crap.

I’m republishing it on August 10, 2024.

What’s changed in the world of direct mail supplement selling since then? [Read more…] about Promise + Proof = Profits

Strange Ads That Sell

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Have you ever noticed an ad in a newspaper or magazine and thought to yourself: “Who’d be crazy enough to pay for such an insertion?”

Then you see the same ad again and raise your eyebrows.

By the tenth time you come across the ad, you may not only question your judgement but your sanity.

And so it is with Raja Fashions, whose ad has run in major metro newspapers on four continents for over ten years.

Raja Daswani, the founder of Raja Fashions, describes his operation as “Italian fabrics, German machines, English tailoring and Chinese labor.” Others have labeled it the “traveling circus of bespoke tailoring.” [Read more…] about Strange Ads That Sell

David Ogilvy and the 10 Day Home Confinement Ad

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How do you really know if you’re a copywriter and not just someone who dabbles in writing ads?

It’s pretty easy to tell.

Little things like meals (and showers) cease to have the same importance when you’re in the heat of writing an ad.

David Ogilvy recounts spending ten days (10 DAYS!) at home doing nothing else but writing this ad for Puerto Rican Economic Development in 1955. [Read more…] about David Ogilvy and the 10 Day Home Confinement Ad

Attack of the Killer TINYTORIALS

Thousands of tiny advertorials from 1928-1972

Untold thousands of “Marie Davant” tinytorials (tiny advertorials) graced the pages of print for over four decades.

BUT… one wonders… did Marie Davant even exist? [Read more…] about Attack of the Killer TINYTORIALS

All Time Top 10 Ad in Education (“How to Become a Straight-A Student”)

As Rosser Reeves noted: “A gifted product is mightier than a gifted pen.”

This evergreen book is a textbook example of that quote.

Over thirty years later Getting Straight A’s is still touted by students and parents alike.

This ad had THOUSANDS of print insertions from 1986 till 2000. [Read more…] about All Time Top 10 Ad in Education (“How to Become a Straight-A Student”)

They Laughed At the John Caples Swipe… Until! (UPDATED)

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John Caples was the great story selling adman of the early 20th Century.

Seems like “They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano” has been swiped more times than memory champion Akira Haraguchi can recite π (Pi)… to 111,700 digits in 2015.

But there’s nothing to laugh at. [Read more…] about They Laughed At the John Caples Swipe… Until! (UPDATED)

SMASHING 800-Pound Gorilla Objections in Your Headline

Recently one day, I stumbled across this remarkable print ad and asked myself the question: “How’d this ad get into my possession?”

Then it hit me.

Surely, this full page ad was no “mere mortal” ad. I reached for the 520-page transcript from the Bencivenga 100 Seminar with hope… and sure enough this ad on page 346 looked right back at me.

Imagine a newspaper reader in 1951 coming across this ad and exclaiming: [Read more…] about SMASHING 800-Pound Gorilla Objections in Your Headline

Mail Order Ad by Gene Schwartz’s Copywriting Mentor: Cecil Hoge

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If you’ve heard the story of a young Gene Schwartz working one day in the mail room and a few short years later becoming a mail order millionaire, then here is an interesting ad.

It was written in 1975 by the son of the man who showed Gene the ropes in the early 50s, Cecil Hoge, the founder and president of the Huber Hoge, Inc.

The promise of this ad is essentially a stone’s throw away from the internet marketing pitches that plague us today… but there’s a key difference.

Most of those offers lack the sophistication of even hinting that they might not be for you.

The Golfer Struck by Lightning… and the Marketer Who Struck Millions in Mail Order (UPDATED)

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“Heard Super Swing” ads ran from 1997-2002

Here are some hard won secrets for selling in the golf market…

From one of the ablest marketers of our time. [Read more…] about The Golfer Struck by Lightning… and the Marketer Who Struck Millions in Mail Order (UPDATED)

One of the Greatest U.S.P.s You’ll Ever See

What do advertising and martial arts have in common?

A lot actually.

The world of general advertising is still largely clueless about sales. Many advertisers never make an offer or ask for the sale — they have no idea whether their ad’s been read, watched or listened to.

For many years, a similar blissful ignorance pervaded the world of martial arts. [Read more…] about One of the Greatest U.S.P.s You’ll Ever See