Gary Halbert Copywriting Swipe File

Mississippi Man Discovers Long Lost Tapes Made By Elvis Presley Before He Became Famous!

Here’s a one-off insertion in the L.A. Times from 1988 that Gary Halbert wrote and published.

I don’t know of anyone who’s ever seen this one before.

When he was on his game, he was one of the most versatile promoters on the planet.

“If you are an Elvis Presley fan, this may be the most exciting message you will ever read.

Here is why. In 1955, a full year before Elvis became famous, he got a chance to play at the Eagles Hall at 2204 Louisiana Street in Houston, Texas. He went there with Scotty Moore, his guitar player and first sidekick, and Bill Black, his bass player. Well, what happened is, the three of them got up there on that stage and . . .

THEY SET THAT JOINT ON FIRE!

You see, this was Elvis before he was tamed down, before Colonel Parker got a hold of him, before Steve Allen tried to “detwitch” him, before he was told he had to stop all that shaking or else the TV cameras could only shoot him from the waist up. This was Elvis totally uninhibited!

Gary Halbert is remembered for a lot of things.

* The writer of the most mailed sales letter in history: “The Coat of Arms Letter.”

* A gifted and profound teacher who’s probably influenced more direct response practitioners today than any other.

* An oddball uncle whose direct marketing and real world wisdom could be counted on.

One of the things he’s not as well known for, yet was a world class master of, is the space ad.

Gary took a perverse pleasure in coming up with some of the weirdest pseudonyms in his early display ads.

When I saw him at Gary Bencivenga’s seminar in 2005, I complimented him on them and we talked about these early ads.

This one was written 21 years ago for Tova Borgnine and is a textbook example of a direct response ad for a beauty product.

Though the “reason why” and U.S.P are compellingly stated in this concise ad, the biggest take away however, is the response boosting nuance in the last paragraph.

If you are in the Southern California Area, you may pick up the product at 8920 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California, between the hours of 8:30 to 5:30 Monday to Friday.

In Gary’s opinion, this one little closing paragraph boosted response to this ad by at least 15%.

Why?

There were no customer lines on Wilshire Boulevard. Almost no one showed up to pick up the product in person.

What this paragraph did was strengthen the association between the product and it’s place of origin — Beverly Hills — a place that’s loaded with connotations of wealth, beauty and luxury.

More importantly, it persuaded even the most skittish prospect that, yes, this is a bona fide product from a legitimate company…so much so that they invite you to their Beverly Hills location to pick it up.

Devilishly reassuring.

Here is a full page PDF of: “Amazing New Formula from Beverly Hills Lets You Look Years Younger.”

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“An Open Letter To Every Man And Woman In America Who Wants To Have Better Sex Without Feeling Guilty” was a full page ad written by Gary for Dr. Ross Stewart’s training tape and had many insertions around 1995.

The price of the VHS tape was $69.95 and it’s likely the $4.00 s&h covered not only the shipping but the cost of production of the tape, as well.

We miss old Gary.

He could sell a sex training tape as agilely as a financial newsletter subscription, a skin cream or a business opportunity.

Click on the thumbnail to download the 265 KB PDF

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I recently read somewhere that Gary Halbert’s sons have some big release in the offings: one of Gary’s seminars or a bundle of seminars and print courses.

The seminar he gave in Florida in 1996 is one of the finest direct marketing and copywriting seminars ever. It was attended by a pony-tailed Joe Polish, Jeff Paul (Gary wrote the golf club sales letter at that event which made him a killing) and the speed seduction marketer, Ross Jeffries. One of my close friends who’s a marketer in Europe was also there.

At that seminar, one of the best pieces of advice he gave had nothing to do with marketing or copywriting but a piece of legal advice he gave about how direct marketing businesses should handle inquiries from government agencies.

At any rate, I hope that’s a seminar they decide to re-release to the public since it will make smart marketers a nice, little bundle.

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[Read more…] about Gary Halbert Ad #5: “Amazing New Formula From Beverly Hills”

Gary Halbert wrote this ad in 1974 under the nom de plume, Ellen Michael.

I stumbled upon this ad last week in an aging stack of space ads in my closet and don’t recall seeing it before.

The offer was for a book entitled: “How to Turn Box-Tops & Labels into Gold” plus four free reports.

In 2007 dollars the price would be $25 for this offer.

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[Read more…] about Gary Halbert Ad #22: How YOU Can Turn Box-Tops Into Gold!

Gary Halbert was a genius at stimulating the greed glands of the broadest swath of the public with offers like this.

How To Get What The U.S. Government Owes You!

320 almost secret ways to get something back for your tax dollars right away!

I’m sure if he were here today, he’d craft an offer based on the current credit and mortgage crisises.

Perhaps something like:

“How Ordinary Citizens Can Secretly Claim Their Share of the $700 Billion Bailout”

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Here’s a lead generation ad Gary Halbert ran in the Wall Street Journal in 1990.

I counted several insertions so this little lead gen must have gotten the phone to ring and there were few as persuasive as Gary to handle the incoming calls. The fact the leads were coming from the Journal was qualifying in itself.

Gary just picked a half dozen of his most intriguing bullets, slapped a headline on top, a toll free number on bottom and presto.

Here’s a large image of: “Hot New Reports From Top Ad Expert Reveal 6 Amazing Secrets!”

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Here’s a 1974 ad Gary Halbert wrote for a book entitled, “How To Rob A Bank Without A Gun.”

Though interest rates and consumer banking are a world different than in 1974, much of the ad copy could be used straight off the rack in the year 2008.

The year 1974 promises to produce the highest inflation rate in the last 22 years. Prices, as you may have noticed, are going no where but up. Some, like meat and gasoline are going right out of sight. The plain fact is that your money is in more danger right now than at anytime since 1929.

Is there a way out? Is there any place at all to put your money where it is safe? Where it will earn enough interest to keep ahead of inflation? where you can get at it instantly in case of emergency?

Is there?

You bet there is!

The answer is going to surprise you. The best place to keep your money is…

“How To Keep Your Money From Being Murdered”

Interesting, for such a copy perfectionist as Gary was, that there are a few typos in this ad.

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“At Last China Reveals Her 1,300 Year Old Stay Young Health Secret”

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Gary claims this ad netted three quarters of a million dollars during its lifetime of ten or so years.

A classified version of this ad buried in the back of the Canton,Ohio newspaper supposedly led to numerous inquiries to the newspaper by its readers…and a request by the harried staff that Gary cease running the ad.

This full page ad appeared in many big city newspapers like the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, though with seemingly limited insertions.

Note the double coupon at the bottom of the ad.

The coupon on the left was forwarded by Gary to the Social Security Administration and the coupon on the right was for ordering the book: “How To Collect Social Security at Any Age.”

This seems like one of those cases in which a bundled offer hikes response appreciably.

Today, most of us here in the States get a little bit jittery anytime someone inquires about our social security number. Keep in mind, this was 1973 and identity theft wasn’t really a concern. So Gary’s offer was a convenient way to obtain this data in an unwired age.

One wonders if an analogous offer of government information could be made successfully today through print ads.

Here is: “How To Collect Social Security at Any Age.”

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Here’s an ad typical of Gary Halbert’s work in the mid-1970’s.

Two give aways these are Halbert’s ads are the North Canton, Ohio address and the name of the company: Good News Publishing.

Matching the success of the “Coat of Arms” letter was a hard act to follow yet Gary wrote over a dozen space ads which were published in multiple big market newspapers.

One of them — “How to Collect Social Security At Any Age” — netted close to $800 thousand before it ran dry.

“How To Make Money With Your Credit Cards”

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