Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

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

Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes 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?

Strange Ads That Sell

by 2 Comments

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

Marshall McLuhan Says That TV Killed Bob Kennedy (Gene Schwartz Newsletter Ad)

by Leave a Comment

Just when you thought you’ve seen every Gene Schwartz print ad there is, another one creeps up from his seemingly endless oeuvre!

This one promotes the Marshall McLuhan Dew-Line Newsletter which looks like it had a modest run between 1968 and 1970.

Gene was probably a partner on this one and you’ll notice one of his easy to identify corporate name selections, Human Development Corporation, as well as the ubiquitous Schwartzian word, “instant,” in the copy: “INSTANT SEX.”

(Darn, I was too late to register the domain!) [Read more…] about Marshall McLuhan Says That TV Killed Bob Kennedy (Gene Schwartz Newsletter Ad)

The “With-Without” Formula

by 5 Comments

A client I hadn’t heard from in a while contacted me at the end of last year.

He had a print ad pulling a very respectable three times ad cost and wondered if he could get it even higher.

His objective went beyond merely trying to bump response since he was close to getting his product in a national retail chain, and he was looking for the tipping point to get there.

But as bright an aura as his ad seemed to have, it also cast a dark shadow.

The market clearly wanted the benefits his product offered. But for a large segment of them, it meant accepting a disadvantage they assumed went along with the benefits.

I’m an eternal optimist but when he told me his ad was doing 3-to-1, I didn’t hold out high hopes for significant improvement given his media costs. So it was a relief to spot some low hanging fruit when I finally got my hands on the ad.

It was time for the old…

“With-Without” Formula

As in, with all the benefits showered on you… but without any of the drawbacks.

In these cases, with the dark shadow of some assumed disadvantage looming in the background, there’s no time to mess around and address it in the fine print.

You’ve got to let the market know they get everything they want without the thing they clearly don’t want, and do so right away.

I made only two changes to the control ad.

A Tale Of Two Copywriters

by 22 Comments

One late summer evening, two copywriters sat down at their keyboards to craft sales letters for almost identical products.

They were very much alike, these two copywriters.

Both had years of experience writing every type of ad and were dynamos at selling to their core markets.

Both writers were also dedicated students of direct response marketing and were up on the latest trends and techniques for making their clients (and themselves) ever larger profits.

But while one writer spent an entire week on writing and edits, his leisure-loving colleague cranked his final draft out within hours of sitting down that first evening.

And here’s the capper. [Read more…] about A Tale Of Two Copywriters