Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Ogilvy Ad from Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Series

Here is another ad in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Series — perhaps one of the most effective business development advertising campaigns ever devised.

Why Puerto Rico is the most profitable of Omark Industries’ 14 plant sites in 5 countries

Here are the reasons why this Oregon metals fabricator’s plant in Puerto Rico is their leading profit maker worldwide. Send in the coupon below to discover what these same reasons can mean to you and your company’s profits.

OMARK INDUSTRIES, a major manufacturer of cutting chain, hydraulic loaders and industrial fasteners, started in Puerto Rico in 1965 with a cutting-chain plant in Bayamon.

Last year, this single 45,000-sq.-ft. facility earned over half of the company’s total after-tax profits. Here are some of the reasons why.

100% tax exemption

Although Puerto Rico is an integral part of the U.S., there are no federal taxes. What’s more, Puerto Rico offers qualified manufacturers like Omark 100% exemption from all local taxes for up to 30 years. In Puerto Rico, the profit you make is the profit you keep. [Read more…] about Ogilvy Ad from Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Series

Ads That Command: Defiant Child?

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Why do some ads hit the white hot center of a market and become the control ads remembered years later, while others fall by the wayside?

This long running ad from the child psychology market sheds some light.

Here’s the powerful, yet economic headline that froze frustrated parents in their tracks for years:

Defiant Child?

“Mouthy, disrespectful or resistant to authority?”

As a father of three young kids, it’s something I experience daily. And, this ad nails that feeling in the copy. [Read more…] about Ads That Command: Defiant Child?

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

The “With-Without” Formula

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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

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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