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.”

“TheGaryHalbertLetter.com” The greatest copywriting newsletter archive on the planet!

“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

“TheGaryHalbertLetter.com” The greatest copywriting newsletter archive on the planet!

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.

“TheGaryHalbertLetter.com” The greatest copywriting newsletter archive on the planet!

[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.

“TheGaryHalbertLetter.com” The greatest copywriting newsletter archive on the planet!

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