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Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Five Disturbing Facts About Loudspeakers

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“Five disturbing facts…” was a widely inserted display ad from the early 1970’s, created by Richard Calderhead’s ad agency, Calderhead Jackson.

Though the agency, as its client, was only a few years from extinction at the time this ad ran, this was an example of the high level of direct response the agency put out.

The ad is one part product positioning statement, one part industry expose.

Though this is an ad for yesteryear’s obsolete product, the copy still shines through.

Of course, the speaker manufacturer, Rectilinear Research, produced a superior product which is the launchpad for all great copy.

Click on the thumbnail to download a PDF of the ad.

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Mail Order Magnate Paul Michael

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Paul Michael: Mail Order MagnatePaul Michael was one of the major mail order players from the 1960s-1980s after a stellar start at Greystone Press.

Among other things, he pioneered the “lift letter.” I just dug up a few of his brilliant promotions and an article about him from the mid-1970s in The Capitalist Reporter.

Three lines stuck with me from this interview.

“I am only valuable when I am creating.”

“They [customers] all want the same thing – a magic button to push that will make them thinner, more beautiful, richer.”

“He [Michael] has already decided the precise shape and structure of the book which has to live up to his ad rather than the other way around.” [Read more…] about Mail Order Magnate Paul Michael

Filed Under: Diet Advertising, Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Financial Direct Mail That Sells

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If  you had to sum up just one rule of successful financial direct mail marketing, this would be a candidate:

“[People] walk around with their umbilical cords in hand, looking for a place to plug them in.”

As a copywriter and marketer, I always try to stay mindful of this, but the truth is, I’m as susceptible to this reality as anyone else.

There’s an old adage that salesmen are easy to sell to and since copywriters are salesmen in print, many of us spend a small fortune being persuaded.

Perhaps, you’re familiar with the above quotation via a well known marketing guru, who attributes the line to “a friend.”

[Read more…] about Financial Direct Mail That Sells

Filed Under: Financial Advertising

The Magic Lantern: Financial Advertising That Sells

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Last year, I had the chance to talk to former Ogilvy & Mather CEO, Ken Roman, after the release of his outstanding biography on David Ogilvy.

One of the things we discussed was the extraordinary series of print ads that Ogilvy & Mather Direct published in the 1960s and 1970s.

The O & M  house ads were created to attract new clients and new business, and demonstrated David Ogilvy’s magic lantern in action.

The magic lantern revealed all the principles, techniques and takeaways the agency discovered through its advertising campaigns. All new hires at O & M were required to watch slide and film presentations about the magic lantern.

“How to create financial advertising that sells” is a perfect example. This ad, and many of the ads in this series, was written by world class copywriter, Joel Raphaelson.

The ad starts off:

Ogilvy & Mather has created over $100 million worth of advertising for clients in many financial fields — banking, insurance,investments, credit cards.

Here are twelve of the things we have learned.

The ad then goes on to detail these twelve things.

[Read more…] about The Magic Lantern: Financial Advertising That Sells

Filed Under: Financial Advertising, Ogilvy & Mather Direct Swipe File

6 Rules: How To Write an Order Form

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So, what makes a great order form?

I’ve got three words for you.

Last things first.

Lots of copywriters tackle the sales letter first.

Some start by writing pages of bullets and culling the best for the headline.

Others prefer building an elaborate outline and filling in the spaces as they go.

But I’m partial to the “last things first” approach by starting with the order form.

Why?

[Read more…] about 6 Rules: How To Write an Order Form

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

The Power Concept In Copy

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What’s the power concept in copywriting?

Why do you need it?

And how’s it different from a hook?

We’ll get to that in a minute, soldier.

For now, just know the ad you’re looking at and its back story will make it all clear.

Upon approving this print ad, the creative director immediately sent a letter to the client which read:

This is one of the best headlines I have seen in 30 years in this business. If you never run another advertisement run this one.

The client, Robert Young, never wrote this ad, though he often claimed he did.

Who was Robert Young?

[Read more…] about The Power Concept In Copy

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

How To Make Your Own German-Style Lager Beer For Only 12 Cents A Bottle!

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Bud Weckesser was easily one of the most versatile direct response copywriters of all time — equally gifted at writing ads in biz-op, weight loss, self-publishing or how to reports like: “How To Make Your Own German-Style Lager Beer For Only 12 Cents A Bottle!”

Unlike a lot of his colleagues, he never set foot in an ad agency.

He was a professor at Penn State Behrend, Kent State University and Purdue University and received his doctorate in speech communication from Michigan State University in 1963.

After he was bitten by the mail order bug, he quickly became one of the most visible print advertisers in the States.

His specialties were:

  • Using numerous detailed case studies, which served as strong proof elements
  • Offering a test to the reader as a hook to delve into the body copy
  • Including his phone number near the top of an ad to overcome mail order skittishness. Here is an example from his 1977 ad, “The $220,000 Man.” “We belong to the Dunkirk Chamber of Commerce. Our telephone number is 716-555-8300. We’re there from 9-5 on weekdays.”

This ad of Professor Weckesser’s is another one of my favorites. It sold over one million copies of a $12.95 book through print advertising sans back end.

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Stupid Ad Agencies

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Many direct response copywriters look at agency people as scared, pseudo-practitioners hiding out in their cushy offices and insulated from the real world results of their craft by layers of decision insurance.

I’ll admit the level of direct response competence has taken a dive at the agency level. I don’t see companies like Ogilvy & Mather, J. Walter Thompson or Foote, Cone & Belding doing anything remotely as good in print as they did 25 or more years ago.

For that matter, the quality of print advertising as a whole is far less incisive than it used to be — leaving ample room for smart direct response practitioners to succeed in this medium.

But there are plenty of great examples of direct response distinction in space, if you know where to find them.

This one hails from the fabulous series I keep telling you about — “The Wall Street Journal. It Works.”

(Hey, Rupert Murdoch, if you’re reading this, maybe it’s time to take these print ads out of retirement and spruce up your ad revenue.)

So, who is John O’Toole?

He was the president of Foote, Cone and Belding who grew the agency’s revenue ten-fold during his tenure.

And he started off in the biz as a copywriter under the legendary ad man and copywriter, Fairfax Cone.

Some of the nuggets from this ad.

On life with Fax Cone:

A magnificent teacher. His prime lesson: write to a single individual, not the hypothetical masses. Fax would never let writers get tangled up in a web of creative conceit: you quickly learned that no matter how hard you worked on an ad, you could make it better. Fax believed writers had the ability to step back from their work, and look at it through the eyes of a consumer. He was as tough on himself as he was on the writers who worked for him.

On long copy:

Persuasion by essay. A powerful technique that lets you speak to the consumer as a friend. You tell your story leisurely, but without wasted words. You put forth logic and facts that lead to persuasion. Good copy is read — be it long or short. But provided your premise is accurate. Long copy increases the power of persuasion, and without decreasing readership.

On print:

Print may well be the strongest medium of all, if you have the energy and skill to deal with the discipline of the printed page. It tests the skills of the writer, for the persuasion of the copy is critical to success. It tests the abilities of the art director for the clarity of design is critical to readership. Finally, print is the most controllable of all media, with the ultimate product clearly reflecting the skills of just two or three people. If it’s strong, and memorable, and persuasive, it’s your achievement — not that of platoons of specialists who can make a weak idea look good.

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Atrocious Copy…Right Appeal

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If you’ve ever wondered how sales letters with atrocious copy can mail multiple times, you’re not alone.

This direct mail letter, “How To Legally Rob Slot Machines In Any Casino,” mailed frequently around 2005.

While the copy looks pathetic to the trained eye, this mail piece gets the core appeal right for this market.

Probably more than any other market, respondents to “gambling systems” have a reputation for being dupes. As one of the characters in Richard Armstrong’s wonderful book,“God Doesn’t Shoot Craps,” says: if gambling systems actually worked, casinos couldn’t afford to put volcanoes out front.

The American television news magazine, 60 Minutes, did a segment recently on the psychology (and pathology) of the slot machine player. It’s worth watching if you’re interested in this market.

How To Legally Rob Slot Machines In Any Casino (8 megabyte PDF, 12-pages including lift letters and reply envelope.)

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Doctor Reports New “Miracle” Diet Cures Arthritis

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Here’s a Gene Schwartz ad published in 1981 for Giraud W. Campbell’s A Doctor’s Proven New Home Cure for Arthritis.

From the marketer’s vantage point, the arthritis market is an evergreen one and Schwartz’s take on it (and everything) is valuable.

Haven’t seen this one before last week.

The book also gets close to 5 stars on Amazon with 10 reviews.

Filed Under: Eugene Schwartz Copywriting Swipe File

Fundrasing Ad: Back From The Dead

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This 3,232 2-page spread for the World Wildlife Fund was published in July, 1979 and was created by Ogilvy & Mather.

Like anything O&M did in this period, this is an exemplary ad in this category. Ogilvy mentions it in the chapter, Wanted: A Renaissance In Print Advertising in the landmark advertising book,
Ogilvy On Advertising.

Back From The Dead (2-page, 629 kb PDF)

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Caples On Copy

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Caples on Copy, published 33 years ago was part of the brilliant “The Wall Street Journal. It Works.” campaign.

This print ad is like getting a bite size version of Tested Advertising Methods. (Note: the 4th edition or earlier of that book is the way to go because later editions include an ivory tower ad man.)

There’s all kinds of timeless wisdom in this ad like:

 

Clients get tired of ads before the public does.

Overwriting is the key. If you need a thousand words, write two thousand. Trim vigorously. Fact-packed messages carry a wallop. Don’t be afraid of long copy. If your ad is interesting, people will be hungry for all the copy you can give them. If the ad is dull, short copy won’t save it.

Times change. People don’t. Words like ‘free’ and ‘new’ are as potent as ever. Ads that appeal to a reader’s self interest still work. People may disagree about what self improvement is important, but we all want to improve ourselves. Ads that offer news still work. The subjects that are news change, but the human curiosity to know what’s new doesn’t. These appeals worked fifty years ago. They work today. They’ll work fifty years hence.

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Corporate Advertising: 12 Questions To Ask

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Listen to direct response copywriters and they’ll tell you corporate copywriters are clueless branding nuts.

Corporate copywriters will tell you direct response copywriters are nothing more than peddlers of get rich quick schemes, enlargement pills, and slimming devices.

Who’s right? (I like to keep a foot in both camps.)

In the timeless words of the late Rodney King, “Can we all get along?”

Since the demise of Ogilvy & Mather Direct, corporate advertising ain’t what it used to be.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of great examples of corporate direct response advertising.

This ad hails from the late Ron Hoff, who was executive creative director at Ogilvy & Mather in New York, and Foote, Cone & Belding in Chicago.

Ron Hoff Talks Corporate Advertising was part of a series from the brilliant campaign: “The Wall Street Journal. It Works.”

Ken Roman, former CEO of Ogivly & Mather, is a fan of this campaign as well. I’ll have several more of these gems soon.

If you want to learn how to broadcast your expertise out to the broadest masses, this one is a keeper.

I’m partial to these two concepts:

…they [copywriters] should never start writing until they have seven times as many facts as they will actually use in an ad.

I have often wondered why corporate ads always strive to make the reader believe that the company is infallible. Admit one negative and the rest of your advertisement will gain believability.

So, here’s the ad: Ron Hoff Talks Corporate Advertising

1. Does it communicate, quickly, the “basics” of your business?

When you spend every hour of every working day thinking about your corporation, it’s easy to assume other people know all about your company. The products it makes. The industries it serves. The scope of its operation.
Corporate advertising often starts from a point far beyond the reader’s knowledge. Important legislators in your audience may not know you. Important investors may be only vaguely aware of your name. [Read more…] about Corporate Advertising: 12 Questions To Ask

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

The Invisible Hand Of Advertising

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The 18th Century economist, Adam Smith, was one of the founders of modern economics.

Roust a copywriter from his slumber at 3:00 a.m. and ask him what he knows about Adam Smith and he’s likely to utter the now famous, two-word metaphor: “invisible hand.”

What’s the invisible hand?

In his landmark text — The Wealth of Nations — Smith asserts the free market, instead of being a chaotic battleground, is actually an efficient place where the right quantity of goods is produced…almost as if by a hidden force.

He called this hidden mechanism the ‘invisible hand.’

Once you apply this to the world of advertising, you’ll begin to see there are invisible hands reaching into almost every market. And if you figure out how to harness this natural, hidden force, you’ll be able to increase response at will because you’ll be working with the beliefs your prospects already have.

Case Study Ad #1: How the Beautiful People Get Rid of Both Cellulite and Ordinary Fat — Without Really Dieting!

The legendary copywriter and author of The Brilliance Breakthrough and Breakthrough Advertising, Eugene Schwartz, was the copywriter for this instructive ad.

The headline, besides showcasing the invisible hand concept, is full of masterful nuances.

Like the word ‘really.’

Notice he doesn’t say “without dieting.” Absolutes like that usually backfire because they push the envelope of believability.

The word “really” strengthens the claim because it suggests “the beautiful people” still do some dieting though nowhere near what normal people do.

The invisible hand in this ad is the widely held belief that there’s a group of beautiful people and jet setters who get whatever they want without lifting a finger…eat whatever they please without gaining an ounce…and continue to look and act beautiful almost by some divine right.

How did they achieve this exalted status?

The truth is, it doesn’t really matter.

What matters is there’s large enough segment of people who believes this. So, there’s no need for master-level persuasion because this built in belief system is naturally working for you.

All you have to do is wrap your core claim around this belief.

How the Beautiful People Get Rid of Both Cellulite and Ordinary Fat — Without Really Dieting!

Case Study Ad #2: “Fortunately most investors think like losers. That’s how people like me get rich.”

This 1980’s ad is a great example of the invisible hand at work.

The photo and headline combination used in this ad is disarmingly direct.

Fat cat, Julian Snyder, is standing with his arms crossed in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Limo behind him and a smug smile on his face…he’s making millions while the little guy is taking a bath.

Thanks to this widely held belief, the reader is yanked into the copy. From there, the core claim of the book is masterfully tied to the kernel of belief already in the reader’s head.

Fortunately most investors think like losers. That’s how people like me get rich.

Case Study Ad #3: Why Models Stay Young Till Sixty!

Here’s another Gene Schwartz ad fronting the invisible hand.

Much like the ad in the first example, this promo plays on the natural belief that models are a special class of people.

Whether it’s genetics or some secret regimen that only models know, it’s easy to buy into the claim.

What’s the invisible hand in your market?

No doubt it’s there. All you have to do is get out of your own head long enough to find it…then wrap it tightly around your big promise.

Why Models Stay Young Till Sixty!

Filed Under: Diet Advertising, Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Bonusitis

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A client consulted with me recently about an online sales letter and autoresponder campaign.

He told me the sales letter used to convert like gangbusters but now it was on life support.

Usually, it takes some probing to get to the cause of such a change in events, but a quick glance at his sales letter revealed the problem in moments.

His product looked good.

Copy respectable.

Offer enticing.

But the sales page had a bad case of a common malady called bonusitis.

Never heard of bonusitis?

[Read more…] about Bonusitis

Filed Under: Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File

Bank Advertising: Too Big To Succeed?

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Imagine a world in which big banks actually had to create good advertising — a world where they didn’t sit high above Uncle Sam’s perpetual safety net.

Today, it’s accepted that certain banks are “too big to fail.”

The big banks have it made.

They get endless rivers of cash from Sugar Daddy Sam while facing no risk or consequences from their actions, like continuing to load up on toxic derivatives.

If they “win” they reap the rewards. If they lose, they can always fall back on Joe Tax Payer and Uncle Ben Bernanke.

Meanwhile, banks continue to squeeze the life out of small businesses by cutting their credit lines to the bone.

This wasn’t the way it always was, though it’s hard to remember a time before this.

This ad from a quarter century ago is proof that once upon a time, banks actually gave the appearance of caring…both about their customers and their advertising.

Anyone who lived in the New York Metropolitan area will remember the television ads for the Bowery Bank, featuring New York Yankee Hall-Of-Famer, Joe DiMaggio.

Here’s a print ad that’s just as memorable for copywriters.

It’s certainly something you wouldn’t see in 2010 — a long copy ad that pushes the product and plays the role of helpful adviser by demystifying the process of choosing certificates of deposit.

I really liked this copy from the middle column.

The other day, an ad in this paper promised CDs so rich that we had to read every word. Had a competitor gotten the drop on us?

Not at all. We had a lawyer decipher the 125-word footnote, written in the teeny-weeny size ad people call “mouse type.” The big numbers up above didn’t look so big after that.

Look before you leap. Read the footnotes first and ask lots of questions at the bank.

The Bowery would rather see you walk away from a deal you didn’t like than sign you up for one you misunderstood. The Bowery’s promise: the whole story every time.

The Bowery was gobbled up long ago by a chain of ever larger acquiring banks but good advertising remains timeless.

The info premium, “10 Ways To Make Your Money Worth More,” was offered countless times in their print advertising.

Click here for the PDF of “A Bill Of Rights For CD Buyers.”

Filed Under: Financial Advertising

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