One of the Greatest U.S.P.s You’ll Ever See
What do advertising and martial arts have in common? A lot actually. The world of general advertising is still largely clueless about sales. Many advertisers never make an offer or ask for the sale —...
View ArticleAttack of the Killer TINYTORIALS
Untold thousands of “Marie Davant” tinytorials (tiny advertorials) graced the pages of print for over four decades. BUT… one wonders… did Marie Davant even exist? Cynics have similarly wondered about...
View ArticleOne of the All Time GREATS in the History of Food & Beverage Advertising
The Guinness Guide to Cheese is featured in the essential Ogilvy On Advertising. Yes, this is a brand ad and a damn fine one in the annals of food advertising. The layout with the photos and summaries...
View ArticleThe Case Against Swiping Part 1 (UPDATE)
(JUNE 2022) I needed to pull an old rabbit out of a hat for a client recently, and THIS was the swipe… foundation for the promo… that leapt to the fore. Here’s a hypothetical to demonstrate how...
View Article12-Year Diet Plan Control That Beat the Odds in a Sea of Charlatans
No supplements for sale in this 1,971 word epic. This weight loss ad lasted the equivalent of several lifetimes (from 1992-2004) at a time when outrageous claims dripped off the page of almost every...
View ArticleGeorge Haylings: Info Marketer Who Laughed at the Depression
(This was one of my first entries on Info Marketing Blog, waaay back on June 11 2007. I decided to revisit it nearly 15 years later. Haylings’ mainstay in the 30s and 40s was the classified ad. )...
View Article“Fat Magnets”… Copy Crooks… and a MAGIC Weight Loss Headline
Even if you never dip your toe in the waters of the weight loss market, you can ALWAYS learn something from a successful ad. And this one had THOUSANDS of insertions from 2014 to 2019. Amazing “Fat...
View ArticleAn Interview with Mystery Writer Chris Grabenstein
He went from the Downtown comedy clubs to the hallowed halls of the J. Walter Thompson ad agency. He started by writing ads and followed his mentor, James Patterson, into the world of writing...
View ArticleI Like This Headline… Too Bad No One Else Did
Advertising has a lot in common with chess. To the outsider looking in, it can be hard to understand what’s going on. “Hey, why did White resign?” is a typical comment, you’d find in a random YouTube...
View ArticleThis Ad Reminds Me of the Midtown-Manhattan Store with the Giant “Going Out...
Anyone wandering around Midtown Manhattan from the 1980s to the early 2000s remembers the electronics and furniture stores with the giant gaudy “Going Out of Business” signs plastered on the store...
View ArticleThe Golfer Struck by Lightning… and the Marketer Who Struck Millions in Mail...
Here are some hard won secrets for selling in the golf market… From one of the ablest marketers of our time. Jerry Heard was on the PGA circuit for six years when he was struck by lightning along with...
View ArticleMail Order Ad by Gene Schwartz’s Copywriting Mentor: Cecil Hoge
If you’ve heard the story of a young Gene Schwartz working one day in the mail room and a few short years later becoming a mail order millionaire, then here is an interesting ad. It was written in 1975...
View ArticleSMASHING 800-Pound Gorilla Objections in Your Headline
Recently one day, I stumbled across this remarkable print ad and asked myself the question: “How’d this ad get into my possession?” Then it hit me. Surely, this full page ad was no “mere mortal” ad. I...
View ArticleThey Laughed At the John Caples Swipe… Until! (UPDATED)
John Caples was the great story selling adman of the early 20th Century. Seems like “They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano” has been swiped more times than memory champion Akira Haraguchi can...
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