This 1982 print ad for Julian Snyder’s, The Way of the Hunter Warrior: How to Make a Killing in Any Market packs a wallop, especially when combined with this headline. [Read more…]
No! You Don’t!
Amazon’s Audible service has disrupted many publishers like Nightingale-Conant.
Of course, if you ask me, I’ll take the old school company AND the direct mail package. [Read more…]
“But I only care about advertising in my own market!”
Would you like to know one of the joys of archiving winning ads, ?
Whenever I find an ad like this, that had thousands of insertions from 1962 to 1975, I’m compelled to ask the question:
Why was this ad such a SMASH hit? [Read more…]
Tossing Your Prospect in the Deep End of Enargia
Ah, back to enargia.
Why do I keep harping on it?
Only because some of the biggest mailers in the world use it as their go to creative approach.
Just think of enargia like a swimming pool. With enargia, you’re painting a picture that’s so detailed, your prospect can see, touch and taste it. When done right, it’s like tossing your prospect into the deep end of a swimming pool. [Read more…]
A-List Copywriter Swipes THIS Classic Ad (Part 1)
Whoever thinks swiping is for lesser mortals couldn’t be more mistaken.
This ad first hit print in 1950 and it hails from the copy titan, Victor Schwab.
“How I raised myself from a failure at 29 to become a $250 per day success”
Of course, $250 inflation adjusted for 2021 is over $2,700 and nothing to sneeze at! [Read more…]
Jeff Paul’s Greatest Story Selling Ad… and What’s Become of Him
This direct mail package might as well have been written a lifetime ago, instead of the the early to late 2000s, when it mailed heavily.
Look at all that’s changed. [Read more…]
Mastermind Marketing Masterpiece
Here’s a whirlwind, 24-page pitch from my friend, Doberman Dan.
This sales letter is an exemplary coaching and consulting promotion almost 10 years after it mailed.
Doberman Dan is on a (very) shortlist of marketers and direct response thinkers I consistently follow… and I MARVEL at how prolific and endlessly creative… his creative is. 🙂 [Read more…]
Killer Layouts… Rabid Response & Multi-Readership Paths
Many copywriters like grabbing the spotlight.
But never underestimate the power of a good layout and a great designer.
It can make all the difference when it comes to copy getting READ.
Why is this advertorial laid out like the front page of a newspaper?
There are two good reasons.
First, because the target market for these non-surgical knee pain treatments are boomers and seniors, who are the core readership of newspapers.
And the second reason is thanks to the precepts of advertising legend, John Caples. One of his earliest split-run tests, where a traditionally formatted ad ran against an advertorial, resulted in the advertorial getting… [Read more…]
Mel Martin “Father of Fascinations” 40-page Swipe File (Swiping A-Z Video Series Part 2)
“In the early 70s, Mel Martin was hired as a copywriter by Herb Nagourney, the toothy publisher of The New York Times book division whose business was built on running coupon ads in unsold space in the Times. While there, Martin created what Edelston considered to be some of the greatest book advertising ever written. “I would love to go through the Times on microfiche and find those ads,” Edelston says. “Each was masterpiece.”
I’ll never forget the night I read that passage.
It was after midnight… but I thought:
“What’s the problem?”
So I dug into the databases.
These ads aren’t something you’d find in a normal search engine query. Not by a long shot.
Obviously, I went to the New York Times historical database first.
I was fourteen years late to the party — from when the article was originally published — but what the heck?
Bingo!
I’d found the first one. Then the second and third. By the time I’d finished at close to 3:00 am, I’d rounded up dozens of them.
Now it was time to read them!
I stayed up another few hours going through each and every ad.
They were everything Marty Edelston said they were… and more!
And heck, since Marty started a company from a basement desk wedged next to a furnace… and turned it into a $150 million enterprise… who was I to argue?
My next step was clear.
I caught a few hours sleep, then headed over to the copy shop to get the ads printed. Next, I grabbed Marty’s address in Connecticut and had the batch shipped to him, along with a brief cover letter.
A week or so later, I was struck by a bolt from the blue when I went to my mailbox.
Mel Martin’s advertising is still the gift that keeps on giving.
For example, even rookie writers can be successful selling products along the Money-Power-Love axis.
If you can even half-convince your prospect that your product will give her a greater supply of these, then she’s yours.
But it takes a TRUE talent to write an ad that pulls for:
* Almanacs
* Film review compilations
* Books on “Words for Birds”
* Cookbooks. (Yes, cookbooks! )
* And even… Guides to Federal Aid
Mel’s fascination laden copy is so compelling, he takes what’s normally as exciting as watching grass grow and turns it into an absorbing, profit-pulling adventure.
Here are the ads mentioned in the video.
And if you REALLY want to dig into the lot of Mel Martin’s legendary ads:
The Mel Martin Copywriting Swipe File
25 Year Product Evolution and “Immunity Support Spray”
You’ve got to hand it to these guys for the way they adapt to the times and vigorously test.
This is the latest wrinkle of a product that’s been sold by direct response since 1996.
Here’s the control ad that ran just a month ahead of this test ad. [Read more…]
The Secret to Becoming a Kitchen Table Millionaire
Here’s a financial mailbox hit that’s reminiscent of The Perfect Retirement Business.
Both of these winners from yesteryear have STRONG business opportunity overtones.
“Don’t fall for the “get rich quick” hype. I want to give you the safe-easy-way to build your fortune by banking checks of up to $7,684 (or more) every month … without risking all your hard-earned money. [Read more…]
Find out how thousands of Australians finally lost weight after trying everything else
This isn’t the kind of ad you see any longer today, neither on the West Coast of the United States nor the Gold Coast of Queensland.
But it’s one heck of a story selling ad.
“The date was 18th March 1983.
The curtain was about to go up on Demis Roussos’ new show. [Read more…]
“Unpatriotic” Screw the Recession Blueprint… Proven, Tested, 93-Pages, 4-DVD’s—FREE!
(Yes, believe it or not, DVDs still play a role in lead generation, even today.)
Looking for business development and lead generation ideas for 2021?
Look no further than 2010!
Ecclesiastes proves right again: “Nothing is new under the sun!” [Read more…]
$14,615 Home Exercise Equipment and… and Selling with “Satisfied Customer Stages”
How do you sell a $14,615 piece of exercise equipment by space advertising?
Rom of North Hollywood, California has shown how since 1990. [Read more…]
A $14.95 Tax Shelter
Mere book?
Not on your life!
Book advertisers learned over a century ago that you should NEVER conceal the fact that your product is a book… when you’re selling a book.
Why?
Now matter how giant or accurate your claims may be… you don’t want your reader exclaiming to herself, “It’s just a book!” after she’s spent minutes reading your ad.
So it helps to set the record straight from the outset, just like this 1980 ad from Alexandria House does. [Read more…]
Open This BEFORE You Get the Vaccine
Is this the most irresistible envelope teaser copy of 2021?
It’s a bit like juggling live hand grenades… with the pins removed.
These are bizarre times indeed, . [Read more…]
Interview With Former Ogilvy & Mather CEO, Ken Roman
In February of 2010, (Yes, years ago but it was a great interview!) I had the chance to chat with author and former Ogilvy & Mather CEO, Ken Roman, at the invitation of my friend, Byrne Hobart. (I’m reposting with some edits in March of 2021.)
What did we talk about?
Byrne and I, of course, grilled him on his timeless advertising tome, The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertising.
Like a typical, turbo-charged CEO, Ken called into the conference line from the back of a yellow cab cruising through the snow covered streets of Manhattan.
This is a book that tells the rest of the story about David Ogilvy, the most famous advertising man in the world, from someone who worked shoulder-to-shoulder with him for decades.
More than just a book about Ogilvy, The King of Madison Avenue reveals the evolution of modern direct response advertising in the 20th Century. [Read more…]
3 Super Coins Surging Past Bitcoin
This Weiss Research banner is all over the place in April 2021.
Here are both the VSL and the old school sales letter. [Read more…]
HOME RUN Headline (43 years and STILL Going Strong)
The product has been on the market since 1967.
The headline has been SELLING it by the bushel since 1977.
How does an ad sell for almost a half-century without the slightest sign of fatigue?
Here’s the instructive April 2021 full page insertion and it’s forbearer. [Read more…]
Dan Rosenthal on: “Writing with Your Ears,” Launching the First $5,000 Advisory… and Doing Deals for Millions
If one of the world’s best financial copywriters can spend two weeks preparing a sales pitch… and FALL on his face…
Then FALL AGAIN a month later… working on the same pitch…
Before coming up with a method so brilliant as it is simple… to SELL MILLIONS worth of a trading advisory… maybe there’s a lesson in it for you too… whether you’re writing a pitch for a $50 product or a $5,000 one. [Read more…]
Supersonic CBD Breaks the “Sleep Barrier”
This press ad is taking off like a rocket.
My friend, Jeff McGeary, is the powerful pen behind this super supplement from Doctor Al Sears.
Why is this ad so hot at the time of this writing in April of 2021? I’ll take a stab at it. [Read more…]
Corey Rudl’s Wealth-Building Wedding Reception & Customer Appreciation Extravaganza
I’d give my eyeteeth to head out for a marketing seminar after years of cooling my heels — especially after the tediously long year of 2020. I came upon this seminar program just yesterday in my archive room.
The late Corey Rudl hosted this memorable seminar in Los Angeles in September of 2004. [Read more…]
No Order Mechanism = No Sales! (Money you didn’t even know you had!)
This “hot off the presses” 2021 Bottomline Personal magalog actually arrived without a reply form.
I’m not sure whether this affected just yours truly or was an error across the board. I’m almost certain the reply card did not slip out while in the mail system because the magalog was folded in half, self mailer style.
One can see the imprint of a reply form on page 14, but believe it or not, there is NO way to reply to this hard-hitting, fascination laden promotion, even if one wanted to. [Read more…]
“Regain All the Pleasures of Full Sound Without Ringing!”
Here’s a successful mail package for the supplement “Reconnect.”
It’s boasts a textbook offer lead. [Read more…]
Agora… the FTC… and the Great Chastisement of 2020 (Update March 2021)
UPDATE March 2021 The FTC settled this case with Agora Financial and it was relatively painless at $2 million
A year ago, this had the makings of one of those “atom bomb” type cases. Instead, the fine turned out to be on the order of “a day’s pay” to quote Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. [Read more…]
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