The fabulous LIVE MAINE LOBSTERS print ad got me hungry for some food copy. What could be better than a Hancock Gourmet Lobster catalog? Gourmet food promos almost always have great photography (similarly with travel and real estate … [Continue reading]
I've sent copy and consulting clients to graphic designers over the years and noticed a pattern. Many designers specialize in magalogs and immediately recommend it. … [Continue reading]
What bolder and darker headline would you expect from a newsletter entitled Inflation Survival Letter... And fittingly in all caps no less? … [Continue reading]
Ogilvy's copy laden corporate advertising from the halcyon days STILL has staying power today. David Ogilvy's brother-in-law, Rosser Reeves, may be remembered as the father of REASON WHY advertising, but every Fortune 500 ad that came out of … [Continue reading]
This promotion was one of the true Energizer Bunnies of alternative health direct mail. This 20-page magalog for revatrol (red wine extract) -- also marketed by the name resveratrol and resvatrol by other manufacturers -- mailed in the MILLIONS … [Continue reading]
Here's one of those ubiquitous promos for an options trading course. This magalog has the feel of the long running winner, "The World’s Most Powerful Money Manual" but it's fairly prosaic. "This small booklet contains the entire Millionaire’s … [Continue reading]
I'm a fan of contradictions. Are you? This supplements advertiser got nailed by the FTC for unsubstantiated advertising claims... to the tune of $61,100,000. Sixty-One Million One Hundred Thousand Dollars! That extra hundred thousand is … [Continue reading]
The power of this headline resonates over one hundred years after this ad first ran in June of 1922 in Red Book Magazine. Bruce Barton was likely the copywriter, who also served as a faculty member for the entity founded by Joseph French Johnson, … [Continue reading]
The world of print advertising (or press advertising for my Aussie friends) was an incredible playground in the 20th Century. And players in print like Ted Nicholas ruled the roost, thanks not only to cracking copy and great products like, "Magic … [Continue reading]
Not everyone was thrilled with the idea of two 110-floor towers being built in Lower Manhattan. The big objection to the World Trade Center project in the late 1960s was that the gargantuan new towers -- the tallest in the world at the time of … [Continue reading]
Talk about copy that transcends the product for sale. Take a look at this one. This is how you sell a $199 coin by mail order. … [Continue reading]
Forget the photos of haggard, pain ridden boomers and seniors clutching a knee or doubled over with a wrenched back. This direct mail cover sports a T-Rex (tyrannosaurus rex!) with a host of familiar maladies like tight shoulders, sore lower back, … [Continue reading]
Before Audible... before Amazon... heck, before the WEB(!)... Nightingale-Conant ruled the roost of self-help audio programs. They also sat near the top in the world of direct mail marketing for decades. A lot has changed since their halcyon … [Continue reading]
This 9 x 12 envelope pulls no punches. There's teaser copy galore and the apropos STACKS of C-notes -- no confusion what this is about! … [Continue reading]
There are testers in direct response... And there are TESTERS! Let's have a look. The world of American newspapers once boasted HUNDREDS of insertions for health supplements. But 2024 seems light years away from 2016 when the blockbuster … [Continue reading]
For many in the direct mail universe, the magalog is the "be all and end all" of formats. But what of the good 'ole envelope package? … [Continue reading]
Here's a familiar lead for Laissez Faire's "Unconventional Wealth." They say ideas repeat themselves in threes. Just after updating the entry on the four-year mailbox blockbuster, “The Greatest Little Retirement Career You’ve Never Heard Of” … [Continue reading]
The high resolution training videos that pepper the promos of giants like Performance Golf seem light years away from the genteel book advertising of the 1970s. And yet, a near bottomless well of incredible ideas from markets far and wide awaits … [Continue reading]
BT Funds Management ran these unforgettable ads in the 1990s in Australia and New Zealand. The "Swedish Chimp" ad is the best known in the series and ran frequently between 1994 and 1998 as a double page spread no less! All in all, this is some … [Continue reading]
Some book titles are so good, they often double as advertising headlines. Think "How to Win Friends and Influence People" from waaaay back in 1936! By any measure, it's not a bad headline or title even now and the book is STILL selling to this … [Continue reading]
I suspect you're well acquainted with this concept, . All winning advertising -- whether it's DRTV spots, online display ads, or even that fast disappearing medium of the print ad -- is just a combination of words that work together. Here's … [Continue reading]
"Crazy Bob," "The Polish Maverick” "Bet-A-Million Bob”… Bob Stupak had more monikers than anyone could keep track of. But his list of sobriquets is easily outdone by job titles: casino magnate, world-record motorcycle racer, professional poker … [Continue reading]
You don't publish double page spreads in magazines unless your promo's got the goods. You've likely seen this red hot premium that's the tasty bait for the Frankly Income Report. … [Continue reading]
This won't be a deep dive, . And it's better that it's not because the take-away from this split test fortifies our knowledge in a compact, yet fundamental way. Which one do you think is the winner? "The Surprising Truth About Testosterone … [Continue reading]
Here's another trading promo from the Conservative Book Club. While newspaper insertions like this are a piece of the past, the market for commodities trading courses is no different today than 1975 when this ad ran. The " Before or During The … [Continue reading]