The mark of a GREAT advertising copywriter is versatility. Admittedly, that's hard to pull off nowadays with the intense pressures to specialize, driven by steep competition. And realistically, you wouldn't expect your average copywriter to churn … [Continue reading]
Times and technology may change. But business development rarely shifts from its main axis of MORE offers... in front of MORE customers and prospects... MORE often. CDs or audio-cassettes... the choice is yours! … [Continue reading]
Most self-help marketers today have little idea about the treasure trove of ad copy that sold untold thousands of books and courses... long before the Web. Here's an ad that ran in 1972 for the book, Games Alcoholics Play. The ad does justice to … [Continue reading]
No rented list comes even close to the response-producing power of your own list—aka your house file—whether you've got fifty or five million names in your database. … [Continue reading]
Long before crowdfunding, print was the go-to medium for on-the-fly fundraising. Nostalgia is a big appeal in this ad underpinned by urgency. It presented the potential fate of an important historical film studio, the original Lasky-DeMille … [Continue reading]
Here's a sales letter from the great (now retired) direct response genius, self-publishing dynamo, and early-days member marketing and video marketing expert, Bill Myers. Bill Myers shared the stage with Gary Halbert and Jay Abraham in the '80s … [Continue reading]
In 1962, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV envisioned Costa Smeralda (in Northern Sardinia) as an exclusive destination for the well-to-do. By 1968, he and a consortium of investors had pumped £30 million into the project including high priced ad … [Continue reading]
Maybe Prudential plc, founded in London in 1848, doesn't leap to mind when you think of financial copywriting. But this lead generation ad for Prudential Investment Bond almost reads like a business opportunity ad at first. This is excellent … [Continue reading]
Here's a loaded headline. It's reminiscent of leads like: "Get paid to lose weight" and “The Perfect Retirement Business.” … [Continue reading]
The late Joseph Segel made a mint as the founder of Franklin Mint which he founded in his garage in 1966. He briefly retired in 1974 at the age of 43 before later founding the giant QVC television shopping channel, along with numerous other … [Continue reading]
Who's ever heard of a 2,000-word, full page business opportunity ad in a mainstream newspaper? Okay, I've got kids in the household who've only heard of a newspaper because they've got a throwback for a father. But if you wound the time machine … [Continue reading]
Here's a current (January 2025) men's health pitch that runs the gamut of claims. I wondered, a la the Hunza and the origin marketing approach, has the advertiser tested this as a lead? It has a greater array of proof elements than similar … [Continue reading]
This "faux issue"—made to look like a standard newsletter or magazine—mailed just after 9/11. The former control with the headline "The Smartest Way to Get Rich on Wall Street" was written by KCI's in-house copywriter, Dan Moser and mailed for … [Continue reading]
Here's an ad for the sequel to the million-copy bestseller Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The 98 year old Betty Edwards IS the brand. Frankly, I miss old school print ads like this, especially in the realms of self-help and creative … [Continue reading]
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]
Keeping an alternative health control in the mail for 10 years and longer? Not a problem! But a direct mail package for an investment newsletter? Now that's something to write home about. A-List extraordinaire copywriter, Jim Rutz, was … [Continue reading]
This is a textbook AREA exclusive, high ticket offer from back when GKIC was in the heat of promoting local chapters for sale. Essentially they were locally based "clones" of the Glazer-Kennedy Insider's Circle business. … [Continue reading]
Here's Part II of the amazing Halley's Comet commemorative coin case study. It's the ESSENCE of what being a COMPLETE marketer is all about. … [Continue reading]
Time-Life's Beethoven Bicentennial Collection was such a smash it sold by the boatload in the bicentennial year of Beethoven's birth in 1970. And it continued selling like mad in 1971... 1972... all the way through 1977. … [Continue reading]
Jessica Mitford did for correspondence schools what Upton Sinclair did for the meatpacking industry in her exposé entitled Let Us Now Appraise Famous Writers, revealing the dark side behind the mail order money machine known as the Famous Schools. … [Continue reading]
Do you want to learn how to really sell a HIGH TICKET product? Sell a LEGACY program. What's a legacy program? Here's a crystal clear passage of copy explaining it: … [Continue reading]
How's this for an interesting business development (slash) freelance ad from yesteryear? This one hails from the back pages of Backstage from 1983. You can clearly see the Ralph and Shoshana Ginzburg influence in this ad. One of the all time … [Continue reading]
Direct mail guru Bob Hacker was one of the first to proclaim "Ugly works!" Its corollary? … [Continue reading]
The average direct response guy or gal would say of this ad: "Where's the copy?" And old school admen would pull their hair out over the almost illegible reverse type. No matter. This advertiser absolutely NAILS the appeal. … [Continue reading]
Here's the current tabloid sized magalog for this perennial winning title from Bottom Line. … [Continue reading]