Most direct marketers think 'Fortune Fives' are bloated behemoths who couldn't pull off a successful direct response promo to save their corporate lives.

Not so.

Here's a memorable 1,304 word display ad from International Paper from nearly thirty years ago.

Were we all to "read better, write better and communicate better," as the ad urges us, I suppose we'd be consuming even more paper.

Nevertheless, you could easily transpose the Learning Company for International Paper, add an order coupon, and you'd have a top flight direct response ad today.

Here's the transcript from the hefty, "How To Improve Your Vocabulary"

International Paper asked Tony Randall who is on the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel and loves words as much as acting to tell how he has acquired his enormous vocabulary. Words can make us laugh, cry, go to war, fall in love.

Rudyard Kipling called words the most powerful drug of mankind. If they are, I'm a hopeless addict - and I hope to get you hooked too!

Whether you're still in school or you head up a corporation, the better command you have of words, the better chance you have of saying exactly what you mean, of understanding what others mean - and of getting what you want in the world.

English is the richest language - with the largest vocabulary on earth. Over one million words!

You can express shades of meaning that aren't even possible in other languages. (For example, you can differentiate between "sky" and "heaven". The French, Italians, and Spanish cannot.)

Yet, the average adult has a vocabulary of only 30,000 to 60,000 words. Imagine what we're missing!

Here are five pointers that helped me learn - and remember - whole families of words at a time. They may not look easy - and won't be at first. But if you stick with them, you'll find they work!

What's the first thing to do when you see a word you don't know?

1. Try to guess the meaning of the word from the way it's used.

You can often get at least part of a word's meaning - just from how it's used in a sentence.

That's why it's so important to read as much as you can - different kinds of things: magazines, books, newspapers you don't normally read. The more you expose yourself to new words, the more words you'll pick up, just by seeing how they're used.

For instance, say you run across the word "manacle":

"The manacles have been on John's wrist for 30 years. Only one person had a key - his wife."

You have a good idea of what "manacles" are - just from the context of the sentence.

But let's find out exactly what the word means and where it comes from. The only way to do this, and to build an extensive vocabulary fast, is to go to the dictionary. (How lucky, you can - Shakespeare couldn't. There wasn't an English dictionary in his day!)

So you go to the dictionary. (Note: don't let dictionary abbreviations put you off. The front tells you what they mean, and even has a guide to pronunciation)

2. Look it up. Here's the definition for "manacle" in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English language.

"Manacle, usually plural. 1. A device for confining the hands, usually consisting of two metal rings that are fastened about the wrists and joined by a metal chain; a handcuff. 2. Anything that confines or restrains; manacles, ing, -cles. 1. To restrain with manacles. 2. To confine or restrain as if with manacles; shackle, fedder. (Middle English manicle, from Old French from Latin Manicula, little hands, handle. Diminutive of manus, hand. See man- in Appendix.

The first definition fits here: a device for confining the hands, usually consisting of two metal rings that are fastened about the wrists and joined by a metal chain: a handcuff.

Well, that's what you thought it meant. But that's the idea behind the word. What are its roots? To really understand the word, you need to know. Here's where the detective work — and fun — begins.

3. Dig the meaning out by the roots.

The root is the basic part of the word - its heritage, its origin. (Most of our roots come from Latin and Greek words at least 2,000 years old - which come from even earlier Indo-European tongues!).

Learning the roots: one, helps us remember words. Two, gives us a deeper understanding of the words we already know. Three, allows us to pick up whole families of new words at a time. That's why learning the roots is the most important part of going to the dictionary. Notice the root of "manacle" is "manus," Latin meaning "hand."

Well, that makes sense. Now, other words with this root, man, start to make sense too.

Take manual - something done "by hand," manual labor or a handbook. And manage to handle something (as a manager). When you emancipate someone, you are taking him from the hands of someone else.

When you manufacture something, you make it by hand (in its original meaning).

And when you finish your first novel, your publisher will see your "originally handwritten - manuscript."

Imagine! A whole new world of words opens up - just from one simple root!

The root gives the basic clue to the meaning of a word, but there's another important clue that runs a close second - the prefix.

4. Get the Powerful Prefixes under your belt.

A prefix is the part that's sometimes attached to the part of a word like a–well–prefix. There aren't many–less than 100 major prefixes–and you'll learn them in no time at all just by becoming aware of the meanings of words you already know. Here are a few (several of the "how-to" vocabulary building books will give you the others).

Now, see how the prefix (along with the context) helps you get the meaning of the italicized words:

- "If you are going to be my witness, your story must corroborate my story." (The literal meaning of corroborate is "strength together.")

- "You told me one thing — now you tell me another. Don't contradict yourself." (The literal meaning of contradict is "say against.")

- "Oh, that snake's not poisonous. It's a completely innocuous little garden snake." (The literal meaning of innocuous is "not harmful.")

Now, you've got some new words. What are you going to do with them?

5. Put your new words to work at once.

Use them several times the first day you learn them. Say them out loud! Write them in sentences.

Should you "use" them on friends? Careful — you don't want them to think you're a stuffed shirt. (It depends on the situation. You know when a word sounds natural — and when it sounds stuffy.)

How about your enemies? You have my blessing. Ask one of them if he's read that article on pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

(You really can find it in the dictionary.) Now, you are one up on him.

So, what do you do to improve your vocabulary?

Remember:

1. Try to get the meaning of the word from the way it's used.

2. Look it up.

3. Dig the meaning out by the roots.

4. Get the powerful prefixes under your belt.

5. Put your new words to work at once.

That's all there is to it — you are off on your treasure hunt.

Now, do you see why I love words so much?

Aristophanes said, "By words, the mind is excited, and the spirit elated." It's as true today as it was when he said it in Athens — 2,400 years ago!

I hope you’re now like me - hooked on words forever.

Tony Randall

Years ago, International Paper sponsored a series of advertisements, "Send me a man who reads," to help make Americans more aware of the value of reading.

Today, the printed word is more vital than ever. Now, there is more need than ever before for all of us to read better, write better, and communicate better.

International Paper offers this new series, in the hope that even in a small way, we can help.

For re-prints of this advertisement, write:

"Power of the Printed Word,"
International Paper Corporation
Department 2-T, P.O. Box 900
Elmsford, New York 10523

Intentional Paper Company, we believe in the power of the printed word.

What collection of space advertising is complete without a Claude Hopkins' ad?

Here's one of his efforts for Palmolive soap from 1929.

Such famous Beauty Specialists as Delord et Bion recommend this as most important of all home beauty treatments 

Several years ago, my wife was skimming the Learning Annex catalogue and came across an interesting class.

"Hey Lawrence, do you know this guy, Sugarman, who's giving a lecture on copywriting at the Learning Annex next week? Worth going to?"

"Worth going to…worth going to? Are you kidding?"

I implored her to call the Learning Annex the very next minute and enroll us.

Since my wife was a Wall Street person, I explained to her that Joe Sugarman was one of the most important direct marketing men alive.

• First to combine Toll-Free ordering with acceptance of credit cards.
• For a time, the writer and publisher of most of the advertising any traveler would encounter on an airline.
• The "copy chief" to a generation of super successful direct marketers: Richard Thalheimer of Sharper Image, Drew Kaplan of Dak and Fred Simon of Omaha Steaks
• The author of my favorite marketing book, "Triggers."
• One of the pioneers of the television infomercial, whose Blublocker Sunglass brand is still going strong today

Unbelievably, the cost of this three hour training was about $50 a person. A far cry from the $2,000 he charged for his first seminar in 1977. It turned out the President of the Learning Annex was a personal friend of Joe's and his copy helped launch the Annex in first place.  Those three hours were one of the best investments ever made.

If you've never heard Joe speak in person, you've missed one of the most regaling and instructive lecturers you'll ever hear.  And this brings me to some exciting news. Joe will be on teleseminar with A-List copywriter, David Deutsch, tonight, Wednesday April 30th at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Pacific time.

Here are the agenda and call in details for tonight's call with Joe Sugarman.

And for complete info about David Deutsch's Copy Quickstart, see this link.

Here's an interesting ad from my favorite supermarket reading, (which I'm now compelled to buy) "The National Enquirer."

This is a new ad for a weight loss product called the Red Weight Loss Adjunct by Blackett Pharmacal. Time will tell how well it performs at it's hefty $59.99 for 30 days price point.

I felt a scientific citation would bolster their claim. Then again, passing the legal hurdle in this market is something I know nothing about. I do like that this is a product for "losing body fat" verses a "weight loss" product.

Want to Lose Body Fat 01

Want to Lose Body Fat 02

(The following is a transcription of one of the last ads written by legendary copywriter, Robert Collier. Yours Free  A Gift from the Richest Man in the World, the Late J. Paul Getty.)

My friend, I'm getting old and I don't have much longer to live.  Unless I do this now, when I go  the secret goes with me.

What I'm about to give with knowledge, the knowledge that men have been searching for since time began.

I used to be an ordinary man, I spent the early part of my life stumbling in the dark, trying to find a way to make all the dreams that I had as a young man come true.  I wanted like most young people to be wealthy, admired, respected, I wanted love and happiness, I also had many questions about life and I wanted some answers.  Yet, no matter how hard I tried everything always seemed to be kept for me.  As though it was all hidden in the very next room, a room whose door was impenetrable without the right key.

After years of being kept from those things that I wanted most in my world, my spirit could have easily broken.  If I allowed myself to become consumed with failure and rejection.  Little did I know then how lucky I was for this to have had happen to me.  For something grew inside me that would not let me rest until I found the answers that we're bring me all the things that I so desperately wanted.

This was the beginning of a search that would become an obsession, to find the knowledge that I so desperately longed for and knew must of existed somewhere. The inspiration of the great men in the past took much of the torment away.  The multi-millionaire and recluse billionaires that seem to have the world at their beck and call.  The men that were able to control the very destiny's of nations.  How they respect and admiration, how they were rich and powerful, but not me, never me.  When did all these these great men have that I don't?  I knew there must be an answer and I dedicated my life to finding it; because I knew there could be no true life for me until I did.

I started to read, To Do Research Into The Past. I spoke with and studied of the richest, the most powerful, as well as the wisest men of my time. I read every possible piece of literature that I thought would hold a clue. I delved into the oldest recorded writings of the ancient civilizations. Trying almost insanely to put all the pieces of this great puzzle together. I kept asking myself, what did these men have? What did they have that I didn't, and how could I get it?

I involved myself in all sorts of situations, trying to put into practice what I had learned. I traveled with the hope that the answers might somehow lie beyond the horizon, and though I didn't find them there, I know now that the proverb, seek and ye shall find, couldn't be more true. For one, the answers were finally revealed to me. They came in a way that I could not directly attribute to any place I had been or any individual effort. I had made define them. It was as though my mind had crossed into a new frontier, a frontier I was certain relatively few men had ever gone into before. Suddenly, I saw the whole world differently, what seemed confusing before I could easily understand, what was unobtainable before suddenly became easy to get. The things that people saw one way, I saw differently, as though I could detect more aspects of the same thing, and thereby see it more clearly, or as it truly was. I had an undefined power that gave me an advantage over everything I did. After awhile, I realized that I was very different from before, I was at last the way I wanted to be, I had learned what I wanted to learn, and I was at long last able to live the way I had dreamed and knew it was possible for a man to live.

It is written, "Once in a thousand years, a man lives a dream."  For the last third of my life, that is exactly what I have done.  I have lived with more wealth and power than any man could ever want.  I have done almost everything that I have set out to do.  I doubt if there has been a man who has lived a more fulfilled life than I, but now I have only memories.  This, in my opinion, next to life itself, was the greatest gift that a man could be given.  But, not have come to realize that if I don't share this knowledge now, I may never get another chance to do so.  I now know that I am obligated to share it, and in the end this was the way that fate had destined it to be.

I would like you to have my secret, but you will have to realize that this ad will be read by many people, many whom I do not know, but a few will be chosen to carry on for me after I am gone.  I have written what I have learned and published in a special limited edition book that contains only 344 pages.  I have titled it “The Secret of The Ages.”  I want you to own a copy of this book that is specially bound in library-type binding, but I want you to pay for it.  I want you to send me a check for $20 that you may even post date up to 30 days to eliminate any doubt as to its value, and to give it a chance to prove its worth to you.

The reason that I am asking you to pay $20 is that I want to make sure that you read it, and I feel that if you pay $20 for it, then it will be read.

With my book, I will also send you a book written by the man who was renowned as the richest man in the world, a man whom I have had great respect and admiration for, the late J. Paul Getty .  His book is “The Golden Age.”  I have bought, at great expense, the rights to publish this great book after John Paul's recent and sad departure from this world.  I have also printed it in very limited quantities.  The book is bound in special library-type binding that should allow it to last for many generations to come.  I feel that it is essential you read, along with my book, the message that John Paul wanted you to learn, and acquire the truth that took the richest man in the world his entire lifetime to learn.

Therefore, I am making you the following offer. If you feel that, after reading my book, it is not worth many times more than the mere $20 you paid for it, then send it back to me and I will return your uncashed check immediately. Not only that, you can keep J. Paul Getty's book, the Golden Age, for your trouble. You can lose only if you do nothing. If you want to own these two books, write on a blank piece of paper, send me the books, along with your name and address. Mail it along with your check, that may be post-dated up to 30 days, to me:

Robert G. Collier,
In care of: Collier Book Corporation, Department B
531 Wyckoff Avenue
Ramsey, New Jersey 07446

P.S. - If you have any questions, my number is 201-744-3777. If busy, call 744-3815 or 744-3784. New Jersey residents, add 5% sales tax.

Here's a 50-million-mark, Weimar Republic banknote from the year 1923 — worth about one U.S. dollar when originally printed. Nine years earlier, such a note would have been worth $12 million.

So if a person had 50 million in 10 mark notes in 1923, he'd literally need a wheel barrel full of money to buy a cup of coffee.

Is the United States (and the rest of the world) headed in this direction?

Or is Dow 20,000 around the corner?

Who knows? Who cares?

Since the only group of people with any statistical accuracy at predicting the future are meteorologists — and we know how often they're wrong — we as marketers are best suited toward one aim: "entering the conversation already taking place in the prospect's mind."

If there were only one marketing commandment to live by, it would be these words of Robert Collier from a half-century ago. That's because Collier's timeless directive was as true in 2,000 B.C. as it is in 2008.

Take the bountiful examples of this today in the declining U.S. housing market. Many homeowners owe far more than their homes are worth and find themselves staring at default each and every month, as their mortgages adjust to higher rates. What do these people want, far more than anything else? To get out from under the pain of meeting these impossible obligations.

So, like a parent scooping up a fallen child on the playground, in steps San Diego company, You Walk Away, LLC. As their name suggests (and for a flat fee of $995), they help people walk away from their homes and cede them to the banks for forclosure.

As an enlightened consumer, I don't see what the $995 payment entitles me to that I couldn't do for myself, gratis. As a marketer, I take my hat off to this company for tapping into this abundant pain and appearing to offer a speedy solution.

Pain Tap Marketing

Another example of "pain tap marketing," for which I felt some recent, acute pain myself, is tax preparation. Take the most dreadful return you've ever filed, multiply it by 20 and you'll have some idea of what a hyperactive day trader's return is like. (No, I'm not a trader, though I considered starting a fund that takes the opposite positions to ones I have in my portfolio.) When you're filing jointly, there's no distinction between your spouse's portion and your own. And the I.R.S.'s wash sale requirements, which active traders face, are a nightmare for even the best accountancies.

Bleary eyed at 2:00 am last week, I wondered if there were an accounting firm which specializes in tax preparation for day traders. A few Google searches later, I turned up: DayTraderTax.com, a company, which once again as its name suggests, specializes in tax preparation for day traders. I haven't contacted them yet, but as 2009 draws nearer, I'll be making an inquiry.

Their website is crying out for an online marketer's red headline injection though.

Stressed Out DAY TRADERS: Gain an extra month for every year of your remaining life expectancy…or you pay us nothing

Last week, while walking the streets of Los Angeles, I did what I normally do while visiting a big city, I wandered into a newspaper and magazine shop.

But instead of diving into my usual foreign language fare, my eye caught a glimpse of "Small Business Opportunities" magazine.

"No, I couldn't" I thought. "I haven't picked up that magazine since the 90's."

But since I was in town for a marketing conference, I thought what the heck. Besides, I wanted to know if the voluptuous blond, Laura Johnson and her ad, "Use Me To Get Rich," were still to be found in the pages within.

Since I have a reputation to uphold, I couldn't just walk up to the Urdu speaking cashier with a copy of Small Business Opportunities, could I?

So, just like an adolescent boy who bundles Playboy with Time Magazine and National Geographic, I sandwiched the biz-op mag between the Financial Times and Barron's. My "ploy" worked, the cashier hardly seemed to notice SBO!

Ten minutes later, I'm back in my hotel room flipping through SBO. No Laura Johnson…and no Ken Roberts. And worse, the copy in almost every ad felt like it was written by Torquemada and his torturers. I had to remind myself that the respondents to these offers were hyper-responsive for a brief few weeks, then usually never heard from again.

So, since none of the ads inspired me to fire up my scanner, here's an old Dean F.V. Du Vall ad from the mid-80's.

See Dean straddle his Silver Shadow.

Listen as Dean tells you how to make "big bux."

Just don't respond. This is an ad from the 80's.

Dean Du Vall's: The Fastest, Easiest $100,000.

It's brand new!

It's enormous!

It's a Boardroom infomercial?

Yes. Believe it or not.

Guess I oughta watch more television because this infomercial with top copywriter Arthur Johnson and television warhorse, Hugh Downs, has been out for a year or two.

This ad has the potency you'd expect in a Boardroom print ad…plus all the over-the-top applause of a late night infomercial.

Bottom Line's Ultimate Healing.

Ogilvy & Mather unleashed a series of "house ads" in the late 60's to early 70's, which dazzled readers with its depth, and hooked more whale-sized clients than any house ads before or since. Many tens of millions were spent on these insertions in major publications worldwide.

If you could pass through a time machine and transport to any agency of your choice, the direct response division of O&M, during the late 60's-early 70's, is where you'd want to be. Drayton Bird, Gary Bencivenga and David Deutch are all O&M alumni from around this time.

"How To Create Advertising That Sells" is a remarkable 1,909 words long and draws on the direct response foundation laid by Claude Hopkins, John Caples and the statistical polling methodology David Ogilvy learned at Gallup.

You can find Ogilvy's commentary on this series of ads on page 65 of "Ogilvy On Advertising." What…you don't have "Ogilvy On Advertising?" I'm barring your IP address from this site until you get it…especially since you're one of the few who possesses this ad word-for-word. And in case you haven’t looked at the book in a while, a sharpshooter assisted by an electron microscope would be challenged to make out the body copy in the ad.

It seems the O&M series saw fewer and fewer insertions as Ogilvy’s influence over the agency weakened with time. However, these ads certainly left their mark.

You can find a list of the other ads in the series here.

Besides clients, other agencies were inspired by these bold space ads. Several agencies spun off their own versions, in the spirit of the house of Ogilvy. One series that comes to mind was a 1980’s advertising partnership between The Wall Street Journal and a rotation of Madison Avenue agencies under the slogan, “The Wall Street Journal. It works.”

So, while it’s true a freelancer could never handle the corporate giants these ads were designed to attract, far bigger and better paying clients await those with the guts and know-how to put this kind of ad together today. And with the 24/7 research power of the Internet, it’s possible to assemble the kind of data which once took whole departments, mere decades ago.

Moreover, aren’t we all getting a little fatigued reading the same type of customer acquisition sales letters, promising the six secrets of psychological persuasion (and the like), some writer has labored months over.

Here's the O&M masterpiece, "How To Create Advertising That Sells,"  in its original format.

How to Create Advertising that Sells

By David Ogilvy

Ogilvy & Mather has created over $1,480,000,000 worth of advertising. Here, with all the dogmatism of brevity are 38 of the things we have learned.

1.  The most important decision.  We have learned that the effect of your advertising on your sales depends more on this decision than on any other:  how should you position your product?  Should you position Schweppes as a soft drink - or as a mixer?  Should you position Dove as a product for dry skin or as a product which gets hands really clean?  The results of your campaign depend less on how we write your advertising than how your product is positioned.  It follows that positioning should be decided before the advertising is created.  Research can help.  Look before you leap.

2.  Large promise.  The second most important decision is this:  what should you promise the customer?  A promise is not a claim, or a theme, or a slogan.  It is a benefit for the consumer.  It pays to promise a benefit which is unique and competitive, and the product must deliver the benefit your promise.  Most advertising promises nothing.  It is doomed to fail in the marketplace.  "Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement"  - said Samuel Johnson.

3.  Brand image.  Every advertisement should contribute to the complex symbol which is the brand image.  95% of all advertising is created ad hoc.  Most products lack any consistent image from one year to another.  The manufacturer who dedicates his advertising to building the most sharply defined personality for his brand gets the largest share of the market.

4. Big ideas. Unless your advertising is built on a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night. It takes a big idea to jolt the consumer out of his indifference - to make him notice your advertising, remember it and take action. Big ideas are usually simple ideas. Said Charles Kettering, the great General Motors inventor: "this problem, when solved, will be simple." Big, simple ideas are not easy to come by. They require genius - and midnight oil. A truly big one can be continued for 20 years - like our eye patch for Hathaway shirts.

5. A first-class ticket. It pays to give most products an image of quality - a first-class ticket. Ogilvy & Mather  has been conspicuously successful in doing this - for Pepperidge, Hathaway, Mercedes Benz, Schweppes, Dove and others. If your advertising looks ugly, consumers will conclude that  your product is shoddy and they will be less likely to buy it.

6. Don't be a bore. Nobody was ever bored into buying a product. Yet most advertising is impersonal, detached, cold - and dull. It pays to involve the customer. Talk to her like a human being. Charm her. Make her hungry. Get her to participate.

7. Innovate. Start trends - instead of following them. Advertising which follows a fashionable fad or is imitative, is seldom successful. It pays to innovate, to blaze new trails. But innovation is risky unless you pre-test your innovation with consumers. Look before you leap.

8.  Be suspicious of awards.  The pursuit of creative awards seduces creative people from the pursuit of sales.  We have been unable to establish any correlation whatever between awards and sales.  At Ogilvy and Mather, we now give an annual award for the campaign which contributes the most to sales. Successful advertising sells the product without drawing attention to itself, it rivets the consumer's attention on the product.  Make the product the hero of your advertising.

9.  Psychological Segmentation. Any good agency knows how to position products for demographic segments of the market - for men, for young children, for farmers in the south, etc.  But Ogilvy and Mather has learned that it often pays to position for psychological segments of the market.  Our Mercedes-Benz advertising is positioned to fit non-conformists who scoff at "status symbols" and reject flim-flam appeals to snobbery.

10.  Don't bury news.  It is easier to interest the consumer in a product when it is new than at any other point in its life.  Many copywriters have a fatal instinct for burying news.  That is why most advertising for new products fails to exploit the opportunity that genuine news provides.  It pays to launch your new product with a loud boom-boom.

11.  Go the whole hog.  Most advertising campaigns are too complicated.  They reflect a long list of marketing objectives.  They embrace the divergent views of too many executives.  By attempting too many things, they achieve nothing.  It pays to boil down your strategy to one simple promise - and go the whole hog in delivering that promise.

What Works Best In Television

12.  Testimonials. Avoid irrelevant celebrities.  Testimonial commercials are almost always successful - if you make them credible.  Either celebrities or real people can be effective.  But avoid irrelevant celebrities whose fame has no natural connection with your product or your customers.  Irrelevant celebrities steal attention from your product.

13. Problem-solution (don't cheat!) You set up a problem that the consumer recognizes. And you show how your product can solve that problem. And you prove the solution. This technique has always been above average in sales results, and it still is. But don't use it unless you can do so without cheating: the consumer isn't a moron. She is your wife.

14. Visual demonstrations. If they are honest, visual demonstrations are generally effective in the marketplace. It pays to visualize your promise. It saves time. It drives the promise home. It is memorable.

15. Slice of life. These playlets are corny, and most copywriters detect them. But they have sold a lot of merchandise, and are still selling.

16. Avoid logorrhea. Make your pictures tell the story. What you show is more important than what you say. Many commercials drown the viewer in a torrent of words. We call that logorrhea, (rhymes with diarrhea.) We have created some great commercials without words.

17. On-camera voice. Commercials using on-camera voice do significantly better than commercials using voice over.

18.  Musical Backgrounds.  Most commercials use musical backgrounds.  However, on the average, musical backgrounds reduce recall of your commercial.  Very few creative people accept this.   But we never heard of an agency using musical background under a new business presentation.

19.  Stand-ups.  The stand-up pitch can be effective, if it is delivered with straightforward honesty.

20.  Burr of singularity.  The average consumer now sees 20,000 commercials a year; poor dear.  Most of them slide off her memory like water off a duck's back.  Give your commercials a flourish of singularity, a burr that will stick in the consumer's mind.  One such burr is the mnemonic device or relevant symbol - like the crowns in our commercials for Imperial Magazine.

21.  Animation and cartoons.  Less than 5% of television commercials use cartoons or animation.  They are less persuasive than live commercials.  The consumer can not identify herself with the character in the cartoon and cartoon's do not invite belief.  However, Carson-Roberts, our partners in Los Angeles, tell us that animation can be helpful when you are talking to children.  They should know, they have addressed more than 600 commercials to children.

22.  Salvage commercials.  Many commercials which test poorly can be salvaged.  The faults revealed by the test can be corrected.  We have doubled the effectiveness of a commercial simply be re-editing it.

23.  Factual versus emotional.  Factual commercials tend to be more effective than than emotional commercials.  However, Ogilvy & Mather has made some emotional commercials, which have been successful in the marketplace.  Among these are our campaigns for Maxwell House Coffee and Hershey's Milk Chocolate.

24.  Grabbers.  We have found that commercials with an exciting opening hold their audience at a higher level than commercials which begin quietly.

What Works Best In Print? 

25. Headline.  On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy.  It follows that, if you don't sell the product in your headline, you have wasted 80% of your money.  That is why most Ogilvy and Mather headlines include the brand name and the promise.

26.  Benefited headline.  Headlines that promise to benefit sell more than those that don't.

27.  News and headlines.  Time after time we have found that it pays to inject genuine news into headlines.  The consumer is always on the lookout for new products or new improvements in an old product, or new ways to use an old product.  Economists - even Russian economists - approve of this.  They call it "informative" advertising.  So do consumers.

28.  Simple headlines.  Your headline should telegraph what you want to say - in simple language.  Readers do not stop to decipher the meanings of obscure headlines.

29.  How many words in a headline?  In headline tests conducted with cooperation from a big department store, it was found that headlines of 10 words or longer sold more goods than short headlines.  In terms of recall, headlines between 8-and-10 words are most effective.  In mail order advertising, headlines between 6-and-12 words get the must coupon returns.  On the average, long headlines sell more merchandise than short ones - headlines like our "At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock."

30.  Localize headlines.  In local advertising, it pays to include the name of the city in your headline.

31.  Select your prospects.  When you advertise your product which is consumed by a special group, it pays to flag that group in your headline - mothers, bedwetters, going to Europe?

32. Yes, people read long copy. Readership falls off rapidly up to 50 words, but drops very little between 50 and 500 words (this page contains 1,909 words, and you are reading it). Ogilvy & Mather has used long copy - with notable success - from Mercedes Benz, Cessna Citation, Merrill Lynch, and Shell Gasoline. "The more you tell, the more sell."

33. Story appeal and picture. Ogilvy & Mather has gotten noticeable results with photographs, which suggest the story. The reader glances at the photograph and asks himself, "what goes on here?" Then he reads the copy to find out. Harold Rudolph called this magic element "story appeal." The more of it you inject into your photograph, the more people look at your advertisements. It is easier said than done.

34. Before and after. Before and after advertisements are somewhat above average in attention value. Any form of visualized contrast seems to work well.

35. Photographs versus art work. Ogilvy & Mather has found that photographs work better than drawing - almost invariably. They attract more readers, generate more appetite appeal, are more believable, are better remembered, pull more coupons, and sell more merchandise.

36. Use captions to sell. On the average, twice as many people read the captions under photographs as read the body copies. It follows that you should never use a photograph without putting a caption under it; and each caption should be a miniature advertisement for the product - complete with the brand name and promise.

Number 37: Editorial layout. Ogilvy & Mather has had more success with editorial layouts, than with addy Layouts. Editorial layouts get higher readership than conventional advertisements.

Number 38: Repeat your winners.  Scores of great advertisements have been discarded before they have begun to pay off.  Readership can actually increase with repetition - up to five repetitions.

Is this all we know?

These findings apply for most categories of products. But, not to all. Ogilvy & Mather has developed a separate and specialized body of knowledge on what makes for success in advertising food products, tourist destinations, proprietary medicines, children's products - and other classifications. But, this special information is revealed only to the clients of Ogilvy & Mather.

Two Money Disasters That Could Strike on Saturday
(one of them could happen sooner!)

18 defensive investments and six complete investment plans that investment consultant, Harriet Browne, believes will make money for you whether or not these disasters strike.

WHILE MILLIONS of Americans were jazz-dancing their way into bankruptcy during the 20s, a smaller number were preparing for a rainy day. And rain it did — for 10 years.

But for the farsighted few who knew what they had to do early in 1929 (take their cash out of the banks before it was too late…sell short…provide for themselves while the going was good) - for these sensible people, the depression wasn't all that bad. Indeed, some of them made fortunes!

Well, Harry Browne says the signs are here again. (The signs are nothing more than a shrewd assembly of today's headlines). If you were shaken by the financial events of the past few months, this book will offer you little solace. Browne sees worse things on the horizon. But he tells you exactly how to preserve your assets and actually multiply them in the darkest hours.

Plain Language Advice Any Layman Can Understand - and Act On

Because an investor (or anyone with just a savings or a checking account) cannot survive a devaluation without a solid understanding of the nature of our money system and just what happens to it in devaluation, Harry Browne spells it out in clear, everyday language free of technical jargon. He calls on his vast knowledge of economics, history, crowd psychology, and the way a welfare state misbehaves in a time of crisis, to show you that we may expect several economic cataclysms before the devaluation that is bound to come.

And he shows you what the effect will be on you, your job, or business, your personal finances, your family… shows you what your plan should be in each crisis — but always in light of the devaluation that is now inevitable:

• Continued inflation. What will have to happen to the supply of paper money if the present spiral continues. What this means to you. What steps to take right now, while there is time. What drastic measures you should avoid.

• Short-term recession. Popular hedges. What will happen to prices. Effects upon business. What this means to you. Certain profit sources that may remain intact.

• Depression. Will the next depression be deeper and longer than the last one? What will happen to personal credit? What this means to you. The collapse of the welfare state. Little known protective measures.

• Run away inflation. Guidelines to use if paper money becomes totally worthless. The only way out. A precaution you must start to think about today.

The very thought of these crippling events can numb the most determined investor, but those who lose from devaluation will be those do nothing, or who accept conventional investment advice. Those who come out ahead will be those who are not afraid to stand apart from the crowd. Who have taken the trouble NOW to understand why devaluation makes investing and protecting your money a whole new ball game.

How To Achieve Your Financial Goals — in Spite of Devaluation…And Because of It!

While unwily investors around you are losing their shirts because of devaluation, there is absolutely no reason for you to share in their plight. That's why we call How You Can Profit From the Coming Devaluation a "selfish" book.

Browne's sure-footed plan of defense and offense consists of six investments designed to give you:

• Good growth, not necessarily maximum growth, in assets during the present cycle.

• Protection, liquidity, flexibility, and buying power in the next depression.

• Safety and rebuilding power if we have a runaway inflation.

• An excellent profit from the devaluation itself.

• Peace of mind no matter what happens.

This 6 investment investment program can work for you, whether you can write a check for $5,000 or $100,000. Indeed, Browne breaks down the investment opportunities according to your present assets, shows you exactly how much to put into each of these investments.

1. Cash and dollars - how much you need on hand, where to keep it, what to do about your checking account. Where not to keep a savings account.
2. Swiss Francs. Their special strengths. How to convert your dollars to Swiss Francs easily. How to open a Swiss Franc bank account. Addresses and procedures. Laws.
3. Silver coins. Numismatic value. Spending money. How much to keep in silver coins. Melting. Where to store. Where to buy.
4. Silver bullion. How to use leverage to buy. Who will sell your bullion.
5. Gold stocks. How this will profit you through three economic crises.
6. Retreats. Why you need one. How to acquire a safe one.

Risk Free Examination

Mail $5.95 with coupon below for How You Can Profit From the Coming Devaluation. Return it within 30 days if not pleased for full refund plus extra money to reimburse you for return postage. Mail to your bookseller or: Arlington House Publishers, 81 Centre Ave., New Rochelle, New York 10801. (or available on Amazon.com)