I was in the dentist’s office a few weeks ago and was startled by a Newsweek cover story about Oprah Winfrey entitled: “Crazy Talk: Oprah, Wacky Cures and You.”
When I flipped to the article, it was like being bombarded by a dozen magalog headlines at once.
“Live Your Best Life Ever! Wish Away Cancer! Get A Lunchtime Face-Lift! Eradicate Autism! Turn Back The Clock! Thin Your Thighs! Cure Menopause! Harness Positive Energy! Erase Wrinkles! Banish Obesity! Live Your Best Life Ever!”
I thought, “hey, did one of my copywriter friends help cook up this piece?”
As the article mentions, the real life Oprah is an unapproachable billionairess who flies on a private jet and hangs out with Hollywood film stars. She’s as opposite from her core viewer as possible.
But the TV Oprah is a down-to-earth everywoman — full of the same pedestrian shortcomings as the great, unwashed TV-land masses — and best exemplified by her life-long weight struggle.
Even Oprah’s tacit blessing of a product creates an avalanche of free trial offers for the latest berry or skin cream concoction, promoted via the now ubiquitous weight loss flog (fake blog) and loaded with as much manufactured proof as they can muster.
The article is fascinating reading for direct marketers because it really digs into the drivers for products and markets that seem to open up overnight after an airing on Oprah.
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Yesterday, I sent an email broadcast to my Canadian customers and subscribers, wishing them a Happy Canada Day.
Took me 60 seconds to scribe two lines and send.
That simple email triggered a flood of replies, not simply out of bewilderment that an American remembered a Canadian holiday, but that I actually took the 60 seconds to send them a “personal” appearing message that was non-commercial in nature.
In fact, I’d say those 60 seconds were better invested than many messages consuming 30 minutes or more to create.
Moral: A.B.T. Always Be Testing.
And once again, Happy Canada Day, eh?
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Many A-list copywriters argue headline templates, and swipe files in general, are a waste of time. They don’t work.
Most purveyors of copywriting material, on the other hand, praise the plug-and-play simplicity of templates for selling any product or service.
As in most cases with two disparate views (and agendas), the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Few A-list writers would consider submitting a direct mail package with a swiped headline, no matter how successful the original. Not even if the derivative headline were undetectable.
The A-listers may have synthesized the knowledge of hundreds of headline split tests but they’re generally bound to the creation-from-scratch mentality that their clients expect from them.
Almost without exception, the purveyors of copywriting material claim that creating winning advertising is an easy process. All you need to do is insert your details into a readymade template, smooth over a few patches and presto, out pops a profitable ad.More on 9 Headline Templates That Have a Prayer
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When a book title is perfect, there’s no need for a copywriter to wrack his brain over a headline…even if he’s the best.
And that’s exactly what Victor Schwab did. He used Dale Carnegie’s book title, “How To Win Friends And Influence People,” as the headline for the now legendary space ad.
Even though the copy for this ad was written 72 years ago, the most formidable writer would be challenged to top it today.
The book, of course, remains one of the most influential self-help/business books of all time. So much so, it was even widely read in the former Soviet Union.
“How To Win Friends And Influence People”
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I am not Joe “social networker” nor have any pretension to be since I’m a perpetual late adopter/contrarian. In fact, I haven’t been on Facebook or Twitter meaningfully until the last month.
However, if I could go back in time to the early 1990′s and snare some of the prime virtual real estate like, wine.com, loans.com, etc. which eventually sold for multi-millions, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
Though that’s not gonna happen, there’s a lite version of this opportunity on Facebook that is wide open right now.More on Facebook Vanity URL’s…Wide Open (For Now)
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The following article about Joe Karbo is excerpted from an interview entitled, “The Creators” from the now defunct publication, The Capitalist Reporter, circa 1975.
But was the mail order magnate who penned The Lazy Man’s Way to Riches, himself lazy?
Here’s some rare info about this direct marketing legend.
The wonder is that Joe Karbo works at all anymore. He is the millionaire author, publisher and mail-order advertising salesman of The Lazy Man’s Way to Riches, after all. With more than 400,000 copies of the paperback sold in this country alone at $10 each – versus 50 cents per copy production cost – Karbo can afford to take it easy. Foreign markets now have begun to open up in a big way.
Karbo, 50-year-old son of a Russian Jewish immigrant who worked as a tailor in Los Angeles, now spends about half the year in LA, where he maintains a posh suite of offices overlooking the Pacific to tend to his various ventures that make him $300,000 a year. The rest of the time, he and the family (wife and nine children, although not all the kids still live at home) are at a sumptuous retreat in Washington State, about 50 miles south of Olympia – an ideal place to be, well, lazy.
The trouble is, Karbo doesn’t like being lazy. “The idea of being lazy is appealing, but doing it, or rather not doing anything, is not my idea of a way to pass the time,” he says.More on The Lost Joe Karbo Interview…Was He Really Lazy?
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What causes middle aged men to watch movies like Rocky and The Karate Kid for the umteenth time at 3:00 am?
Why are young children endlessly enchanted by Cinderella?
It’s because these stories have at their core the triumph of the underdog — one of the most captivating themes in all of storytelling.
And storytelling, when used appropriately, can also be a powerful weapon in your copywriting arsenal. Here’s a book you won’t read about on many message board forums, yet deserves top shelf placement in your library.
It’s called 20 Master Plots And How To Build Them. In it, you’ll find Master Plot #9: The Underdog Theme, as well as 19 others, including:
Masterplot #1: Quest
Masterplot #5: Revenge
Masterplot #6: Escape
Masterplot #17: Discovery
The author, Ronald Tobias, takes these 20 basic archetypes and illustrates how each works with numerous examples. At the end of each chapter is a checklist to make sure you’ve covered the key points of each plot.
Though 20 Master Plots was written with fiction writers in mind, it gives copywriters an angle to create ads every bit as compelling as Rocky.
Once you get the hang of it, you’ll learn which plots pack the most punch in specific markets. Here’s a fine example of the revenge theme being used in weight loss advertising.
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I just turned up a fascinating, two-page direct mail piece for one of the most important sales letter books ever written: The Robert Collier Letter Book. I suspect the piece may have been written by Robert Collier, himself, though it’s signed by Paul Crane of Parker Publishing.
The copy is in need of some touch-ups for today’s audience, but overall, it’s better crafted than the majority of pitches for similar material today.
The Robert Collier Letter BookMore on Rare Direct Mail Ad for The Robert Collier Letter Book
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Here is the 1968 space ad Eugene Schwartz wrote for Dr. Henry Bieler’s book, “Food Is Your Best Medicine.”
This ad is still an excellent model for an advertiser in the health and wellness market.
Everything you’d expect in a Gene Schwartz ad is here:
* The irresistible “Try-Before-You-Buy” offer.
* Gene’s hallmark “future pacing.”
* The big promise to change your life overnight…under the guidance of a world class medical authority.
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“Have you ever wondered how you could get a job as an advertising copywriter? Have you ever wondered if you could get a job as an advertising copywriter? This is your chance to find out. With this copy test. Eight entertaining and involving assignments that should stimulate and challenge you to do the thing you do best. Write.”
This was the opening of an unusual ad.
25 Years ago, the mega ad agency, J. Walter Thompson, ran this full page copy test in the New York Times, entitled, “Write If You Want Work.”
The candidates who took them up were given eight unusual writing assignments.
My favorite is #6.
“You’ve heard the story about the man who made a fortune selling refrigerators to Eskimos. In not more than 100 words, how would you sell a telephone to a Trappist monk, who is observing the strict Rule of Silence? (But he can nod acceptance at the end.)”
Ten people passed and joined JWT’s 85 member creative team.
Sorry, neither I, nor perhaps even JWT, have the winning submissions to this unusual series of exercises. Just reading the test will uncork your creativity bottle.
Click on the thumbnail to open the PDF.
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