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Persuasion Articles of the Week
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Hopkins’ Essentials of Advertising (My Life in Advertising: Chapter 17)
After reviewing Hopkins’ accomplishments, we get to the most important chapter of the book, Chapter Seventeen, Scientific Advertising.
Hopkins compares advertisements with salespeople. Each must prove their worth. Track results to know what is effective and what is not. Some techniques won’t work in various industries.
Image “Money bw” by Monochrome, Flickr, CC-By-2.0 But some truths are universal. Hopkins lays them out in this essential chapter.
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The Three Interests An Advertisement Must Serve (My Life in Advertising: Chapter 16)
I don’t know about you, but I’m wary of ads that push the status quo. “Everything’s OK,” they say. “We’re the brand you know and trust.” Those brands aren’t working to keep our business.
Advertisements with selfish appeals don’t interest a reader. Advertising great Claude C. Hopkins stresses service in advertisement. It’s a theme throughout his book My Life in Advertising.
Hopkins applied this service outlook in his advertisements and his career. Hopkins’ great success comes from service to others, not to himself.
Chapter 16, “Reasons for Success,” focuses on the business of advertising.
The influential advertising person, you, must serve three interests.
Image “_MG_8515.jpg” by Tibor Kovacs, Flickr, CC-By-2.0 -
Persuasion Articles of the Week
Image “Put your hands up in the air” by Thomas Leuthard, Flickr, CC-By-2.0 -
Another Message from the Universe
I’ve written before about my Message from the Universe. It might have been a coincidence. Maybe my brain is making things up, finding patterns where there aren’t any. Humans are great at that.
I’ve stopped ignoring the messages from the universe. Photo “Brothers in a Dangerous Trade” by Joel Penner, Flickr, CC-By-2.0 But this has happened more than once. Here’s another message I’ve received. (more…)
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Be a Creator of Beauty (My Life in Advertising: Chapters 14 and 15)
I really like buying things. Things I don’t need, things I do need, things I think I’ll need later. A delayed delivery doesn’t stop this — Kickstarter hasn’t been my wallet’s best friend.
Mind the Gap. It’s used to pique your interest and direct your behaviour. Image “Mind the Gap” by Larry Johnson, Flickr, CC-By-2.0 We’re all victims of this psychological hook that advertisers use: they create a “gap” in your life. The gap could be the beginning of a story, leaving us hanging. The gap could be a heightened interest in a limited offer. (more…)
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Persuasion Articles of the Week
Image by Jonathan Petit, Flickr, CC-By-2.0 -
Food… Shot from Guns? (My Life in Advertising: Chapters 12 and 13)
YOU can be 10% more knowledgeable about advertising giant Claude C Hopkins’ Secrets to Success with this one PRL post!
This is the 11th post in a series covering the current PRL book selection, My Life in Advertising.
Chapter twelve of My Life in Advertising, Hopkins works on the Palmolive soap account.
Following Hopkins’ playbook, the ad agency offers to buy the beauty soap for whomever brings in a coupon. Palmolive uses this offer to force quick distribution in retail stores, because no business wants the customer going elsewhere. The customers become hooked because the rule of reciprocity says that something done for them, the free bar of soap, will increase their desire to give back.
You must have an extraordinary claim to make a dent in a crowded market. Image by Nesster, Flickr, CC-By-2.0 -
Persuasion Articles of the Week
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