Advertising Copy
A copywriting textbook by the chairman of the Department of Advertising and Marketing at New York University, for students and agency copy staff.
What it is
A copywriting textbook by the chairman of the Department of Advertising and Marketing at New York University, for students and agency copy staff. Its base idea is the point of contact: the reader's mind is a set of moving streams of thought, readers are not looking for ads, so copy must attach itself to an interest already there. It attacks "manufacturer's copy" with a Salisbury Axles ad that talks only about the maker. Later chapters cover reason-why copy and its evidence (construction, performance, testimonial, test), the "deadly parallel" comparison, description, emotional appeals using Hollingworth's list of instincts, association copy, story copy such as O. Henry book ads, word choice, headlines and slogans, and copy for newspapers, retail, trade and farm papers, women's magazines, street cars and posters. It closes by arguing that a consistent copy style gives a product a personality buyers pay for, as Big Ben did at $2.50.
Why read it now
The point of contact is still the right first question for any ad: what is this reader already thinking about, and how does the message join it? Feeds make it sharper, since an ad now competes with posts the way Hotchkiss's ads competed with magazine stories, and his line that only a story can compete with a story explains why story-led formats that look native to TikTok and Instagram do well. The warning against manufacturer's copy fits the many company profiles, in the Gulf and elsewhere, that open with the founding year, the factory and the chairman. His case for a consistent copy style agrees with later work on distinctive brand assets and the cost of changing campaigns too often. What has dated: instinct lists from 1920s psychology, a chapter that treats women as one mind, and the claim that scare copy works no better than other appeals; later research finds fear works when paired with a clear action the reader can take. Use: set any draft in two columns, Faulty and Better, and rewrite each sentence from the maker's view to the reader's.
Passages worth keeping
The object of advertising copy is not so much expression of the writer as impression on the reader.
هدف النص الإعلاني ليس أن يعبّر الكاتب عن نفسه، بل أن يترك أثرًا في ذهن القارئ.
Just why should anybody read this copy? Has the average reader an interest in axles?
إعلان يمدح محاور سيارات شركة ما لا يعطي القارئ سببًا واحدًا للقراءة، لأنه لا يمس أي اهتمام عنده.
Only the story can compete with the story in getting and holding the attention of story readers.
في المجلة ينافس الإعلان القصص المنشورة حوله، ولذلك فالقصة هي الشكل الأقدر على جذب قارئ جاء ليقرأ قصصًا.
In some instances, consistency in copy style is more important than consistency in the product.
أحيانًا يكون ثبات أسلوب الإعلان أهم من ثبات المنتج نفسه، لأن الناس يعرفون المنتج من إعلاناته قبل أن يجربوه.
Alarm clocks were a drug upon the market at $1 apiece when Big Ben appeared at $2.50. The qualities that made people willing to pay the difference in price were not primarily physical, but psychological.
بيع منبّه «بيغ بن» بأكثر من ضعف سعر المنبهات الأخرى، والفرق لم يكن في المعدن والآلة، بل في الصورة التي صنعها الإعلان في أذهان الناس.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
Read the original archive.org
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