Principles of Advertising: A Systematic Syllabus of the Fundamental Principles of Advertising
A 62-page course outline that Daniel Starch, then at the University of Wisconsin, published through the University Cooperative Co. in Madison in November 1910.
What it is
A 62-page course outline that Daniel Starch, then at the University of Wisconsin, published through the University Cooperative Co. in Madison in November 1910. It is his first statement of the field and reads as a numbered map, not prose: each point carries page references to ten books, including Walter Dill Scott's The Psychology of Advertising, and to Printers' Ink and other trade papers. Part I, Securing Attention, sets out laws of intensity, contrast, primacy and recency, repetition and emotion, with notes on preferred positions, eye movement, borders and the golden section. Part II, Securing Persuasion and Action, covers description, selling points, the ranked power of arguments, instincts, imitation, suggestion and coupon keying, then twelve rules of expression and the merits of each medium. Small counts from Century Magazine between 1870 and 1909 supply the evidence.
Why read it now
Read it as the skeleton of modern advertising research, drawn before the evidence existed. The split between getting attention and getting action still organises most frameworks, and several points hold up: a headline should give the gist and stay relevant, plain lower case type reads faster than capitals, dark text on a light ground reads faster than reversed type, specific facts beat generalities, a stated price makes an ad definite, and every ad should be keyed so its returns can be traced. Much is dated or weak: the instinct psychology, the claim that large space earns more than proportionally greater attention (Starch's own 1923 figures show a double page earning well under twice the notice of a single page), the golden section as the most pleasing shape, which later experiments have not reliably confirmed, and a ranking that puts the firm's age above the product's quality. Use: treat it as a checklist. Take its order of points (a you line, reasons, answers to objections, price, guarantee, where to buy, a call to act) and audit your next landing page against it.
Passages worth keeping
All questions have the same ultimate aim, to influence people.
كل أسئلة الإعلان، من العنوان إلى الوسيلة، تعود إلى هدف واحد هو التأثير في الناس.
Black print on white paper can be read about 40% more rapidly than white print on black paper.
الكتابة السوداء على ورق أبيض تُقرأ أسرع بنحو 40 بالمئة من الكتابة البيضاء على خلفية سوداء.
The necessity of presenting definite points and specific facts. No generalities.
الإعلان يحتاج إلى نقاط واضحة وحقائق محددة، ولا مكان فيه للكلام العام.
We imitate more readily if we know that many others are doing this same thing. Hence use of testimonials. These must be genuine and unsolicited.
الناس يقلدون بسهولة أكبر حين يعرفون أن كثيرين غيرهم يفعلون الشيء نفسه، ولهذا تُستعمل الشهادات، بشرط أن تكون حقيقية وغير مطلوبة.
Few or no superlatives. No brag.
قلّل صيغ التفضيل أو اتركها كليًا، ولا تتباهَ في الإعلان.
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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