Writing an Advertisement: An Analysis of the Methods and the Mental Processes That Play a Part in the Writing of Successful Advertising
A 1915 Houghton Mifflin book by S. Roland Hall, who directed the International Correspondence Schools advertising course, answering one question in plain first-person prose: how do you go about writing an advertisement?
What it is
A 1915 Houghton Mifflin book by S. Roland Hall, who directed the International Correspondence Schools advertising course, answering one question in plain first-person prose: how do you go about writing an advertisement? Its 17 short chapters follow the order of the work: study the article, the people and the conditions, then build the ad, starting with headlines, which Hall calls sign-posts. The core chapter, Points of Contact, argues that each product has one appeal that connects it with a group of readers, found by testing: the Curtis Publishing Company spent years learning that parents, not boys, answered best when it recruited agents for The Saturday Evening Post. Later chapters cover news value, pictures, the 'you' and conversational styles, price and single words, his own cement and bank ads traced from facts to copy, repetition and tests, and a close on making response easy with coupons and reply cards.
Why read it now
The method holds up because it is the order most good briefs still follow: know the product until you find a fact others ignore, know the reader, then write. His ice-cream case, where the writer dug until he found butter-fat several per cent above local rivals, is the argument for research before copy. The point-of-contact idea matches what modern testing keeps finding: the strongest appeal is often not the obvious one, and the only way to know is to test. His story of misjudging a millinery ad from a man's point of view is a warning for anyone who approves creative aimed at a different audience, which in Gulf firms often means men signing off ads written for women or young buyers. What has dated: the salary figures, the tone about women, and the thin data behind most claims. The last chapter's rule, that every extra step lowers response, is now standard conversion practice. Use: before writing, list the product's facts, choose one point of contact per audience, and test two.
Passages worth keeping
The mission of advertising is to develop states of mind.
قيمة السلعة عند المشتري تتحدد بحالته الذهنية، ومهمة الإعلان أن يصنع هذه الحالة.
I had been neatly caught in the simple error of criticizing from a man’s point of view an advertisement that was written to appeal to women.
انتقد الكاتب إعلانًا موجهًا إلى النساء بعين رجل، ثم تبيّن أنه نجح مع جمهوره، فالحكم على الإعلان يكون من موقع من كُتب لهم.
all advertising that deceives, tricks, or provokes the reader has no sales force when the reader becomes aware of the deception
العنوان الذي يخدع القارئ أو يستفزه يفقد قدرته على البيع لحظة يكتشف القارئ الخدعة.
The most successful appeal was the appeal to the parent to start the boy in work that would give him something useful to do and develop his character.
أنجح نداء لم يكن للولد نفسه بل لوالديه: عمل يشغله بشيء نافع ويبني شخصيته، فمن يقرر ليس دائمًا من يستفيد.
Every extra thing that you ask them to do, every difficulty that you put in their way, lessens your chance to get action.
كل خطوة إضافية تطلبها من القارئ وكل عقبة تضعها أمامه تقلل احتمال أن يستجيب.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
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