Advertising: Its Principles and Practice
A 1915 textbook (Ronald Press) that grew out of the Advertising Division of New York University, written by four specialists: Harry Tipper, advertising manager of The Texas Company, on economics and campaigns; psychologist Harry L. Hollingworth of Barnard College on the buyer's mind; George Burton Hotchkiss on copy; and Frank Alvah Parsons of the New York School of Fine and Applied Art on display.
What it is
A 1915 textbook (Ronald Press) that grew out of the Advertising Division of New York University, written by four specialists: Harry Tipper, advertising manager of The Texas Company, on economics and campaigns; psychologist Harry L. Hollingworth of Barnard College on the buyer's mind; George Burton Hotchkiss on copy; and Frank Alvah Parsons of the New York School of Fine and Applied Art on display. Its 36 chapters run from when advertising pays, through instincts, association, attention and memory, to copy, layout, color, type, media and dealer aids. Hollingworth adds a "Table of Persuasiveness" ranking appeals from healthfulness and cleanliness at the top to social superiority, imported and beautifying near the bottom, a square root law for ad size, and laboratory rankings checked against inquiries. Hotchkiss splits copy into "long-circuit" reason-why and "short-circuit" human interest. The book closes by planning an actual campaign for an automobile accessory.
Why read it now
This is an early serious attempt to join business, psychology, writing and design in one course, and that structure is its most lasting idea: a campaign needs all four. Some findings hold. The square root law, that four times the space brings about twice the response, fits later readership and attention studies showing diminishing returns to size. The split between reasoned and emotional routes resembles today's dual-process models, and the warning that one stray association can wreck a sound argument (a tailor's "Down to Your Thumb Prints" suggested criminals) is still good copy editing. Other parts have dated. The Table of Persuasiveness comes from tests on "the educated classes" of 1915, and beautifying near the bottom would surprise any cosmetics brand today. The claim that laboratory tests rank ads "accurately" before release outruns the modern record of pre-testing, which predicts some outcomes and misses others. Instinct lists have given way to better models of motivation. One use: list your product's appeals and rank them from your own tests, not from a generic table.
Passages worth keeping
an advertisement counts for nothing if it is not really noticed and read.
مهما أُحكمت فكرة الإعلان فلا قيمة له إن لم يلاحظه القارئ ويقرأه فعلًا.
It has been conclusively demonstrated that the square root law holds, whether inquiries, orders, cost per sale, or experimental attention value be considered.
زيادة مساحة الإعلان تزيد الانتباه والاستجابة بأقل من نسبة الزيادة، فالصفحة الكاملة لا تأتي بستة عشر ضعف ما يأتي به جزء صغير منها.
the relative "pulling power" of advertisements can be accurately measured beforehand.
يرى الكتاب أن المختبر يستطيع أن يتنبأ بأي الإعلانات سيجلب ردودًا أكثر قبل نشرها، وهو ادعاء أوسع مما تسنده الأدلة اليوم.
Psychologists call reason-why copy "Long-circuit copy" because it involves deliberation and choice, which are functions of the higher centers of the brain.
نص الأسباب يمر بطريق طويل من التفكير والموازنة قبل القرار، ولذلك تأتي الاستجابة له أبطأ.
Response to it is usually instinctive rather than reasoned, and consequently depends largely upon suggestion
نص المشاعر يعمل بالإيحاء والصورة لا بالحجة، فالاستجابة له سريعة وأقرب إلى الغريزة.
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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