Pamela K. Gitta
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Tested Advertising Methods, by John Caples (plus a warning) John Caples is one of advertising's grand old men, the author of many people's choice for the most successful ad of all time*; Vice President of BBDO for several decades; and AdAge's #21 on its list of 100 Top People of the 20th Century. The world's most prestigious creative marketing award is named after him: The John Caples International Award. www.caples.org He wrote several books, but Tested Advertising Methods is both his most popular and his most useful. I can't imagine a copywiter (and by that I mean anyone who ever writes copy) working without it. First, he explains that advertising is not a science, because you can never predict public opinion with guaranteed results. But you can use a scientific approach to your ads, and by testing, testing, testing them with first one headline and then another, first one offer and then another, you can arrive at an ad that is probably going to be successful. This book tells you how to do that. Five of its 18 chapters are dedicated to writing headlines, which is as it should be. "If the headline is poor, the copy will not be read," he tells us, and offers 29 different formulas for writing good headlines. Other chapters that stand out, deal with "appealing to the masses" (why you must use short words, short sentences); and "the right appeal" (you find it by digging into human desires). The chapter on small ads tells not only how to write them, but what sort of products to write them for. Caples includes many famous ads, reproduced in full and accompanied by his notes on why they did or didn't work. They're a treasure chest for anyone who does his best learning by example. Many of them will sound old-fashioned ("Here's an Extra $50, Grace. I'm making real money now!"), but their basic principles are solid, and it just takes a little imagination to re-work them for today's audience. I have a healthy collection of books on advertising, marketing and copywriting, including many of the classics. But if my library caught fire, this is the book I would try to save. * "They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano…" written for the U.S. School of Music by Caples in 1921. Read it here. WARNING: If you go searching for this book at your favorite local or
online store, you will probably find the 5th edition, published
by Prentice-Hall in 1997. It says on the cover that it is by "John
Caples and Fred Hahn," but Mr. Hahn's recent editorial changes and
additions are not marked in the text. This means the reader may think he's
reading the wise words of Mr. Caples, when in fact he's getting advice
from a relative unknown. Also, many of the items hand-selected by Mr. Caples as examples of the admaker's art, have been replaced with more recent choices that are "friendlier" to the modern eye or ear. This may be good for our PC-enslaved society, but bad for us eager marketing students. We lose not only what Caples thought was successful, but also his comments on why he thought that way. If you're a purist, you'll want to track down the 4th edition, published in 1973 by Prentice-Hall. It's the last edition that Mr. Caples himself oversaw the printing of. I found mine at www.abebooks.com. |
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