David Berkowitz posted an entry

  Scientific advertising

In 1918, Claude Hopkins published Scientific Advertising. It's written with so much certainty, and yet 95 years later, we're still just realizing or grappling with some of what Hopkins knew to be the absolute truth back then. 

Now, much of it was dated. This is a book that, tactically, is about mail orders and door to door salesmen. But enough of it needs to be read by marketers today.

Here are a few excerpts that are particularly timely:

On the consumer-centric approach:

The advertising man studies the consumer. He tries to place himself in the position of the buyer. His success largely depends on doing that to the exclusion of everything else.

On job safety:

The correct methods of procedure have been proved and established. We know what is most effective, and we act on basic law. Advertising, once a gamble, has thus become, under able direction, one of the safest business ventures.

On who to hire:

Many of the ablest men in advertising are graduate salesmen. The best we know have been house-to-house canvassers. They may know little of grammar, nothing of rhetoric, but they know how to use words that convince.

On American consumers:

We learn that cheapness is not a strong appeal. Americans are extravagant. They want bargains but not cheapness. They want to feel that they can afford to eat and have and wear the best. Treat them as if they could not and they resent your attitude.

On data-driven marketing:

...An advertising campaign is usually preceded by a very large volume of data. Even an experimental campaign, for effective experiments cost a great deal of work and time.

And then there's one of the greater understatements ever said about the profession:

...This is no lazy mans field.

 

  • By David Berkowitz
  • Translator

  • Recent Articles

    • Etsy Credit Card Reader Unveiled
    • LG G Watch R Launched Globally
    • Mark Twain on Slavery, How Religion Is Used to Justify Injustice, and What His Mother Taught Him About Compassion
    • Motorola Symbol TC70 Rugged Android Device Revealed
    • LG announces its first smartphone processor “Nuclun”
    • How to Do Nothing with Nobody All Alone by Yourself: A Timely Vintage Field Guide to Self-Reliant Play and Joyful Solitude
    • Mark Thoma posted an entry
    • Microsoft Lumia Branding Revealed
    • LG G Watch R global sales roll-out to begin with Europe in early-Nov
    • 5 Must-Visit Caves in New South Wales, Australia
    • LG G Watch R availability further detailed, coming to Google Play in weeks
    • Amazon posts massive quarterly loss
    • Mark Thoma posted an entry
    • LG NUCLUN Octa Core Mobile Processor Announced
    • What Is Philosophy For? A Beautiful Animated Manifesto for Undoing Our Unwisdom, Cultivating Our Character, and Gaining Perspective
    • Carphone Warehouse Starts Selling Pink HTC One Mini 2
    • Updated Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is coming for Xbox 360
    • LG G3 Beat Review: The prince of the kingdom?
    • Interactive play reflects city’s diversity
    • U. restricts travel due to threat of Ebola