Joseph Sugarman – Adweek Copywriting Handbook Book Notes

These are my highlights from Joseph Sugarman’s legendary Adweek Copywriting Handbook. I highly recommend buying this book and reading it for yourself, but until then, this should get you going.

To the public, I was a big success. Babe Ruth is remembered for his home run record and not for the fact that he also held the record for the most strikeouts. And so it was with me.

You should always first express whatever product or service you are selling in a print direct response ad. It is in this format that you can develop the real essence of your product or service

The laser is what seals the capsule. Without the laser, there is no way you could completely seal the capsule. ” That was all I needed. The concept was clear. And the ad headline that I wrote for the new Sensor digital watch was, “Laser Beam Digital Watch. ” The story told of how the watch was made possible thanks to a laser beam and how its new technology benefited the consumer. That single concept resulted in millions of dollars in profitable sales for the digital watch. When I had reached the point about the laser beam sealing the capsule, I knew I had found that unique headline concept that made the watch stand out from the competition. But it took a few days of very intensive learning and study before the concept emerged. Sometimes this can happen in a few minutes, sometimes it can happen in a few hours and sometimes it may take weeks. This time it took a few days of patience along with specific knowledge

This means if somebody asks you, “With the Sugarman approach to copywriting, what is the purpose of the subheadline in the ad?” don’t answer, “A subheadline is designed to give you more information and to further explain the attention-getting headline.

Neither of the above reasons is as important as the fact that the subheadline is designed to get the reader to read the copy. If somebody asked you for the main purpose of the logo in an advertisement, you could answer, “To establish the corporate identity of the company selling the product,” or you could answer, “To provide a degree of continuity. ” But the real answer is to get you to read the copy.Really. If you don’t believe it, have patience and I will prove it to you. But if you’ll open your mind and just accept what I tell you, you will eventually realize that what I am saying is correct. Most importantly, though, when you realize this and start writing with this in the back of your mind, you’ll be amazed at the change in your results—whether your copy is in a print ad or on a web site. But like I said, just take my word for it now and let me prove it to you later in this book. 30

This means if somebody asks you, “With the Sugarman approach to copywriting, what is the purpose of the subheadline in the ad?” don’t answer, “A subheadline is designed to give you more information and to further explain the attention-getting headline. ” Neither of the above reasons is as important as the fact that the subheadline is designed to get the reader to read the copy

Now if the first sentence is so important, what can you do to make it so compelling to read, so simple, and so interesting that your readers—every one of them—will read it in its entirety? The answer: Make it short. If you look at many typical JS

True, you may at one point have to start talking about product features or benefits, but if you lose sight of the fact that your sole purpose at the beginning of an ad is to hold that reader’s attention at almost any cost, then you 32

You may lose your reader for lack of interest. Therefore we have the third axiom: The sole purpose of the first sentence in an advertisement is to get you to read the second sentence,

Your ad layout and the first few paragraphs of your ad must create the buying environment most conducive to the sale of your product or service

There are many methods for creating this harmony and two of the most important apply very directly to space advertising.First, you’ve got to get the prospective reader to start saying yes.Second, you’ve got to make statements that are both honest and believable. Let’s cite an example. A car salesman says, “Nice day, Mr.Jones. ” Mr. Jones then answers, “Yes. ” (It is a nice day, the statement is truthful and the customer answers in the affirmative

The moment you get the reader to say “No” or even “I really don’t believe what he is saying” or “I don’t think that relates to me,” you’ve lost the reader. But as long as the reader keeps saying yes or believes what you are saying is correct and continues to stay interested, you are going to be harmonizing with the reader and you and the reader will be walking down that path toward that beautiful room in the art gallery

Creating the slippery slide effect is not that difficult once the reader is well into your copy. In fact, it’s been proven that if a reader reads more than 25 percent of your ad, there is a great probability that he or she will read the entire ad. So once you’ve grabbed your reader at the start of your ad with your perfect environment and once they’re reading your compelling first sentence, you’ve got them started down the slippery slide

Let’s look at a few examples of the use of the slippery slide in some of the advertising I’ve written through the years. I referred to the thermostat ad earlier, so let’s start with that. The copy starts out with the following headline, subheadline and first two paragraphs: Headline: Magic Baloney Subheadline: You’ll love the way we hated the Magic Stat thermostat until an amazing thing happened. Picture Caption: It had no digital readout, an ugly case and a stupid name. It almost made us sick.Copy: You’re probably expecting our typical sales pitch, but get ready for a shock. For instead of trying to tell you what a great product the Magic Stat thermostat is, we’re going to tear it apart.Unmercifully. When we first saw the Magic Stat, we took one look at the name and went, “Yuck. ” We took one look at the plastic case and said, “How cheap looking. ” And when we looked for the digital readout, it had none. So before the salesman even showed us how it worked, we were totally turned off. Now if you’re reading the above ad, you’re starting down the slippery slide unable to stop. You might find yourself reading the copy even though you have no intention of buying a thermostat by mail. You’re curious. What’s the gimmick? The environment was set by the very clean layout. The tone of the ad was one of a flip, sarcastic and skeptical company exploring the possibility of selling a product that we were not very impressed with. 47

As we explained earlier, one of the most important elements in creating the slippery slide is the start of your ad copy. I often will start my copy with a story or even pick up a piece of news from a magazine that I feel would be of interest to my readers. The story is often offbeat, always interesting and a great short story. A good example of this technique is the story about a trusted accountant who was caught embezzling money from his company. Here’s the copy I wrote based on that article and the very unusual connection I made to the product I was selling: Axiom 649

Scrub Balls. They were simply nine golfball-sized spheres that you put in your washing machine with your laundry. They sloshed around scrubbing the clothes to bring out more dirt and make the clothes cleaner and whiter. They also saved on detergent and made your clothes cleaner while using less water. If I were marketing that product in print, I might pull out that Forbes article and start my ad with something like the following: Headline: British Men Have Underwear Problem Subheadline: New survey shows that many British men do not change their underwear for up to three days, and some even as long as a week. Copy: Holy Odor Eaters! Has Britain got a problem. It seems that the men in Britain don’t change their underwear often and the survey mentioned above shows that many men change their underwear just once a week. But there’s an important question I’d like to ask you.

How often do you change yours? If you’re like most Americans, you change it every day. And as an American, you probably use more detergent than most Britons. But there is one more surprise that you may not realize, either. Americans have a serious waste problem. Let me explain. I would then go on to explain how we waste our resources by not efficiently washing our clothes and that there was this product I discovered in England called Scrub Balls and how efficiently it cleaned your clothes with less water and laundry detergent. I could also use the same article to sell an electronic product simply by saying: Now you probably wonder what dirty British underwear has to do with this new pocket-sized computer. I’m glad you asked. It has nothing to do with it except for one important fact that I will reveal shortly. But first let me explain an unimportant fact. I would then go into the computer features, playing off British men, and I would use odor or smell to relate to some of the computer features. I would then come up with a computer feature at the end of the ad that would tie into the story. Save Those Articles I realize that it may seem a little far-fetched to sell a rower tied into an embezzlement story or a computer using that Forbes article on British underwear habits. But the point I am making is simply this: The use of an interesting article or bit of information, when tied into your product or service, often makes for a good start to the slippery slide. And when blended nicely with your product, it can work to cause a reader to read every bit of your copy. So save those offbeat articles you come across that tweak your interest and might interest your readers—regardless of how ridiculous or offbeat they may be. Some magazines create the slippery slide by simply starting out their stories with larger type to get you into the copy. Larger type is easier to read and so you tend to start reading the copy, 52

One way to increase readership is by applying a theory I call “seeds of curiosity. ” It goes like this. At the end of a paragraph, I will often put a very short sentence that offers some reason for the reader to read the next paragraph. I use sentences such as: But there’s more. So read on. But I didn’t stop there. Let me explain. Now here comes the good part. These seeds of curiosity cause you to subconsciously continue reading even though you might be at a point in the copy where the copy slows down. This concept is used a lot on TV before the show host goes to a commercial. She may say, “When we come back, we’ll see something that you’ve never seen on TV before. Stay tuned. ” Well, it should be done in print, too. And here’s why.(Notice how I just used it. ) In print, the ideal situation is to create such interesting and compelling copy that you don’t need the seeds of

I realized that the product would appeal to the gadget-motivated person who would want to show it off to his or her friends. The ad copy reflects this specific knowledge

I first tested the ad in my catalog and came up with the headline “Pocket Yellow Pages” with the subheadline being “Let your fingers do the data entry with America’s first computerized pocket telephone directory. ” Now listen to the emotional version of the copy. You’re stuck. You’re at a phone booth trying to find a phone number, and people are waiting. You feel the pressure. To the startled eyes of those around you, you pull out your calculator, press a few buttons, and presto—the phone number appears on the display of your calculator. A dream? Absolutely not. The Emotional Approach The ad was a terrific success. We eventually placed the ad in dozens of magazines and while the other competitors dropped out, we succeeded handsomely. But look at the emotional approach I used. There is nothing about the product’s technical advantages, nothing about the powerful memory of the unit. I just knew the nature of the product and the person buying this product. Each product has an inherent nature, and understanding that inherent nature will help you sell

Here’s some copy I wrote that points out the emotional differences in copy. Which sounds better? Example 1: The old woman in the motel. Example 2: The little old lady in the cottage. I was writing an ad on some rubbing oil I had discovered in Hawaii and describing how I had discovered it. Example 1 was in my first draft but example 2 sounded much better. I’m not suggesting that you materially change the facts of a situation to suit an emotional feeling. In this case, the motel office was in a small cottage, and the word cottage gave the copy a better emotional feel. What do you think? Do you “feel” the difference

Let’s discuss one of the most important and basic copywriting principles I teach. In fact, if you can understand and learn this single point, you will have mastered a major lesson in writing good advertising copy. Never sell a product or service. Always sell a concept. What do I mean by “concept”? There are many words that mean the same thing. One day, for example, the hot buzzword in advertising might be positioning. A product is positioned or placed in such a way as to appeal to the consumer. Other terms commonly used are Big Idea, or USP (unique selling proposition), maybe even gimmick. Whatever it’s called, it means basically the same thing. You sell the sizzle and not the steak—the concept and not the product

Or take the example of the Pocket Yellow Pages I referred to in the previous chapter. Doesn’t that name express everything you really need to know about the product in a simple concept? In that ad I didn’t sell the product, but rather the concept of standing in a phone booth and pulling out an electronic directory to the surprise and delight of those around you. Another example was a smoke detector I was selling. Instead of selling it as a smoke detector, the headline screamed, “Nose”—a product that just sat on your ceiling and sniffed the air. It sold quite

All three ads did very well and more than 20,000 chess computers were sold. And all three had different concepts associated with them.Meanwhile, my competition was out there in force trying to sell their chess computers but not succeeding because they were selling chess computers and not Soviet Challenges and Karpov Accepts—concept advertising. If your advertising just sells the product, be careful. You need a concept. If you’ve come up with a unique concept, fantastic. You’ll do much better

I learned a lesson from those visits to car showrooms. You can’t tell the prospect enough about a subject he or she is truly interested in. And so it is with copywriting. People will read with a high degree of intensity if you are talking about something they are genuinely or passionately interested in.

In conclusion, there are two basic reasons for using the long-copy approach. The first is to allow you to create an environment that will place your prospect in the proper buying mood, and the second is to give you the time necessary to tell the full story of your product. Short Copy Works, Too Robert Scott of Scottcade Ltd. , an English mail order company, came to my seminar and told me that his approach broke all of my rules. His catalog copy was very short, yet he still sold a lot of merchandise. But his catalog really appeared to follow my rules. First, he created his environment through photography. The products were placed in elegant settings using fine photography.

Dig the notes?

Buy the book on Amazon