How Claude The Wizard broke the rules
>> Can you spot Mr. Hopkins' secret sauce?
You will agree with me on the following, I hope.
One unassailable principle governs business: Companies and products compete for customers' money.
So a basic assumption in advertising is that a client will never go to an agency that handles any of its competitors.
Yet the most able copywriter ever - Claude Hopkins - overcame this prejudice. He did so through the power of his imagination and intelligence.
You may wonder at my claim "the most able ever" - but Claude's copy sold products like Pepsodent (for which he got the equivalent of $1 million today) Palmolive, and Quaker Oats.
Long before the word "positioning" came out he understood the idea. He found ways to sell competing brands simultaneously without their owners screaming blue murder.
I wasn’t here a century ago, nor were you. So I have no idea how he persuaded competitors their secrets were safe with him, but he did.
But the purpose of these messages is to help you do better; and one way is to make you do a little work.
I hope you’ll forgive me for this.
I’m going to show you advertisements for 5 different car marques Claude worked for. I’d like you to read them then decide what the proposition was for each car.
It’s not a challenging task, but I think you’ll find it very instructive. Ignore the old-fashioned language. What is said matters more than how.
And many of the lines he used still work today. Some seem to me sheer genius.
We learn as much by studying and thinking critically as we do by being told things, if not more.
(And if you think knowledge is the strongest weapon you could have on your side, I'm here.)
Best,
Drayton
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