“Seven Ads That Changed the World”

#1 Sherman Cody Course in English by Max Sackheim 1922........................................... 2

#2 Headlines That Smash Disbelief (1951 author unknown) ............................................. 7

#3 The More You Tell the More You Sell (1972 Ogilvy & Mather’s ‘House Ads’) ....... 10

#4 "What 1920's Marketers Knew About Authority in Advertising" ............................... 12

#5 Three Decade Running Qualifying Ad That Printed Money ....................................... 17

#6 Forty-Year-Old Ads That Would Pull Today (Eugene Schwartz 1969)...................... 18

#7 $10 Million on a $10 Book And No Backend (Joe Karbo 1979) ................................ 21

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 Isn’t it overly dramatic to label this “Seven Ads That Changed the World?”

I would be the first to admit it is. But these ads or the genres they represent certainly
left their mark

And there’s no direct response advertiser who wouldn’t profit by having them in his
repertoire.

Please note that because of space limitations, these ads have been reduced in size to fit
in a single PDF.

Regards,

Lawrence

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#1 Sherman Cody Course in English by Max Sackheim 1922

A greyer Sherman Cody after nearly four successful decades

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 How to use the best pulling headline in the
history of direct response advertising to boost
your response
For over 40 years it was completely immune to control
beaters yet any advertiser can channel its psychology
with equal power today

Max Sackheim may have written it over 80 years ago, yet it continues to wield
tremendous power to this day. No direct response ad ever came close to its four
decade staying power.

Even the great copywriter Gary Bencivenga pulled this headline out of his
repertoire in the 1995 ad: "Do You Make These Mistakes in Job Interviews?"

Exactly what accounts for its stunning success?

It's the word: "these."

By itself, the word "these" is rather harmless looking. Paired with the word
"mistakes" it creates a vortex that sucks the reader into the body copy.

You've got to find out what these mistakes are. Since the advertiser knows
which specific mistakes, he must know the answers as well. And if he's got the
answers, then he must be an authority.

All this subtle yet potent psychology happens in the headline.

Authority and curiosity work forcefully together. And any advertiser can
harness this power. Some examples:

• Do You Make These Mistakes in Estate Planning?

• Do You Make These Mistakes in Direct Marketing?
• Do You Make These Mistakes Choosing Vitamins?

You get the idea.

Of course there are limitations here. No one will beat an A-list writer's control-
package headline by swiping, no matter how successful the original. But this

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strategy can be tremendously successful for 95% of everyday advertisers.
You can also try this when a headline isn't performing or when you want to breathe
new life into an old and tired ad.

Notice the great subheads Sackheim uses, the powerful benefits you'll get from
taking the course, and the promise of almost instant results. Everything works
together like an ensemble as all great ads do.

It’s interesting to note that Sackheim took several earlier swings at the plate for
this client with only ordinary results. Once he got the right headline, no ad writer on
the planet could conquer it.

A 1922 crack at it

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 The first try in 1921

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#2 Headlines That Smash Disbelief (1951 author unknown)

Headlines That Smash Disbelief

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 hat do you do when your prospects believe your product or service is
too good to be true?

Some products or services are so superior to everything else in the marketplace

it's an uphill battle to convince your prospects that they're everything you say and
more.

If you've ever made a really incredible offer for one of your products or services
and asked yourself: "why aren't they buying?" You know what I mean.

What's the solution?

Take the position of your prospect. Become the doubting Thomas your prospect
is. And there's no better place to attack their objection than by raising it yourself in
the headline.

Yes, it takes some guts.

The tendency is to make the big promise, tell about all the great benefits and
overcome the awkward objection in the fine print. But a lot of prospects bail out
before you get a chance.

Here are a few examples:

• “Crazy as it Sounds, Shares of This Tiny R&D Company, Selling for $2

Today, Could be Worth as Much as $100 in the Not-Too-Distant
Future.” This clever ad writer is acknowledging disbelief in the headline. He
knows without it, you'll say "yeah right, another pumped up stock pitch" and
move on.
• “Who Ever Heard of 17,000 Blooms from a Single Plant?” Eugene
Schwartz wrote this ad in 1958 and it cleared the shelves of plant nurseries
from coast-to-coast. He's siding with his skeptical reader by acknowledging
this is a stretch.
• "They Thought I Was Crazy to Ship Live Maine Lobsters As Far As
1,800 Mile from the Ocean" Immediately addresses the objection to
lobsters for sale by mail order which someone would still have in 2006.

But the ad writer goes on to raise every single objection you could have for not
buying Maine lobsters by mail order and overcomes them all. He uses a folksy me-
to-you style of copy, tells you that you can actually steam the lobsters in the
container they're shipped in without getting your hands dirty and offers a full money
back guarantee. Of course, he explains the re-icing process that happens when the
lobsters are shipped by 1st Class Railway Express. He also cleverly uses specificity.
He mentions his 18,685 delighted customers. And then he gives you a choice of
which package to order. There's no "yes" or "no" option. It's take your pick of four
seafood feasts. A great sales strategy that works just as well today.

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Fighting an Objection in the Headline Can Work Wonders

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#3 The More You Tell the More You Sell (1972 Ogilvy & Mather’s ‘House Ads’)

“Long copy stuffed with specific information”

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 Ogilvy and Mather ran about a dozen of these magnificent ‘house ads’ in the 60’s
and 70’s. As Ogilvy says in his landmark Ogilvy on Advertising, there wasn’t another
ad agency that could pull it off. It brought them a boatload of business.

I’ve tracked down about 20 of them and can tell you if you’re advertising an ad
agency (or yourself) -- a.k.a a ‘house ad’ -- there’s no better material to swipe than
O&M in this period.

Only one ‘house ad’ writer was bolder than O&M and his name was Gary Bencivenga
for the agency of the legendary copywriter Dan Rosenthal

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#4 "What 1920's Marketers Knew About Authority in Advertising"

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 t's a fact.

When you infuse a headline with authority, you automatically channel more
readers into your body copy.

It's nothing new.

By the 1920's, ad writers had already mastered the authority trigger. The ad
above is one of the best examples.

Today especially, any product, potion or publication even remotely related to

medicine or health requires the stamp of an MD or a PhD just to get 'em to read the
body copy.

That's why "When Doctors Feel Rotten -- This is what They Do" was such a
smash. It hammered the reader with authority right in the headline. (Notice also
the testimonial from Babe Ruth who at the time was the best known person in
America.)

But what about softer markets in which the standards of proof are more mortal?

The memory improvement market has been wide open for a century

"Memory improvement" is a great example of a market almost anyone could take

over.

That's because:

• No formal credentials are required to stake a claim nor does it have any
professional organizations
• Not a single university on the planet offers a degree in it
• No regulatory agencies police it the way they do investments, prescription
drugs, real estate and a host of other markets

If tomorrow, you wanted to claim the title of the word's foremost memory expert,
no one could stop you. The market is as wide open today as it was a century ago.

The ad below is remarkable considering it was written 79 years ago: four decades
before Eugene Schwartz immortalized Harry Lorayne's memory improvement
course.

Right away, it waves a red flag at the reader.

It doesn't just read -- "Can You Pass This Memory Test?" but "Can You Pass This
Simple Memory Test?" The implication is whoever can't pass it is simple. Not only
do the headline and the test both hook like crazy but authority is convincingly
offered by the title -- World's Most Famous Memory Expert.

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 The ad also promises instant results, just like the ad for the Sherwin Cody School
of English.

Compare this ad to its predecessor eight years earlier in which the expert's
authority is ‘scrunched up’ in the corner.

The lesson here is showcase your expertise in every ad you create. And if
someone is willing to challenge you, then take 'em on. It's the best publicity you'll
ever get, except not 1-in-a-100 will dare challenge you.

By the way, give the test a try for fun...you might be surprised by your results.

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 #5 Three Decade Running Qualifying Ad That Printed Money
(Newspaper Association of America 1948)

The display ad above printed money like clockwork for nearly three decades.

The writer's market is almost as old as the printing press and they’re examples of
ads in this market from over 100 years ago.

Would "To People Who Want to Write But Can't Get Started" pull today?

Well, the writer's market is a market that never quits. And "not getting started"
covers just about the whole human race.

The headline really snags your attention...which is critical in space since you have
to compete with articles the readership is paying for.

The question that leads off the body copy ("Do you have the constant urge to
write but the fear that a beginner doesn't have a chance?) really pays off the
headline. Beginners in any endeavor worry about not having a chance to get going.

But what was the real hook that powered the motor of this ad for so
long?

It was the writing aptitude test. See how it challenges the reader:

• "Not all applicants pass this test."

• "Those who do are qualified to take the famous N.I.A. course."

Because this ad lays down a challenge which transcends the usual "send your
money to this address" approach, it fans desire.

We all know certifications pervade society at every level...but just who certified
the first certifier? Anyone could create their own prestigious association today and
use exactly such an aptitude qualifying test. And they do.

You may know of the correspondence art school that knocked off this winning
formula.

By the way, this is just one version of dozens of ads that ran from the late-30's
to the mid-50's. Headlines and body copy were tested but the offer remained the
same.

One of the memorable features of this ad is the specificity in the testimonials. In

another version of this ad, a testimonial contained the address, apartment number
and even telephone number of one of the endorsers.

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#6 Forty-Year-Old Ads That Would Pull Today (Eugene Schwartz 1969)

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 There’re dozens of space ads Gene Schwartz wrote which most people haven’t a
clue about today. They don’t appear in the classic Breakthrough Advertising and few
of Gene’s contemporaries are still around. Yet they’re plentiful if you know where to
look.

Here’s why you should care.

If you take the trouble to read -- really read the above ad -- fully 37 years after it
was written, you quickly conclude one thing. This ad would pull like a magnet today
with little or no change to the copy. Even the layout is strong.

Few could match Schwartz’s mastery.

As Denny Hatch says of him, “he piled more benefits into his copy than lights on
the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.” But he did so much more than this.

Take the following excerpt.

“This is the reason we offer this book to you without your risking a
single penny – because we know that you would not want to part with
this book for any amount of money once you see what it can do for your
face in the first half-hour alone!”

What you are going to do is this: You are now going to turn to page 59
and study three simple movements…”

Gene was a master at creating a “feeling of ownership.” He also brilliantly

popularized the technique of telling the reader to turn to page 123 to discover a
simple way of doing blank to cure blank.

The client in the above ad was a company called Information Incorporated. They
published books in health, wealth and self-improvement. Again, these ads were so
uniformly strong; they could pull today with little modification.

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 #7 $10 Million on a $10 Book And No Backend (Joe Karbo 1979)

The above ad is one of the many incarnations of Joe Karbo’s “Lazy Man’s Way to
Riches.”

This was an ad that broke the mold because it appeared in publications all around
the world, including unexpected ones like The Wall Street Journal.

Joe didn’t have a backend and he didn’t need one. The ad for his $10 dollar book
is purported to have mad him $10 million in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Joe continued to test headlines even after he was wildly successful

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