Martin Sayers

This is copy that saves lives. It’s not often I post about urinals, but what’s written here is so powerful: “Blood in your pee? Contact your GP practice.” Talk about targeting your market. Hats off to everyone at the @NHS involved in this campaign. You are life savers.

And the BBC wonders why people are leaving for Netflix...

OK, some will recognise this ad as the work of David Ogilvy. If you haven’t heard of him, he’s known as The Godfather of Modern Advertising. A Brit who took on New York’s Mad Men and beat them at their own game. He founded the advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather – now just Ogilvy and one of the world’s biggest ad firms. Back in the day, he sold everything from Schweppes tonic, to P&O cruises, to Dove soap and loads more in between. This Rolls Royce ad is perhaps his finest work. And anyone who writes copy can learn from it. Let’s see how and why this copy super hero nails it: BAM! – a headline that grabs its target: It’s long but its powerful – and it singles out the audience he’s speaking too. That's rich people who want - and can afford – a car so smooth-running all they hear is the clock. The line wouldn’t work in a Ford ad, for example – as people buying Fords were worried about cost, reliability, space etc. No, this headline screams luxury. So, he grabs his audience from the outset. Then – KAPOW! – he reels them in with body copy that gives reasons to buy and overcomes objections. ‘Cos Dave knows nobody buys a Roller on a whim – it’s not a chocolate bar – so he pulls out some tricks: ‘The Rolls-Royce is designed as an owner-driven car. It is eighteen inches shorter than the average domestic car.’ Here, he overcomes an objection – most American cars of the day were the size of whales, and many wealthy people had drivers. Some may be suspicious of a shorter auto. But he says that, hey, this car is shorter as it’s for you – not for someone else to drive on your behalf. He reinforces this later by saying it’s easy to drive and park, so no chauffeur required. ‘The Rolls-Royce radiator has never changed, except that when Sir Henry Royce died in 1933 the monogram RR was changed from red to black.’ This writes to the Anglophile nature of his target market, an American who wants an English car - with all the pomp and gravitas attached to it. ‘The finished car spends a week in the final test-shop, being fine-tuned. Here it is subjected to 98 separate ordeals. For example, the engineers use a stethoscope to listen for axle-whine.’ In other words, there’s good reason this car costs so much – as a lot of time, money and effort goes into its production. And note the use of specifics here – ’98 tests’ ‘a stethoscope to listen for axle-whine’. This reinforces the concept of quality and attention to detail and makes them credible. POW! He ends with an (oh so elegantly written) call to action You know exactly what you need to do should you want to shell out $13,995 for Rolls Royce, (which I imagine was more like $200,000 at the time of writing). All in all, copy genius. Final note on this, do you know what car Ogilvy drove? A Morris Minor. (I’m kidding, it was a Rolls – he was a big believer in using everything he advertised.)

Maybe it's because I’m a parent, or just cos’ I’m soft, but I can’t look at this ad without welling up. I saw it on a library pinboard a few years ago and took a snap. I haven’t seen it anywhere else since, which is odd – as it does its job so well. Even though it goes into no details and lists no specifics Why's it so good? Because it hits you with a huge dollop of emotion - the secret sauce of any ad. Anyone who knows anything about copy will tell you that emotion is critical. It is this, ultimately, that drives every purchasing decision. A good copywriter uses emotion to draw in the prospect – then employs logic to overcome any objections and persuade them to buy. But copy isn’t just about encouraging people to buy stuff. It’s about asking people to act. And in the charity sector, logic kinda goes out of the window – as you’re giving, rather than buying. It’s not logical to give your money away. So, it’s all about emotion. A lot of charity copy ladles on emotion with a trowel. And that can sometimes go too far. If people feel they are being guilt-tripped into giving, then they’ll turn away. Equally, use too little emotion and you don’t pull on the heart strings enough. But this ad has it nailed. It lays out all the perfectly logical reasons for not doing what you want the reader to do – foster a child But then blows them all away with a massive, heart-stopping benefit: A happy kid. Bingo. And the design is fantastic – it stands out in a sea of other ads, as it looks like a child’s handiwork. You’re immediately drawn to it. OK, it could do with a decent headline – but you can’t have everything. Fact is – it works.

Look at this old Stella Artois ad, which shows it used to be advertised on the strength of how battered it gets you. Fast forward a few decades and it's now sold as a premium drink that's a cut above other beers. That's been a clever move. The 'reassuringly expensive' tagline and campaign were brilliant and have positioned Stella as a luxury beer that's worth the price. (Why they did away with that sublime slogan is beyond me.) It tastes like paint stripper, but there you go. The lesson here is that you don't have to rely on just one promotional strategy. You can, and should adapt, and try new approaches that focus on different aspects of your brand.

“Breakfast is for women and children” Not me who said this. Hence the speech marks. It was some idiot on here. You see lots of this sort of rubbish on X. (Often accompanied by a dollop of misogyny. I suppose we have the disgusting Andrew Tate to thank for that.) Bullshit, obviously. But you see a few copywriters coming out with it. Embrace the hustle, only sleep three hours, live on adrenaline – blah blah blah. I’d love to know how you can write properly on three hours sleep a night and no breakfast. Actually, I know the answer to that. I tried it through necessity when we had babies in the house. Didn’t go well… I realise it can be tempting to think that you just need to bang out as much copy each day as humanly possible, but it doesn’t work like that. It’s quality, not quantity, that counts in this game. So: Look after yourself. Get proper sleep. Exercise regularly. Have breakfast. Get outside. Speak to people. Your copy – and your health – will be better if you do.

'Brothel in Pimlico' This is a masterclass in copywriting:

This headline has made millions over the years: ‘Do You Make These Mistakes In English?’ It was written by a copywriter called Max Sackheim to sell a mail order language course. The ad ran for forty years, which is extraordinary as it would have constantly been tested against – and beat – multiple variations. And, quite rightly, it has been ripped off hundreds of times over the years. Two real examples i saw just recently - ‘Are You Making These Mistakes In Your Content Marketing?’ and 'Are You Making These Mistakes In Your Golf Swing'. But I’ve read that the first version of the original ad said this: ‘Do You Make Mistakes In English?’ And it didn’t work too well. It was too broad. The addition of one little word – ‘these’ – made sales soar. That’s because it captures people’s attention and makes them curious to find out more. What are these mistakes? Am I making them? Am I not making them? You need to know, so you read on. So, when you can – try and include ‘these’ or ‘this’ in your headlines and subject lines. And remember. It’s knowing how to use techniques like this – rather than talent – that produce profit-pulling copy.

Dear advertising industry of 2024, This is how you write an ad:

2000-word sales letter. 6.1 Flesch score. 0% passive passive sentences

Try this one - it's awesome and gives you a completely fresh take on yourself and your business.