Here’s another ad in the mold of “give them the fish” versus “teach them to fish” — the headline screams it.
This subscription selling offer for a trading advisory bills quarterly.
And the star of this package brings some impressive proof elements to the table by his top placement in the United States Trading Championship. [Continue reading]
UPDATE: October, 2025. I'm still mesmerized by the power of this evergreen financial pitch. And hailing from Gary Bencivenga, how could it be anything but a perfect pitch? You won't find any fancy graphic design or embellishments here. Heck, … [Continue reading]
As a warm-up for the remarkable supplements ad that grabbed readers' eyeballs from 2012-2015... It's worth a look at an advertiser that made its bones with the power of demonstration. Because as our copywriting patriarch, Claude Hopkins, said: … [Continue reading]
I have a soft spot for aging science fiction films. And The Omega Man is near the top of the list. Why? … [Continue reading]
I vividly recall sitting in the cavernous conference room for the Glazer-Kenney-Insider Circle Summit at the Sheraton Park Central Hotel in Dallas in 2005. The big red banner on the wall of the conference room read: … [Continue reading]
Mere book on offer? No way. Here's a headline that dimensionalizes what would otherwise be a prosaic promo. And it was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, starting with The Observer in December 1968 through the Chicago Tribune in June 1974. … [Continue reading]
Ah, Las Vegas... only marketing conferences and children's chess tournaments ever bring me there these days. But I vividly remember wandering around the bustling Electronic Retail Association conference at the Wynn in 2011. Matthew Lesko, the … [Continue reading]
If you live in North America, you've surely bumped into this company's display ads, catalogs, print insertions or radio ads. Here's their 44 giant pages of course creation copywriting if you missed it. There's no topic of academic interest that … [Continue reading]
"SNAP! Change Your Personality in 30 Days" is a pretty whimsical title, even for a big-promise self-help book. While the ad copy for this offer is classic book advertising... any 20th Century advertiser would recognize... the goal is loftier, as … [Continue reading]
If you ever find lead-gen boring, you're not paying attention. Because there are countless markets in direct response and an infinite variety of lead magnets. And sometimes you can learn more from a direct response player OUTSIDE your normal … [Continue reading]
The Sumerian invention of cuneiform tablets was in widespread use as far back as 3400 B.C. Initially, its purpose was for keeping accounts and records of business transactions, but later it developed into a full fledged writing system. And … [Continue reading]
Many are familiar with Gary's two-step, "Hot New Reports" lead gen ad which ran in BIG media, like The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal. But most have never bumped into his complete referral letter to the friends and colleagues of his … [Continue reading]
What can I say? I'm as partial to British English as I am to alliteration... so maths it is. You could just as easily call this Direct Response Vs. Everything Else. Math Magic was classic winning direct response advertising. … [Continue reading]
Here we've got some sublime food copy -- either from Gary Bencivenga himself or from David Rosengarten his student -- for the short lived "Rosengarten’s Fruit-of-the-Month Club" from 2005. … [Continue reading]
This direct mail package might as well have been written a lifetime ago, instead of the the early to late 2000s, when it mailed heavily. Look at all that's changed. … [Continue reading]
Here's some classic two-step advertising in the form of a compact 1/18 of a page advertorial - this ad is picking up steam in late 2025. The tragic news headline and body copy almost feel like a public service ad - and that's why it works. … [Continue reading]
I've been honored to know a lot of great direct response friends and colleagues over the years. … [Continue reading]
This magalog has all the hallmarks of a Clayton Makepeace piece! I'll go out on a limb and say he's the copywriter. This deck copy is a textbook example of dimensionalization in alternative health copy. The "normal" approach would be citing some … [Continue reading]
What a great lead with a WIDE fishing net... ready to pull in almost any reader. You can certainly see the influence of Paul Michael's amazingly evergreen, “How You Can Make a Killing in Coins” in this direct mail package. Few writers can … [Continue reading]
I'm a sucker for response boosters like this that have stood the test of time. And these ads, from Dow Theory Forecasts, ran by the THOUSANDS in the 1960s and 1970s. Why were they so successful and why do some direct mail advertisers use it as … [Continue reading]
Here's a seminar marketing classic from Dan Kennedy and company from the halcyon days of the info summits. What can you learn from this package? Building a BIG, familiar, over-arching THEME that ties everything together... and makes for one FUN … [Continue reading]
This pitch strikes a dark, dystopian tone, warning of AI as a runaway force enabling surveillance, manipulation, and elite control, while urging readers to brace for upheaval and act quickly. Bringing to mind the countless “Are we the baddies?” … [Continue reading]
Here's a package that brings the teaser copy in spades. … [Continue reading]
How could any self-respecting ad archivist resist this swipe in a case study that cost an advertiser $300 k? You've likely run into A Little Mistake That Cost a Farmer $3,000 Each Year in Victor Schwab's classic house ad spread 100 Good … [Continue reading]
Thomas Aquinas systematized the Seven Deadly Sins — the vitia capitalia (“capital sins”) — in the Summa Theologica in the 13th century. Pride, lust, anger, covetousness, envy, sloth, and gluttony. (PLACES-G, for the catechism test next … [Continue reading]