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50 Things I’ve Learned in 50 Years

By John Caples
Vice President, Batten, Barton, Durstine
& Osborn, Inc.

Editor’s Note: On September 7, 1925 John Caples began his

career as a copywriter with Ruthrauff & Ryan, an advertising agency that

specialized in handling mail order accounts. In 1927 he moved to BBDO

where he is still active.

The famous ad “They laughed when I sat down at the piano,”

a n d o t h e r w e l l -k n o w n c a m p a i g n s w e r e o r i g i n a t e d b y J o h n C a p l e s .

He has written copy for many nationally known products and has

supervised advertising research for Du Pont, General Electric,

U.S. Steel, Lever Brothers, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Phoenix

Mutual Life Insurance, The Reader’s Digest, United Fruit,

Goodrich Tires, U.S. Navy Recruiting, The Wall S treet Journal

and others.

Caples has taught advertising at Columbia and at the

Advertising Club of New York. He is the author of four books on

advertising and in 1973 was elected to the Copywriters Hall of

Fame. In 1975 the fourth edition of his book “Tested Advertising

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M e t h o d s ” w a s p u b l i s h e d b y P r e n t i c e -H a l l . T h i s b o o k h a s a l s o

been published in Japanese and Italian. In this article John tells

some of the things he has learned in his long career concerning

headlines, copy, copy testing and account handling.

Headlines

1. The Headline is the most important element in most

advertisements.

2. T h e b e s t h e a d l i n e s a p p e a l t o t h e r e a d e r ’ s s e l f-i n t e r e s t

or give news. Examples:

The secret of making people like you

D o y o u h a v e t h e s e s y m p t om s o f n e r v e e x h a u s t i o n ?

Announcing a new fiction writing course

How a new discovery made a plain girl beautiful

3. Sometimes a minor change in a headline can make a

difference in pulling power. A mail order ad for a book on auto -

mobile repair had this headline:

How to repair cars

The pulling power of this ad was increased 20% by changing

the headline to read:

How to fix cars

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4. R e-c a s t i n g a h e a d l i n e c a n m a k e a b i g d i f f e r e n c e i n

response. Here is the headline of a couponed ad selling retire-

ment annuities:

A v a c a t i o n t h a t l a s t s th e r e s t o f y o u r l i f e

Here is the headline of an ad that pulled three times as

many coupons:

A guaranteed income for life

T h e l o s i n g h e a d l i n e a t t e m p ts t o b e c l e v e r b y c a l l i n g r e t i r e -

ment a vacation. The winning headline is a straightforward promise

of a benefit.

5. Long headlines that say something are more effective than

short headlines that say nothing. A book publisher had difficulty selling

a book with the title “Five Acres.” This book was transformed into a

best seller by changing the title to: “Five Acres and Independence.”

Another publisher had a book entitled “Fleece of Gold.” The

sales of the book were more than quadrupled when the title was

changed to “Quest for a Blonde Mistress.”

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6 . In writing headlines, the copywriter should try to

break the boredom barrier. “How I became a star salesman”

was the headline of a successful ad for a course in salesmanship.

The pulling power of the ad was increased by changing the headline

to “H ow a fool stunt made me a star salesman.”

Copy

7. Write your copy to the sixth grade level. Simple

language is not resented by educated people. And simple language

is the only kind that most people understand. When you read over

your copy, say to yourself: “Will this be understood by my barber

or by the mechanic who fixes my car?”

8. What you say is more important than how you say it.

Mail order advertisers do not use expensive artwork or fancy

language.

9. Illustrations that show the p roduct in use or the reward of

u s i n g t h e p r o d u c t o r s e r v i c e a r e u s u a l l y t h e mo s t e f f e c t i v e .

Examples: In an ad for a bicycle, a picture of a boy riding a

bicycle shows the product in use. In a retirement income ad, a

picture of a happy couple sitting on a beach in Florida shows the

reward of using the service.

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10. There are two forces at work in the minds of your

prospect. (1) Skepticism, and (2) The desire to believe. You

can do your prospects a favor by giving them evidence that what

you say is true. Your client will also benefit by getting increased

response.

11. Specific statements are more believable than generalities.

An example of a specific statement is the famous slogan for Ivory

Soap – “99 44/100% pure”

12. In c lu d e t e s t i mo n i a l s i n y o u r a d s . T w o a d s f o r a f i n a n c i a l

publication were split -run tested in Reader’s Digest. The ads were

identical except that one contained four brief testimonials buried in

the copy. The ad with the testimonials produced 25% more sales.

S o m e of t h e m o s t s u c c e s s f u l m a i l o r d e r a d s h a v e b e e n b u i l t e n t i r e l y

around testimonials. Examples: “I was a 97 pound weakling” ...

“How I improved my memory in one evening.”

13. Localized testimonials in local media are especially

effective. Seven coupon ed ads for a public utility were tested in

New Haven newspapers. One ad featured a testimonial from a New

Haven woman. This ad outpulled all the others. A newspaper campaign

f e a t u r i n g l oca l t e s t i m o n i a l s f o r a p a c k a g e d l a u n d r y s o a p r a i s e d t h e

sales of the soap from fourth place to first place.

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14. Ads that involve the reader are effective. For example,

the best pulling ad for a book of etiquette showed a picture of a man

walking between two women. Headline: “What’s wrong in this

picture?” A successful ad for a course in Interior Design had this

headline: “Can you spot these 7 common decorating sins?”

15. Straightforward ads usually outpull “cute” ads. Two

couponed ads soliciting subscriptions for a daily newspaper were

tested by mail order sales as follows:

Ad No. 1

Headline: “Take it from me this

is t h e n e w s p a p e r f o r y o u . ”

Illustration: Picture of a smiling newsboy

offering the reader a copy of

the Times.

Ad No. 2

Headline: How to get the Times

delivered to your home

Illustration: No illustration. Just headline

and copy

Results: Ad No. 2 outpulled Ad No. 1 by 190%

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16. In writing copy, don’t merely tell your prospect the

benefits he will get by buying your product or service. You

should also tell him what he will lose if he doesn’t buy.

17. Put your best foot forward in your copy. A copywriter

asked my opinion of an ad he had written. He said: “I saved the

best benefit till the end and used it as a punch line in the last

paragraph.” I said: “Put your best benefit in the first paragraph.

Otherwise the reader may never get to your last paragraph.”

18. Avoid humor. You can entertain a million people

and not sell one of them. There is not a single h umorous line in

two of the most influential books in the world, namely, the Bible

and the Sears Roebuck catalog.

19. If you want to drive home a point, you should say it

three times. For example, suppose you are making a free offer.

A t t h e b e g i n n in g o f y o u r c o p y , s a y “ I t ’ s f r e e . ” I n t h e m i d d l e

of your copy, say “It costs nothing.” At the end, say “Send no

money.”
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20. You can sometimes combine two successes to make

a super success. For example: Seven ads for house paint were

tested fo r pulling power. Here are the headlines of the two most

successful ads:

1. New house paint made by (name of manufacturer)

2. This house paint keeps white houses whiter

These two headlines were combined as follows:

New house paint made by (name of manufacturer)

keeps your white house whiter

A campaign with this theme sold more house paint than any

previous campaign.

21. Lon g copy sells more than short copy. The more you

tell, the more you sell.

22. Write more copy than you need to fill the space. If

you need 500 words of copy, begin by writing 1,000 words. Then

b o i l i t d o w n t o a c o n c i s e , f a c t -p a c k e d m e s s a g e .

23. You can often improve the pulling power of an ad by

setting a time limit. Retail advertisers increase sales by setting

a c u t -o f f d a t e . R e a d e r ’ s D i g e s t , i n s e l l i n g s u b s c r i p t i o n s , f r e q u e n t l y

u s e s s u c h p h r a s e s a s : “ R e tu r n t h i s c a r d b e f o r e O c t o b e r 3 1 ” .
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24. Spell out your guarantee. The word guarantee has

been used so many times it has lost much of its force.

H e r e i s a c l a s s i c e x a m p l e o f a s p e l l e d -o u t g u a r a n t e e :

“This is my own straightforward agreement that you

can have my coaching material in your hands for 10

days examination and reading before you make up

your mind to keep it. You are to be the sole judge.

“You can return the material for any reason, or for

no reason at all, and your decision will not be questioned.

Your refund check will be mailed to you in full by the very

n ext mail. This agreement is just as binding as though

i t h a d b e e n w r i t t e n i n l e g a l t er m s b y a l a w y e r . ”

25. You should ask for action at the end of your ad. Tell

the reader what you want him to do. Sometimes it pays to offer

a reward for action. In selling a 10-volume world history, the

B o o k -o f - t h e - M o n t h C l u b o f f e r s a f r e e b o o k “ t o n e w m e m b e r s w h o

enroll at this time.”

26. People who buy once are your best prospects for

buying again. I used to write ads for a publisher who sold little

booklets by mail for 25¢ each. The people who bought the booklets
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were good prospects for th e publisher’s $5 books. And a number of

the folks who bought the $5 books were later induced to buy the

publisher’s $25 library. The same principle applies in fund raising.

People who give once are the best prospects for giving again.

2 7 . T h e c o p y w r it e r ’ s j o b d o e s n o t b e g i n a t 9 a . m . N o r d o e s

it end at 5 p.m. His job is with him all the time. Some of his best

ideas come to him while he is shaving in the morning, while he is

riding on a bus, or at lunchtime, or while he is walking along the

street, or sometimes in the middle of the night. He should have

paper and pencil handy at all times. He should write down ideas

the minute they occur. Otherwise some of his most precious thoughts

will be lost.

Testing

28. The key to success in advertising (maximum sales per

dollar) lies in perpetual testing of all variables.

29. Over the years, many methods for testing copy have

been devised. Opinion tests, readership tests, eye camera tests,

pupilometer tests, recall tests, comprehension tests, c oupon tests,

inquiry tests, attitude tests, etc. Most of these tests produced

useful information.
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30. Here is a simple test. When you write a piece of

copy, put i t aside and read it over the next day. You will almost

always be able to improve it.

31. Another simple method is to ask somebody to read

your copy aloud. If he stumbles over a sentence, say to yourself:

“That’s not his fault. I t ’ s m y f a u l t . I m u s t ma k e t h e s e n t e n c e

better.”

32. If you want to get an associate’s opinion of an ad you

wrote, don’t show him just one ad. Chances are he will try to

please you b y saying: “It’s good.” That gets you nowhere. Show

him two ads and say, “Which is better?”

33. Testing ads by asking people for their opinion is helpful.

H o w e v e r , i t c a n b e m i s l e a d i n g . M a n y w i l l n o t v o t e f o r a l l -t y p e

ads. Most believe that an ad is not good unless it has a picture.

T h i s i s n o t s o . S o m e o f t h e b e s t -p ull i n g m a i l o r d e r a d s h a v e h a d n o

pictures.
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34. In an opinion test, people hesitate to reveal their

selfish motives. For example, in an opinion test of life insurance

ads, an ad with the headline “What would become of your wife if

something happened to you?” outpulled an ad with the headline

“To men who want to quit work some day.” When th ese ads were

subjected to a mail order sales test, the results were reversed.

35. Do not discard opinion testing because it is sometimes

i n a c c u r a t e . O p i n i o n t e s t i n g h a s o n e b i g a d v a n t a g e o v e r m a i l order

tests. You can ask the respondents why they voted for a certain

ad. You can find out if the copy is understood o r misunderstood.

You cannot do these thin gs in a mail order test.

36. The best tests, if properly handled, are sales tests.

Mail order advertisers have an advantage in this respect. Every

mail order ad is a sales test. In mail order, you can test copy,

media, position in media, and season – all by sales results.

H e n c e, m a i l o r d e r a d v e r t i s e r s k n o w a g r e a t d e a l a b o u t t h e

realities of advertising. Much of this knowledge is applicable

in those forms of advertising which cannot be accurately tested.

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3 7 . T h e m o s t a c c u r a t e t e s t i s a m a i l o r d e r s p l i t -r u n

test where two ads – Ad A and Ad B – are tested under identical

c o n d i t i o n s . M a n y p u b l i c a t i o n s o f f e r s p l i t -r u n c o p y t e s t i n g . T h e y

do this by splitting the press run. Ad A runs in half the circulation .

Ad B runs in the other half of the circulation – same issue, same

page, same position on the page. If a news dealer has 100 copies

of the publication, 50 copies will contain Ad A and 50 copies will

contain Ad B. Thus each ad has an equal chance to get results.

3 8 . T e s t i n g c o p y i s f u n , e x c i t i n g , r e w a r d i n g . I r eca l l

working on ads for a finance company that offered small loans.

Several of us wro te ads and we tested them in newspapers by

counting phone calls from prospects. For example, one ad would

say “Telephone this number and ask for Miss Smith.” Another

ad would say “Ask for Miss Miller,” and so on. Thus we could

tell exactly how much business each ad brought in. Then each

copywriter would bet a dollar that his ad would win. Testing

copy became a game we all enjoyed. It was as thrilling as

betting on a horse race. We learned a lot. And the client

benefi t ted.
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Account Handling

3 9 . W h e n y o u a r e s ol i c i t i n g a n e w a c c o u n t , d o n ’ t t e l l

the ad manager how bad his ads are. You may be talking to the

man who wrote the ads.

40. In starting work on a new account, you are sometimes

faced with the tough problem of beating the client’s best ad – an

ad th a t h e h a s u s e d s u c c e s s f u l l y f o r y e a r s . H o w d o y o u p r o c e e d ?

One way is to include in your ad every good thing in the prospect’s ad

plus some good things of your own. Another way is to test,

not just one new ad but ten new ads. Your chances of finding a

winner are increased tenfold.

41. Here is a philosophy you can use when your ad is

c o m p e t i n g w i t h s o m eb o d y e l s e ’ s a d . I f y o u r a d w i n s , you c a n s a y

to yourself: “My experience paid off.” If your ad loses, you

can say, “I learned something.”

S o c ra t e s u s e d a s i m i l a r p h i l o s o p h y i n r e g a r d t o m a r r i a g e .

He said: “If a man has a good marriage, that is a good thing.

If he has a bad marriage, he becomes a philosopher, and that is

a good thing.”
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4 2 . Clients o f t e n t i r e o f a d s b e f o r e t h e p u b l i c d o e s .

Hence advertisers who cannot measure sales results frequently

demand a new campaign every year or so. Mail order advertisers

repeat an effective ad till it wears out. Max Sackheim’s famous

ad “Do you make these mistakes in English?” ran for 40 years

before it wore out.

43. Be honest. I recall serving an advertising manager

who was the smartest client I ever met. I said to myself: “I can

never fool this man. If I think a quarter page ad will be more

efficient than a full page ad, I must tell him so, even though the

agency makes only one fourth as much commission. If I try to

mislead him, he will see through me. After that he will never

trust me.” This policy of honesty paid off. It was a happy account

t o w o r k o n f o r e i g h t e e n y e a rs . A f t e r I s t o p p e d s e r v i n g t h i s m a n ,

he continued to recommend my services to other advertisers.

44. Be flexible. I used to take train trips to Hartford to

present new ads to the advertising manager of a large insurance

company. It was a happy rela tionship. The ad manager became

one of my best friends. We usually agreed on ads. But sometimes

we disagreed. In those cases, I argued all morning for my point

of view. But after lunch, I would remark: “There may be some-

thing in what you say. Wh en I get back to my office, I’ll try it

your way.”
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45. Be diplomatic. A successful account executive said

to me: “If the ad manager is in a rejecting mood, I don’t show

him any more new ads that day. I keep them in my brief case

and show them to him some other time.”

46. Don’t feel bad if your client revises your ad. He will

like the ad better and his revisions may improve it.

Miscellaneous

47. Bruce Barton, former head of BBDO, gave this advice:

“Be polite to everybody, even the Western Union messenger. You

never know when he may turn up as a client. If you are going to

be mean to somebody, be mean to the chairman of the board. He

won’t be around very long.”

48. Get out and meet new people whenever you can. Don’t

spend all your time with comfortable old cronies. One time I

was having lunch with a BBDO associate. A man stopped at our

table. It was Roy Durstine who was then president of BBDO.

He said: “You men can’t make any money talking to each other.”
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49. Alex Osbo rn, former vice chairman of BBDO said:

“Never have an open break with anyone. The memory of the

break will linger on long after the object of disagreement has

been forgotten.”

50. Find work you enjoy. My earliest ambition was to

make enough money so I could retire at forty. But at twenty -five,

I had the good fortune to get into advertising. Now that I am in

my seventies, I never want to retire. The secret of happiness is

enjoyable work plus helping others.