The consumer isn’t a moron; she’s your wife (Great Quotes on Advertising, 5)

On headlines

The purpose of the headline is to pick out people you can interest… What you have will interest certain people only and for certain reasons. You care only for those people, so create a headline, which will hail those people only! —Claude C. Hopkins, Scientific Advertising

The headline tells the reader what the article is about. And thus gains his first attention. The illustration illustrates it. And thus sustains his interest. … Pictures alone, in publication advertising, do not sway the millions. Pictures mean little without words to explain them. People want to know “WHY”—and that takes more than a picture can tell. —Lasker, The Lasker Story, As He Told It

On subheads

Subheads are like ladder rungs which make it easier and more inviting for the reader to keep going down through more of the body matter of an advertisement. —Schwab,  How to Write a Good Advertisement

On presenting facts

Tell people what to do not what to avoid. —Claude C. Hopkins, Scientific Advertising

Assume that people will do what you ask. Say, “Send now for this sample.” Don’t say, “Why do you neglect this offer?” That suggests that people are neglecting. Invite them to follow the crowd. —Claude C. Hopkins, Scientific Advertising

Why are facts so necessary? You need them in order to create and justify conviction; and you need conviction in order to create and justify sales. —Schwab, How to Write a Good Advertisement

The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything. She wants all the information you can give her. —David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising

We live in a literate country and the stupidest mistake a writer can make is to underestimate the discrimination of the public. —Maxwell Sackheim

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