Tested Advertising Methods
Ian Lurie Jan 31 2006
I am rereading Tested Advertising Methods, by John Caples. It’s the definitive work on effective advertising, copy and ad testing. If you want to learn all there is to know about successful ad campaigns, read this book.
It provides great insight into testing ad campaigns and then adjusting those campaigns for the best results. Here’s the punchline, though: It was written over 60 years ago. Yes so few ad agencies follow Caples’ lead. Why is that?
I don’t have any easy answers. The grumpy New Jersey native in me says it’s because most folks lack the motivation to undertake really in-depth testing.
But the historian in me says the real cause is entrenchment: For decades, traditional advertising (direct mail, print, radio and TV) was the only game in town. The firms that followed Caples’ script became the Ogilvys of the world. The ones that didn’t made a solid living on pretty creative and never considered how they could do even more for their clients.
More about this book in my next post.
You can find the book on Amazon: Click here.
Ian Lurie
CEO & Founder
Ian Lurie is CEO and founder of Portent and the EVP of Marketing Services at Clearlink. He's been a digital marketer since the days of AOL and Compuserve (25 years, if you're counting). He's recorded training for Lynda.com, writes regularly for the Portent Blog and has been published on AllThingsD, Smashing Magazine, and TechCrunch.Ian speaks at conferences around the world, including SearchLove, MozCon, Seattle Interactive Conference and ad:Tech. He has published has published several books about business and marketing: One Trick Ponies Get Shot, available on Kindle, The Web Marketing All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies, and Conversation Marketing.Follow him on Twitter at portentint, and on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/ianlurie. Read More