Scientific Advertising (Paperback)

by Claude C. Hopkins (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Nobody, at any level, should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times" -- David Ogilvy --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Description
American advertising pioneer CLAUDE C. HOPKINS (1866-1932) is still renowned today for developing such marketing innovations as coded coupons that could be used to track the success of varying offers. His methods are still prized for their efficacy today. In this groundbreaking 1923 work, written after he retired as president and chairman of one of the world's biggest ad agencies, Hopkins shares the secrets of successful marketing that are just as relevant today as they were almost a century ago. Learn: . how advertising laws are established . the importance of just salesmanship . why businesses must offer service . mail order advertising: what it teaches . what makes headlines effective . understanding customer psychology . how to use art in advertising . how to use samples . the best way to test campaigns . the impact of negative advertising . and much more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 92 pages
• Publisher: Cosimo Classics (December 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160520045X
• ISBN-13: 978-1605200453
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #757,312 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterwork to This Day, December 22, 2003

By	James Sadler (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Scientific Advertising (Paperback)

All the modern giants of advertising still swear by this book. Ogilvy even claimed it changed his life (in advertising anyway, but who knows, advertising is Ogilvy's life). The book is amazing in both its simple and direct approach. It's relatively short, yet packed with information of use to anyone interested in advertising.

Hopkins essentially invented many of the concepts that so many advertisers take for granted today, chief among them what seems like a simple idea: the coupon. And even today, many advertisers fail to get results when they stray from his teachings.

One of the most famous examples of failing to follow his teachings: the "Got Milk" campaign. Sure, it seems clever and it's definitely high profile, but from a marketing standpoint, it's a flop. Milk sales have not moved upward at all despite the fact that milk producers are now several years into the campaign. Want to know why it failed? Read Hopkins's book.

Whether you are an individual considering a career in advertising or an businessperson trying to figure out how best to market your business, start with Hopkins and then move onto the rest.

All advertising before "Scientific Advertising" flows into it; and all advertising after "Scientific Advertising" flows out of it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The King Still Lives, March 5, 2008

By	Randy Kemp "Randy Lewis Kemp" (Carol Stream, Il USA) - See all my reviews

There is an old saying that goes, "there is nothing new but what has been forgotten." Advertising is about 100 years old, but the science and art behind what appears to buying psychology, really hasn't changed that much. If you study this work of Claude C. Hopkins, you will understand that he pioneered methods that are still used today. David Ogilvy was another one of these pioneers, and he said, "no one should be in advertising that has not read Scientific Advertising at least seven times." If you study any of the notable marketing gurus today (e.g. - Dan Kennedy), they are just positioning what Claude has said in a contemporary format. And even marketing for the Internet - if you look beyond the HTML bells and whistles - is still utilizing the basic psychology of sales letter generation, and copywriting, that Claude pioneered.
www.randykempcopywriting.com

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Before you purchase you must know..., September 30, 2008

By	Lance Jepsen "Author of Internet Marketing: P... (Clovis, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scientific Advertising (Paperback)

Before you purchase this book, you must know that it was written so long ago that the english used is, well... old school for lack of a better cliche.

With that being said, this is the book that started marketing. Before this book and Claude Hopkins, there was no discipline called marketing. So you have to give the man the respect he deserves. In his day, Claude Hopkins revolutionized the world with his ideas on marketing. In particular, he created the science of marketing by applying the scientific principle to advertising. The very definition of marketing which is the ability to quantify and measure your advertising efforts (if you aren't measuring how well your ads are doing then you are not doing marketing at all but instead PR) came from this man, in this book.

If Claude Hopkins was alive today, he would absolutely dominate Internet marketing.

Yes, the concepts are way dated. Yes, the english used is hard to understand and follow at certain points. No, this book will not cause your sales to triple by giving you an easy, step by step roadmap to follow. But does that mean it isn't worth reading? I think not. Anyone who is on a quest to become a master marketer must buy this book. As the cliche goes, if you don't know where you've been, then how do you know where you are going?

From the author of Internet Marketing-Profits That Lie Hidden In Your Website: How To Triple Your Web Sales In 25 Days