Post on 14-Apr-2017
The History of
Copywriting
The Evolution of a Culture
IIIRULE OF THREE
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The history of copywriting is one of trailblazers, late nights, and a culture that turned upside down. It’s one of a world that influenced ideas, and ideas
that influenced the world.
“If I ask you to think about something, you can decide not to. But if I make you feel something?
Now I have your attention.” — Lisa Cron
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Copywriting has changed in many ways.And stayed the same
in many others.
In the early 20th centuIn the early 20th century, the practice of
advertising and copywriting was to simply state
the facts. Of course, the facts weren’t always the
facts: smoking was good for you, and fizzy drinks
made you healthy.
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Evolution.This gThis gradually evolved, so that advertising came to be about speaking to a culture. It would be necessary to communicate an idea, to describe a mood, a feeling. This could only be possible with a talented copywriter on the frontline.
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It’s about understanding what the hell’s going on
around you.— George Lois
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Advertising, once a gamble, has thus become, under able direction, one of the safest of
business ventures“
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The idea of using psychology
and market research in
copywriting hit its stride in the
1960s (a decade we’ll come
back to) but the idea had been
around since the 1920s.
Claude C. Hopkins, hailed as one of Claude C. Hopkins, hailed as one of
the pioneers of the advertising world,
published his seminal work ‘Scientific
Advertising’ in 1923.
In it he said:
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Hopkins understood that marketing could be
measured and perfected, and his words have been
followed by copywriters and the advertising
industry ever since.
Copywriters must have a good, well-researched reason for everything that they write.“
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Confessions of an Ad ManDavid Olgilvy, 1963
Copywriters were now seen as stylish innovators, trailblazers, creative thinkers, and there was an arms race on for the
most exciting campaign yet.
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Young people were literally increasing their numbers, with the postwar baby boom generation coming of age in the sixties.
Advertising was coming of age too.
EEverything was becoming more colourful, and copywriting wasn’t about to be left behind. The industry had caught up with technology, and photography and language were combined in revolutionary artwork. In 1960 Doyle Dane Bernbach introduced the ‘creative team’ approach, an ingenious move that brought copywriters and art directors together.
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VW BeetleThe campaign for the VW Beetle defied expectations with its ‘Think Small’ campaign.
It It took what you might assume to be a negative, its negligible size, and turned it into something exciting, rebellious, and provocative.
It It was creativity at its most potent – taking established norms and shaking them up to create something completely new.
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Coca-Cola.In 1971 Coca Cola released their groundbreaking television commercial with the jingle “I’d like to buy the world a coke”.
It shIt showed people from all parts of the world, gathered together on a hilltop, singing in harmony.
The debut of MTV(1981)
Advertising continued to become more sophisticated, and 1981 saw the debut of MTV, which would herald a new era for advertising and the youth market.
TTechnology continued to evolve until in 1993, the Internet had built up 5 million users. No one yet knew the ramifications it would have for copywriting.
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TechnologyOver the course of human
history, everything has changed
with technology.
FiFirst we told stories with cave
paintings. Then we told stories
on paper, then on the television
and now we use something called
the Internet. We can only guess
at the developments we’ll see in
the next 50 years, but the odds
arare they’ll be stranger than we
expect.
Phone • 020 7118 0333 Email • copywriter@rule-of-three.co.uk
.Contact us.
www.rule-of-three.co.uk
IIIRULE OF THREE