The History of

Copywriting

The Evolution of a Culture

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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

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