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Copyranter unearths ancient Ogilvy wisdom

22nd October 2010 by Paul Waddington

Good link here from the ever-cutting Copyranter, who invites young creatives to “put down their f*cking iPhones and learn something”.

It’s a near 2,000-page all-copy ad by ad guru David Ogilvy selling the skills of his agency and I’d wager that all the wisdom still applies. As a writer it’s good to hear affirmation that people read long copy (“the more you tell, the more you sell”) and although one of Copyranter’s commenters disagrees I think that’s still the case today.

The ad is also a great example of thought leadership – letting your wisdom and insight drive business rather than battering people over the head with sales messages.

Not sure what Ogilvy would think of one his agency’s recent copy-heavy efforts, though, a full-page press ad that’s part of the ‘new logistics’ campaign for UPS. I took a pic of its closing paras at the time, a little dumbfounded by the verbosity.

IMG_0517

Was I missing something or is it a little too abstract?

Filed Under: Business copywriting, Great writing picks, Uncategorized Tagged With: Powerful copywriting

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