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What’s Wrong With This Ad?

How to Blow $137,600 and Get Zip

Vol. 6, Issue No. 9 | May 11, 2010 By Denny Hatch
16
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In the News

FAMILY IS EVERYTHING
Fisk Johnson, 5th generation Johnson
A thought that is with me every moment of the day. As a father—as a 5th generation Johnson. For years, we've said that SC Johnson is a family company but I just want to take a minute to explain what that really means.

To start, it means that we don't report to Wall Street. The decisions we make come down to caring for you and the world we share—not what analysts want to hear. And quite frankly, that doesn't always mean doing what’s easy. But when I go to bed at night, I know what we’re trying to do is right.

It also means that all those products you've come to trust over the years—things like Windex®, Glade®, Pledge®, and Ziploc®—well, you can trust that they're made with your family's interest in mind. Trust that they're right for your house and our world. We invite you to SCJohnson.com to learn more.

To us, family is more than a relation. It's our inspiration. Inspiration to care. To try to do what's right. To always do better. Times may have changed since my great-great-grandfather started SC Johnson, but the inspiration behind what we do remains exactly the same.

—Fisk Johnson, SC Johnson Co.
Full Page B&W Ad, PARADE, May 2, 2010

Every weekend I receive PARADE as an insert in my Philadelphia Inquirer. Being a direct marketing junkie, I scan it for the bright, busy full-page coupon ads from:

  • Bradford Exchange: Disney and Elvis plates and figurines, coins and Thomas Kinkade artistic kitsch
  • Lenox: Sculptures and Christmas ornaments
  • MBI/Easton Press: Sports collectibles, die-cast model cars and leather bound books

These ads are colorful with powerful offers, great graphics and immediately involving copy. They are masterpieces of their genre.

It was with astonishment that I came across a black-and-white full-page ad in PARADE looking for all the world like a personal note from a member of the Johnson family that makes well-known household products—Windex, Ziploc, Drano, Saran wrap, Fantastik and Pledge furniture wax to name a few. The body copy is set in a courier font that looks like it was generated on an ancient office Remington. At the bottom is a faded snapshot—presumably of the author—that could be the product of Kodak Brownie Box Camera from the 1930s. 

You can read the entire text of the ad in the section titled "IN THE NEWS" to the right. And if you click on the illustration in the mediaplayer, you’ll see what the ad looks like.

Running a retro black-and-white ad amid PARADE's brash color is what they call in show business "casting against type."

The question: Is this a smart way for an advertiser to spend his money?

In Terms of Public Relations: A Masterpiece
First off, this strange little vintage black-and-white effort is a stopper. "The copywriter’s aim in life," wrote copywriter Vic Schwab, "should be to try to make it harder for people to pass up his advertisement than to read it." The reader’s immediate reaction is: “What in the world is this?” and to start reading it.

This is personalization at its most brilliant. For as freelancer Richard Armstrong has pointed out:

The most important word in direct mail copy (aside from "free" of course) is not "you"—as many of the textbooks would have it—but "I." What makes a letter seem "personal" is not seeing your own name printed dozens of times across the page, or even being battered to death with a neverending attack of "you's." It is, rather, the sense that one gets of being in the presence of the writer … that a real person sat down and wrote you a real letter.

Takeaways to Consider

  • “The copywriter’s aim in life should be to try to make it harder for people to pass up his advertisement than to read it.”
    —Vic Schwab
  • “The most important word in direct mail copy (aside from ‘free’ of course) is not ‘you’—as many of the textbooks would have it—but ‘I.’ What makes a letter seem ‘personal’ is not seeing your own name printed dozens of times across the page, or even being battered to death with a never ending attack of ‘you’s.’ It is, rather, the sense that one gets of being in the presence of the writer … that a real person sat down and wrote you a real letter.”
    —Richard Armstrong
  • “In the marketplace, as in theater, there is indeed a factor at work called ‘the willing suspension of disbelief.’”
    —Bill Jayme
  • An ad (or mailing) with no response mechanism can be money wasted.
  • If you want a response, make an offer.
  • Remember AIDA
    A=Attention
    I=Interest
    D=Desire
    A=Action
  • “Have your fulfillment pieces ready before you [run an ad or] mail the offer.”
    —John S. Yeck (1913 -1999)
    Founder, Yeck Brothers
  • Always remember: on the Internet you are a mouse click away from oblivion.
  • Never make a specific offer and then send your prospects to your general home page that has no relation to what they just read. After stumbling around and trying to remember why they went there, they'll say, "The hell with it," and leave.

Websites Related to Today's Edition

SC Johnson: A Family Company
www.scjohnson.com

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
www.franklloydwright.org
 

Companies Mentioned:
16

COMMENTS

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Comment *
Most Recent Comments:
Karen Johnsen - Posted on February 07, 2011
FAMILY IS EVERYTHING - that's what caught my eye. The Johnson's pride is being a fifth generation company should be celebrated! As a consumer I appreciate their environmental work and quality products. And besides, I feel a connection to products that my Mom used her entire life and I continue to buy. But what do I know? I'm just a consumer . . .
Dave Albright - Posted on May 14, 2010
My Thoughts: The Copy in the Ad is brilliant because the powerful associations, smooth transitions and adjoinments wrapping it all up into inspiration generations old. "We don’t report to wallstreet" grabs our attention and aligns the reader to associate SC Johnson with main street. The ad goes on to say "But when I go to bed at night, I know what we're trying to do is right." AND Wham, the anchor, "it also means that all those products…" is tied into the entire identity conveyed above. It goes on, "...you've come to trust over the years." I don’t know if I can ever look at Windex, glade, pledge, or ziploc on the grocery store shelves the same again. I am have visions of heated exchange of discussion in the SC Johnson boardroom. The family making though sacrificing decisions to protect little Johnny and the environment. The real power is that it was done subtly. The paragraph closes with an invitation to the SC Johnson home on the World Wide Web. The virtuous close secures generational foundation, it goes on to activate it by referring to it as their inspiration, the driving force to get up and go to work in the morning in these trying times. And they wrap it up with the good old solid as a rock with the times have changed "but the inspiration behind what we do remains exactly the same." Nice, subtle power and beautifully crafted transition and multi faceted integration.
Kirk Ward - Posted on May 13, 2010
My first take is that this is a positioning ad to differentiate S.C. Johnson from Johnson & Johnson.

As an educational and informative piece, I found it very effective.

Breaking the rules got the readers attention, and the copy gave the reader time to realize that they were a different entity, and not the mega conglomerate with lax manufacturing standards.

If it was localized, it may have been targeting bankers in Philadelphia.
Valerie Lambert - Posted on May 12, 2010
My first response was, "Where's the [trackable] call to action?!"

My second thought was completely suspicious: "If they're doing an ad that is only touchy -feely and NOT trying to sell something, it must be damage control, and I just haven't heard about their scandal yet. Wonder what happened?"

Great suggestion about the /Parade hyperlink, BTW. I bang this drum a lot in presentations. You can't know what works - or doesn't - if you don't test and track your data!

Valerie Lambert
Bilou Enterprises
http://Bilou.info
Wash Phillips - Posted on May 11, 2010
Denny, you hit it on the head: how a warm-and-fuzzy appeal could have been even more meaningful for both customer and company with discreet inclusion of money-saving coupons (when folks are poor), invitations to visit the plant (when folks are traveling in the summer) and "test" results (when marketing data is--as always--valuable). And the lesson of NEVER aeschewing an opportunity.

Of course, we don't know what the Fisk persona's actual specific objective is. But the dignified way you made coupons part of the appeal would have contributed to both the (sincere) touchy-feely AND economic aspects of ad.

I was confused, however, by all the you-I stuff you went on about early, since in principle your conclusions here seemed to run counter to prior notes about Toyota and Tiger Woods. Shows you I'm paying attention, at least!
Fred Lederman - Posted on May 11, 2010
Denny, Denny, Denny…you practical, no nonsense, marketing pro.

Fisk is so refreshing, kinda like like Pledge.

In an economic environment filled with unnerving uncertainty, reduced marketing expenditures, financial institution insolvency and hidden corporate opulence, isn’t it refreshing to witness a Chairman/CEO who doesn’t have to answer to Wall Street with incremental increases in quarterly earnings? Fisk Johnson can spend whatever it takes to share his heartwarming message of family values. I was so moved by his advertisement that I took him up on his offer to learn more about this titan of industry @ http://www.scjohnson.com/en/family/johnsons/fisk-johnson.aspx
To pull a quote or two from that page, “Fisk Johnson's story is still unfolding….He's also a working dad who loves spending time with his daughter, as well as being a pilot, scuba diver and skier.” The end of this webpage continues, “So what will Fisk's legacy be? He hopes it will include helping SC Johnson continue to grow and flourish so we can achieve our ultimate goal of making the world a better place. But at the end of the day, Fisk knows that like his father before him, what matters most is the legacy he can leave as a parent. And that's his top priority.”

I shared this with my client, the CEO of a $170 million privately held company, a few hours ago. I thought that he would be caught up in the spirit of the ad to a level where he might bring his management team into his office so we could link arms and sing “Goombaya” or “We are the world.”

He looked at me, lips quivering, with misty eyes and said, “I’m divorced twice, my kids only call when they want money and I still haven’t seen your cost savings analysis on my direct mail program.”

Some people like the smell of Pledge in the morning, others like the smell of napalm….with regrets to Robert Duvall and “Apocalypse Now”.
Carolyn Hansen - Posted on May 11, 2010
@Cheryl -- I think you're confusing S.C. Johnson with Johnson & Johnson. (Hmmm. Maybe this is a branding issue after all.)

Denny -- I come from Racine, Wisc., and the company headquarters are as spectacular as you say. Your VIP tour idea is a great one.

Carolyn Hansen
www.hackergroup.com
Becky Rice - Posted on May 11, 2010
I saw the ad on Sunday. I got a warm fuzzy feeling, but not much more. A specific url with coupons, toll-free number to call or a follow me on Twitter or facebook to learn more about the Johnson family would have been brilliant. Maybe next time!
Carolynn Van Namen - Posted on May 11, 2010
On the one hand, I totally agree with your assessment that this ad was a huge waste of a great opportunity. On the other, I also agree that the company could probably indulge in a little touchy-feely publicity without experiencing any pain.
Perhaps a distinct call to action would have been jarring in the context of the warm and fuzzy, sentimental letter, ostensibly written by Fisk Johnson.
That said, I concur completely that they missed out on a great relationship-building opportunity to win fans, create more brand love, and inspire customers to talk about/tweet/"like" and otherwise evangelize about the Johnson family of household products. I guess I'd stop short of coupon offers but would surely invite comments and responses at the very least, if not an outright call to action. They could have preserved the warmth and happy feelings without foregoing the chance to connect with consumers through various media.
Dev. Kinney - Posted on May 11, 2010
A client of mine did that after we ran a great ad that pulled like crazy in Southern Living. It was a full page color ad with an inserted BRC as a flag. The next year he ran, unknown to me, another full page ad in black & white with a huge Ludlow looking type with the offer to MAKE $$$$ OR MORE SELLING....ETC. wIth the same BRC flag. I don't know how it did, but he destroyed the brand image we had so carefully built up in the fundraising cookbook market in one fell swoop. It reminded me of what happened to Apple after Jobs got booted.

But getting back to SC Johnson, in markets that big, the issue becomes credibility where the shelf space and packaging determine brand. Offers might seem too canned in this case and destroy the effect...or not.
Mr. Brown - Posted on May 11, 2010
Come on folks, SC Johnson has money to blow on branding, and that is CLEARLY the point of the ad. Maybe they don't care about the metrics behind this particular ad and were ok with just monitoring any lift seen to their website once they knew the ad had been distributed. I'm shocked that so many of you are surprised that someone may actually just want to say something to their millions of consumers and not want anything back. Companies do do this sometimes you know? It's what creates loyalty. And only fools pay rate card prices...no way did they actually pay 137K for the ad in question in that zone. With their clout, probably more like 40-50K. I think's better to write an article critiquing an ad you actually have some background information on. Maybe they wanted zip, but you can't say they blew the money. "Blew" in this instance is a relative term.
Carol Worthington-Levy - Posted on May 11, 2010
Once more, Denny, your pragmatic view makes great sense. For years Richard Potter, John Romero and I did a presentation where we took full page ads out of the Wall Street Journal that were lost opportunities, and we redid them so that they would 1. be more compelling, 2. have a true response mechanism, and 3. could actually pay for themselves in either front-end or back end response. There was no shortage of material. It breaks my heart to see advertisers get talked into stuff like this by their agency. (or, if some senior manager gets this brainstorm, someone near them with more common sense doesn't at least show them how they can raise the bar... alas, there is a lot of butt-kissing going on out there and people are afraid to challenge what the big boss has to say, even if it will make it better). Soft and fuzzy is nice but give me something that will also feed my database with great future relationships and sales. People like warm stories, but unless they paid for the story, they are only willing to suspend disbelief if there promises to be something in it for them to do so. I thought this ad was still a too heavy on the "us" and "we" and it needed to lead off with the "you" a little more strongly. And as a nod to Colin Wheildon [author of “Type & Layout: How typography and design can get your message across - or get in the way”] and Dr. Siegfried Vogele [author of “Handbook of Direct Mail”], the picture should have been at the top of the ad. Your eye shoots straight for the photo and I'd bet most people never even look at the copy. Another offer that could have been perfect in this ad - Tell us why you'd be a great member of our Consumer Advisory Board. People love to give their opinions, and the love even more to feel their opinions will be used and valued. This could have been a fabulous stealth market research program, followed up by an opportunity to introduce new products to a willing audience.
Dean Sims - Posted on May 11, 2010
Denny -

Reading your stuff is like getting a master's degree in marketing. Probably better.

- Dean
Cheryl - Posted on May 11, 2010
In light of their recent recall problems with children's products, wouldn't the ad suffer a bit from pitching discounts on products? What is the best call to action in that situation?

Thanks for always being on the lookout for such advertising gems that always help teach me to be a better copywriter!
Bob Martel - Posted on May 11, 2010
Thanks, Denny!

I wonder whether the ad ran in other zones, or if they tested different copy elsewhere.

Aside from the fact that too many advertising rules were broken (See page 1 of 2,239 Tested Secrets of Direct Marketing Success), and forgetting that it appears to be an irresponsible use of marketing dollars - you have to give them credit for placing a retro ad in an attempt to cut through the clutter.

The only other take away I would add is to be brave enough to break the rules... but know what you are doing!

The ad itself is it's own headline, a "stopper" as you say. I'll bet you the copy was penned by Fisk Johnson himself and nobody in the marketing department would tell the emperor he had no clothes. Looks like they got caught up in the creative and the intent got lost. That's a lot of money wasted just to stroke the ego.

I wonder how Ogilvy, Hopkins, or Schwartz would have rewritten the ad?

Fisk Johnson missed an opportunity to invite us to follow him on Twitter or Facebook!

Bob Martel
Sterling, MA
Gigi Blackshear - Posted on May 11, 2010
I love it!! I am a subscriber to several marketing publications and newsletters however, I get more from your "common sense" approach than from all of the others combined. I don't have very much formal marketing education, but I am learning the ropes from guys like you, that are willing to share the wealth!!

Forever grateful!
Click here to view archived comments...
Archived Comments:
Karen Johnsen - Posted on February 07, 2011
FAMILY IS EVERYTHING - that's what caught my eye. The Johnson's pride is being a fifth generation company should be celebrated! As a consumer I appreciate their environmental work and quality products. And besides, I feel a connection to products that my Mom used her entire life and I continue to buy. But what do I know? I'm just a consumer . . .
Dave Albright - Posted on May 14, 2010
My Thoughts: The Copy in the Ad is brilliant because the powerful associations, smooth transitions and adjoinments wrapping it all up into inspiration generations old. "We don’t report to wallstreet" grabs our attention and aligns the reader to associate SC Johnson with main street. The ad goes on to say "But when I go to bed at night, I know what we're trying to do is right." AND Wham, the anchor, "it also means that all those products…" is tied into the entire identity conveyed above. It goes on, "...you've come to trust over the years." I don’t know if I can ever look at Windex, glade, pledge, or ziploc on the grocery store shelves the same again. I am have visions of heated exchange of discussion in the SC Johnson boardroom. The family making though sacrificing decisions to protect little Johnny and the environment. The real power is that it was done subtly. The paragraph closes with an invitation to the SC Johnson home on the World Wide Web. The virtuous close secures generational foundation, it goes on to activate it by referring to it as their inspiration, the driving force to get up and go to work in the morning in these trying times. And they wrap it up with the good old solid as a rock with the times have changed "but the inspiration behind what we do remains exactly the same." Nice, subtle power and beautifully crafted transition and multi faceted integration.
Kirk Ward - Posted on May 13, 2010
My first take is that this is a positioning ad to differentiate S.C. Johnson from Johnson & Johnson.

As an educational and informative piece, I found it very effective.

Breaking the rules got the readers attention, and the copy gave the reader time to realize that they were a different entity, and not the mega conglomerate with lax manufacturing standards.

If it was localized, it may have been targeting bankers in Philadelphia.
Valerie Lambert - Posted on May 12, 2010
My first response was, "Where's the [trackable] call to action?!"

My second thought was completely suspicious: "If they're doing an ad that is only touchy -feely and NOT trying to sell something, it must be damage control, and I just haven't heard about their scandal yet. Wonder what happened?"

Great suggestion about the /Parade hyperlink, BTW. I bang this drum a lot in presentations. You can't know what works - or doesn't - if you don't test and track your data!

Valerie Lambert
Bilou Enterprises
http://Bilou.info
Wash Phillips - Posted on May 11, 2010
Denny, you hit it on the head: how a warm-and-fuzzy appeal could have been even more meaningful for both customer and company with discreet inclusion of money-saving coupons (when folks are poor), invitations to visit the plant (when folks are traveling in the summer) and "test" results (when marketing data is--as always--valuable). And the lesson of NEVER aeschewing an opportunity.

Of course, we don't know what the Fisk persona's actual specific objective is. But the dignified way you made coupons part of the appeal would have contributed to both the (sincere) touchy-feely AND economic aspects of ad.

I was confused, however, by all the you-I stuff you went on about early, since in principle your conclusions here seemed to run counter to prior notes about Toyota and Tiger Woods. Shows you I'm paying attention, at least!
Fred Lederman - Posted on May 11, 2010
Denny, Denny, Denny…you practical, no nonsense, marketing pro.

Fisk is so refreshing, kinda like like Pledge.

In an economic environment filled with unnerving uncertainty, reduced marketing expenditures, financial institution insolvency and hidden corporate opulence, isn’t it refreshing to witness a Chairman/CEO who doesn’t have to answer to Wall Street with incremental increases in quarterly earnings? Fisk Johnson can spend whatever it takes to share his heartwarming message of family values. I was so moved by his advertisement that I took him up on his offer to learn more about this titan of industry @ http://www.scjohnson.com/en/family/johnsons/fisk-johnson.aspx
To pull a quote or two from that page, “Fisk Johnson's story is still unfolding….He's also a working dad who loves spending time with his daughter, as well as being a pilot, scuba diver and skier.” The end of this webpage continues, “So what will Fisk's legacy be? He hopes it will include helping SC Johnson continue to grow and flourish so we can achieve our ultimate goal of making the world a better place. But at the end of the day, Fisk knows that like his father before him, what matters most is the legacy he can leave as a parent. And that's his top priority.”

I shared this with my client, the CEO of a $170 million privately held company, a few hours ago. I thought that he would be caught up in the spirit of the ad to a level where he might bring his management team into his office so we could link arms and sing “Goombaya” or “We are the world.”

He looked at me, lips quivering, with misty eyes and said, “I’m divorced twice, my kids only call when they want money and I still haven’t seen your cost savings analysis on my direct mail program.”

Some people like the smell of Pledge in the morning, others like the smell of napalm….with regrets to Robert Duvall and “Apocalypse Now”.
Carolyn Hansen - Posted on May 11, 2010
@Cheryl -- I think you're confusing S.C. Johnson with Johnson & Johnson. (Hmmm. Maybe this is a branding issue after all.)

Denny -- I come from Racine, Wisc., and the company headquarters are as spectacular as you say. Your VIP tour idea is a great one.

Carolyn Hansen
www.hackergroup.com
Becky Rice - Posted on May 11, 2010
I saw the ad on Sunday. I got a warm fuzzy feeling, but not much more. A specific url with coupons, toll-free number to call or a follow me on Twitter or facebook to learn more about the Johnson family would have been brilliant. Maybe next time!
Carolynn Van Namen - Posted on May 11, 2010
On the one hand, I totally agree with your assessment that this ad was a huge waste of a great opportunity. On the other, I also agree that the company could probably indulge in a little touchy-feely publicity without experiencing any pain.
Perhaps a distinct call to action would have been jarring in the context of the warm and fuzzy, sentimental letter, ostensibly written by Fisk Johnson.
That said, I concur completely that they missed out on a great relationship-building opportunity to win fans, create more brand love, and inspire customers to talk about/tweet/"like" and otherwise evangelize about the Johnson family of household products. I guess I'd stop short of coupon offers but would surely invite comments and responses at the very least, if not an outright call to action. They could have preserved the warmth and happy feelings without foregoing the chance to connect with consumers through various media.
Dev. Kinney - Posted on May 11, 2010
A client of mine did that after we ran a great ad that pulled like crazy in Southern Living. It was a full page color ad with an inserted BRC as a flag. The next year he ran, unknown to me, another full page ad in black & white with a huge Ludlow looking type with the offer to MAKE $$$$ OR MORE SELLING....ETC. wIth the same BRC flag. I don't know how it did, but he destroyed the brand image we had so carefully built up in the fundraising cookbook market in one fell swoop. It reminded me of what happened to Apple after Jobs got booted.

But getting back to SC Johnson, in markets that big, the issue becomes credibility where the shelf space and packaging determine brand. Offers might seem too canned in this case and destroy the effect...or not.
Mr. Brown - Posted on May 11, 2010
Come on folks, SC Johnson has money to blow on branding, and that is CLEARLY the point of the ad. Maybe they don't care about the metrics behind this particular ad and were ok with just monitoring any lift seen to their website once they knew the ad had been distributed. I'm shocked that so many of you are surprised that someone may actually just want to say something to their millions of consumers and not want anything back. Companies do do this sometimes you know? It's what creates loyalty. And only fools pay rate card prices...no way did they actually pay 137K for the ad in question in that zone. With their clout, probably more like 40-50K. I think's better to write an article critiquing an ad you actually have some background information on. Maybe they wanted zip, but you can't say they blew the money. "Blew" in this instance is a relative term.
Carol Worthington-Levy - Posted on May 11, 2010
Once more, Denny, your pragmatic view makes great sense. For years Richard Potter, John Romero and I did a presentation where we took full page ads out of the Wall Street Journal that were lost opportunities, and we redid them so that they would 1. be more compelling, 2. have a true response mechanism, and 3. could actually pay for themselves in either front-end or back end response. There was no shortage of material. It breaks my heart to see advertisers get talked into stuff like this by their agency. (or, if some senior manager gets this brainstorm, someone near them with more common sense doesn't at least show them how they can raise the bar... alas, there is a lot of butt-kissing going on out there and people are afraid to challenge what the big boss has to say, even if it will make it better). Soft and fuzzy is nice but give me something that will also feed my database with great future relationships and sales. People like warm stories, but unless they paid for the story, they are only willing to suspend disbelief if there promises to be something in it for them to do so. I thought this ad was still a too heavy on the "us" and "we" and it needed to lead off with the "you" a little more strongly. And as a nod to Colin Wheildon [author of “Type & Layout: How typography and design can get your message across - or get in the way”] and Dr. Siegfried Vogele [author of “Handbook of Direct Mail”], the picture should have been at the top of the ad. Your eye shoots straight for the photo and I'd bet most people never even look at the copy. Another offer that could have been perfect in this ad - Tell us why you'd be a great member of our Consumer Advisory Board. People love to give their opinions, and the love even more to feel their opinions will be used and valued. This could have been a fabulous stealth market research program, followed up by an opportunity to introduce new products to a willing audience.
Dean Sims - Posted on May 11, 2010
Denny -

Reading your stuff is like getting a master's degree in marketing. Probably better.

- Dean
Cheryl - Posted on May 11, 2010
In light of their recent recall problems with children's products, wouldn't the ad suffer a bit from pitching discounts on products? What is the best call to action in that situation?

Thanks for always being on the lookout for such advertising gems that always help teach me to be a better copywriter!
Bob Martel - Posted on May 11, 2010
Thanks, Denny!

I wonder whether the ad ran in other zones, or if they tested different copy elsewhere.

Aside from the fact that too many advertising rules were broken (See page 1 of 2,239 Tested Secrets of Direct Marketing Success), and forgetting that it appears to be an irresponsible use of marketing dollars - you have to give them credit for placing a retro ad in an attempt to cut through the clutter.

The only other take away I would add is to be brave enough to break the rules... but know what you are doing!

The ad itself is it's own headline, a "stopper" as you say. I'll bet you the copy was penned by Fisk Johnson himself and nobody in the marketing department would tell the emperor he had no clothes. Looks like they got caught up in the creative and the intent got lost. That's a lot of money wasted just to stroke the ego.

I wonder how Ogilvy, Hopkins, or Schwartz would have rewritten the ad?

Fisk Johnson missed an opportunity to invite us to follow him on Twitter or Facebook!

Bob Martel
Sterling, MA
Gigi Blackshear - Posted on May 11, 2010
I love it!! I am a subscriber to several marketing publications and newsletters however, I get more from your "common sense" approach than from all of the others combined. I don't have very much formal marketing education, but I am learning the ropes from guys like you, that are willing to share the wealth!!

Forever grateful!