Herschell Gordon Lewis
Legendary copywriter Herschell Gordon Lewis passed away on September 26 at the age of 90. Just a few weeks earlier, Herschell sent us what turns out to be his final annual “Best and Worst Catalog Copy” report, with the intent of it running in November. And here it is. See if you made Herschell’s final cut.
Herschell Gordon Lewis sticks his head in the lion’s mouth once again to give us his Best and Worst of Catalog Copy for 2015.
Who are the winners, and who needs the most help? Herschell Gordon Lewis sticks his head in the lion’s mouth and give us his best and worst catalog copy of 2014. Did your company make the list?
When creating an effective sales message, choose one key element your targets are most likely to regard as significant and subordinate the rest. Want that in more proletarian language? Laundry lists are weak selling weapons. Here’s more from Herschell Gordon Lewis on making email subject lines resonate with your customers.
What year is this? That’s a “dumb question” aimed at direct marketers who without justification append response-murderers such as “Allow six to eight weeks for delivery” to offers that haven’t made a prior reference to variations from immediacy.
A quick question whose answer should pop into your mind within three seconds: What benefit does “but” have that “however” lacks? You’re putting a commanding finger on an almost-invisible way to add or lose power in a 21st-century email solicitation.
A major direct marketer sent me (and, I assume, you and a couple of million others) an unsolicited email. In the classic Big Brother tradition, it says, “We invite you to apply for….”
To the catalogs Herschell Gordon Lewis criticizes here, he apologizes…but only for their unfortunate positioning. Except for this column—and probably despite this column—they probably can skirt their way into the arena of ongoing acceptance.
Too much time has passed for any of us to think of social media with the same attitudes we had when they first burst upon the communications horizon. Now, after the inevitable transition to a commercial posture, the “social” label is silly. As a medium, Facebook is no more social than conventional email.
Printed catalogs seem to be a threatened species. The fittest do survive and, in fact, thrive. Many others thrive as online catalogs. So that