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Interesting Thing About David Ogilvy's and One Of His Most Famous Headlines

by fasteasysuccess
12 replies
Something I read today that was very interesting.

David Ogilvy's ad to sell Rolls Royce cars is pretty famous. If not familiar it's...


At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock


but actually in the ad there's a comment from the technical editor of Motor Magazine said "'At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise comes from the electric clock,' reports the Technical Editor of THE
Motor magazine.

So the guy at the magazine really wrote Ogilvy's headline but made him famous for it.

He knew that would get into his target market and used it.

But it's not done because it went on to say that As Robert Rosenthal reports on his blog, a variation of the headline first appeared in 1933 in an ad to sell Pierce-Arrow automobiles.

The headline
reads...

"The only sound one can hear in the new Pierce-Arrows is the ticking of the electric clock"

So I guess we won't know if that was the influence in 1958 the time of the ad, but sounds pretty close.

Anyways I think a huge lesson is that there is tons of things that are already done, we don't always have to reinvent the wheel. Also if something worked at one time it can work now.
#david #famous #headlines #interesting #ogilvy #thing
  • Profile picture of the author Mr. Subtle
    Originally Posted by fasteasysuccess View Post

    David Ogilvy's ad to sell Rolls Royce cars is pretty famous. If not familiar it's...

    At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock

    Anyways I think a huge lesson is that there is tons of things that are already done, we don't always have to reinvent the wheel. Also if something worked at one time it can work now.
    Yeah, I can see Toyota jumpin' on the Ogilvy bandwagon any day now...






    .
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Newman
      Mr Subtle,
      Your post was not subtle,it was brilliant and funny.
      Interesting.

      Alaba
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    • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Mr. Subtle View Post

      Yeah, I can see Toyota jumpin' on the Ogilvy bandwagon any day now...






      .
      May I suggest one small copy change?

      At 60 miles an hour
      the loudest noise in
      this new Prius
      comes from the
      driver's scream...
      because
      he can't f*cking stop!
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      • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
        That headline was swiped from a Clyde Bedell
        ad from the 1930s.

        I have a magazine my girlfriend picked up with
        the ad in it. She deals in vintage ephemera,
        which is good for me because I get to look at the
        crazy old ads.

        As I recall the ad was for DeSoto. I'll have to
        find it and post a swipe of it. It's a really
        fabulous ad.

        Drayton Bird mentioned recently in a blog post that
        the famous Ogilvy headline was swiped. He worked
        with Ogilvy for many years, closely.
        Signature
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author shamoonak1
        Love the headline!

        Similar stuff goes on in the music industry every other day.. one singer sings a song.. another singer makes it famous with their own version
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  • Profile picture of the author fasteasysuccess
    thats funny you should pitch that idea to toyota.
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  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    Hey, check this out:

    Pierce-Arrow Advertising Art
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  • Profile picture of the author Johnny12345
    Originally Posted by fasteasysuccess View Post

    At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock
    This is quite probably my favorite headline of all time. But Subtle's version isn't bad either.

    Johnny
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    => Need A Persuasive Sales Letter? Click Here...
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  • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
    Banned
    For Subtle - Print ad from a Danish Garage Door Company - Reads "20% OFF ALL GARAGEDOORS *Toyota Owners Only"

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  • Profile picture of the author Rezbi
    Originally Posted by fasteasysuccess View Post

    but actually in the ad there's a comment from the technical editor of Motor Magazine said "'At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise comes from the electric clock,' reports the Technical Editor of THE
    Motor magazine.

    So the guy at the magazine really wrote Ogilvy's headline but made him famous for it.
    If you read his book, Ogilvy on Advertising, you'd see he actually had this to say:

    "When I got the Rolls Royce account, I sprent three weeks reading about the car and came across a statement that 'at sixty miles an hour, the loudest noise comes from the electric clock'. This became the headline, and it was followed by 607 words of factual copy."

    That's a direct quote from his book.

    Intelligence isn't about knowing everything. It's also about studying what's necessary, and knowing what to look for, and where.
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    I have a pet peeve when it comes to copywriting: I see many people
    would say, "According to "X" blah, blah, blah ..." when the person
    they are quoting was far from the original copywriter who used that
    technique or said it 'first'.

    But if that was the first time they heard the idea I guess I can't blame
    them too much, but some young copywriters do get some credit they
    don't deserve. It's always good to study the classics.

    -Ray Edwards
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    The most powerful and concentrated copywriting training online today bar none! Autoresponder Writing Email SECRETS
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