Some of these techniques I have never seen discussed in anv other social traffic system review or book on copv writing—and I think I've read most of them. I have explained these techniques in detail in the hope that they will prove as profitable to other eopv writers as they've been for me. Can they be used by non-mail-order eopv writers as well? Most assuredly. J. K. Lasker once said that mail order makes a copy writer, but his real pav-off comes when he applies his mail order techniques to general advertising. I think that B.B.D. & O., Ted Bates, Ogilvy, Young & Rubicam and a dozen other agencies prove this every day. Therefore I've written this book—not from the mail order perspective alone—but from the universal problem of all eopv writing: How to write a headline—and an ad that follows it—that will open up an entirely new market for its product. An ad that will give a new product immediate profit: that will give an old product a brand-new slant; that will give a competitively-battered product a new weapon—not onlv to protect itself against its imitators but to actually damage or destrov the loyalty of their following. These objectives cannot be achieved by following somebody else's social traffic system review—no matter how successful it was for them. Thev demand creativity Thev demand a brand-new headline; a brandnew approach to the market: a literal advertising "breakthrough." Hence the title of this book. This, then, is a practical book, of practical rules that produce, and exploit, creativity, and that are meant to pay off on the very first ad. To put them to work, vou start with these basic facts Writing copy is like playing the stock market, or being an atomic physicist. Basically all three of these professions—eopv writing, speculation and science—are exactly alike. The same keys make each one of them work. And if you realize win. vou can double the effectiveness of your copy overnight. Consider these facts: All three of them deal with immense natural forces gargantuan forces thousands of times more powerful than the men who use them. In science, they are the fundamental energies of the universe. In speculation, they are the billion-dollar tides and currents of the market place. In copy writing thetj are the hopes and fears and desires of millions upon millions of men and women, all over the world. The men who use these forces did not create them; thev can neither turn them on nor shut them off thev can neither diminish them nor add to them. But they ran harness them! The scientist did not create the energy of the sun; hut he can direct that energy into the explosion of an atom bomb. The speculator did not create the enormous growth of the electronics industry after the war: but he can ride that growth to produce a fifty times increase in his capital. And the copy writer does not create the desire of millions of women all over America to lose weight; but he can channel that desire onto a particular product, and make its owner a millionaire. This, then, is the end goal—to take these gigantic natural social traffic system reviewand harness them to our own uses. But how do we do it? No two of these forces are alike. Each is unique; each operates in a different way The same formula, earefullv worked out to release atomic energy, fails complete])- to solve the problem of rocket propulsion. The same pattern of investment, that spots the upturn in electronics and makes a fortune, loses that fortune in uranium. And the same advertising appeal, that builds an in dustrv in reducing, collapses completely when applied to health foods, even though both advertisements may reach exactly the same audience. Whv? Because no formula works twice. Each and every formula is simplv the written solution to a particular problem that occurred in the past. Change even one part of that problem, and vou need an entirelv different formula. That's why memorizing theories won't make vou a scientist, or studying charts won't make you a market wizard, or rewriting somebody else's headlines won't make vou a copy writer. What will work? Innovation, of course. Continuous, repeated innovation. A steady stream of new ideas—fresh new solutions to new problems. Created—not by the impossible route of memory—but by analysis. In afield in which the rales are constantly changing—where the forces that determine the outcome are constantly shifting— where new problems are constantly being encountered every day— rules, formulas and principles simply will not work. They are too rigid—too tightly bound to the past. They must he replaced by the only known method of dealing with the Constantly New— analysis. And what is analysis? It is a series of measuring rods, cheekpoints, signpost questions that show you where a particular force is going, and enable you to get there first. It is a series of rough guesses, based on past successes, that enables you to cut through the surface of a problem to see what makes it tick. Analysis is the art of asking the right questions and letting the problem dictate the right answers. It is the technique of the break-through. And it can be learned—just as surely as grammar, mathematics or spelling. The first part of this book is about analysis, applied to the profession of copy writing. Its basic thesis is this: Everv new market—everv new product—every newadvertisement is a fresh new problem that never existed before on the face of this earth. Past advertising successes
