What Great Writing Does For Marketing and Advertising

John Walker

December 2, 2024

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5 min read

If you don’t think copywriting has been debased, just look at what copywriters are now called. They’re called “content creators.” That’s like calling a painter a pigment spreader.

But I understand how technology has contributed to this. Making website pages appear on search engines (SEO) is largely an exercise in bulk content creation. And ad platforms like Google Ads write ad copy for advertisers then deliver those headlines in whatever way the system determines is the best algorithmic arrangement.

But human copywriting, and the thinking behind it, does what AI cannot- it generates new ideas that are unlike what came before. While AI synthesizes existing data, human thinking goes further guided by instinct and courage. So copywriting is still a critical foundation of a strong marketing plan because good writing is good thinking and ideas are what drive marketing success.

And here are two examples of famous headlines (or taglines) that frame and propel entire marketing campaigns.

“A Diamond is Forever”

This was the idea behind an advertising campaign that started in 1948. (It’s still running, by the way.) This campaign began at a time when the world was recovering from the devastation of a world war and the idea of diamonds seemed irrelevant to most people’s lives. Also, DeBeers had an oversupply of diamonds which drove down prices.

This advertising campaign was part of a marketing effort aimed at building emotional attachment to diamonds for engagements and anniversaries. The idea was that diamonds were precious and that they embodied eternal love. Today that’s just part of our cultural belief system but it wasn’t always. This marketing campaign made it so.

Taken on face value, the line “A Diamond is Forever” is clear and memorable. And it delivers a double entendre that makes it clever. But it is much more than that. It is the idea that it solved a fundamental business problem for DeBeers and wove their product into the cultural fabric of America. In short, it’s more than a clever line; it’s a great idea.

“Think Small”

This is the headline for a Volkswagen Beetle advertising campaign that started running in 1959. Ad Age judged it the best advertising campaign of the twentieth century because it boosted product sales, created lifetime customer loyalty, and changed how Americans thought about cars.

First what business challenges did this campaign have to overcome? Two immense ones.

The Volkswagen Beetle was manufactured in a plant built by the Nazis (and the campaign started just 14 years after the war against them stopped). And second, Americas liked huge cars built by American companies like the hulking Plymouth Belvedere. The idea of selling a tiny German car shaped like nothing people had ever seen seemed ludicrous. It was a laughable idea.

But Bill Bernbach and his team at DDB, leaned into what was odd about the car and made its shortcomings into benefits. They emphasized its rounded form in ads that were mostly white space, showing the car like none had ever been shown in an ad. They focused on the simplicity of the car as a benefit, whereas American cars often focused on luxury. They even made the ads black and white to stand out from the lavish full color ads of American competitors.

But back to the headline, “Think Small.” Like the DeBeers tagline, it is clear and memorable. But it is also ironic because thinking small had never been considered a benefit. Thinking big was a benefit; that’s what Americans were used to doing. Thinking small was a weird idea. But it worked its way into the American psyche and even foreshadowed the massive cultural changes of the 1960’s and ‘70’s when many Americans rejected what had been presented as the American way of life with big cars and big consumption.

It was almost as if the Bernbach team knew what was around the corner and opened the door a crack to show Americans a different kind of culture that this car would help usher in.

In short, it’s a great headline. But its more than that. It’s part of a brilliant idea that solved a business problem and even catalyzed a change in our culture.

What About Today, Though?

These are ideas are generations old, you might say. They were born from a different culture and in a simpler time when advertising had an outsized impact in a quieter media landscape. True. But I believe these campaigns would be as valuable today as they were two generations ago.

These are great ideas because connected with us to meld the brands into our cultural beliefs in ways that were not frivolous. "Thinking small" was an idea that was latent in our culture. The Volkswagen Beetle campaign identified it and let it out. Some current brands still do this and their impact is strong. Dove is one, using messages related to womens' self-esteem to make connections that aren't frivolous. And how about Nike and Mercedes?

Also, these headlines, and the campaigns they were a part of, did the work of positioning the brands and solving major business problems. Granted, they were created at a time when advertising teams sat at the table when business strategy was being formulated. Those days are long gone but it still takes strong ideas to connect and build momentum and I can easily imagine building omni-channel campaigns today using either of these campaign ideas. "Think Small" would resonate on Tik Tok just fine.

Bernbach and his team were ambitious enough to think they could use words to have major impact on business problems. I don't know if they dared to think they could also change our culture, but they did. Their words did.

That’s what great writing used to do for marketing and advertising. And I believe it still can.

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