Will tips from a 102-year-old marketing book work in 2025?

40 snips

Mar 31, 2025

Discover the fascinating insights of a 102-year-old marketing book and its surprising relevance in today's world. Learn how curiosity-driven slogans can boost engagement and the power of personalization in advertising. Hear about a sewing machine manufacturer who skyrocketed sales by nine times and delve into psychological biases that shape consumer behavior. Finally, explore how negative messaging can actually enhance marketing effectiveness, challenging long-held beliefs about advertising strategies.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ADVICE

Free Trials & Upselling

Offer free trials or valuable bonuses.
This foot-in technique creates upsell opportunities, proven with both sewing machines and modern software.

ANECDOTE

Curiosity-Driven Slogans

Puffed Wheat used curiosity-driven slogans like "Foods shot from guns."
Ads for Heineken also proved that curiosity-evoking lines are more memorable.

ADVICE

Personalization & Endowment Effect

Personalize offers; people value things they own more.
A personalized leather book or a self-selected lottery ticket becomes more desirable due to the endowment effect.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Back in 1923, Claude Hopkins wrote the definitive book on advertising. David Ogilvy said the book “changed his life,” and over eight million copies of the book have been sold. But are the 102-year-old tips still accurate today? In this episode of Nudge, I find out.

You’ll learn:

Why the phrase “Food Shot Through Guns” helped sell more cereal.
How a sewing machine manufacturer increased his sales 9-fold.
The four predictions Hopkins got wrong.
And evidence-backed studies that reveal what he got right.

----

Download the Reading List: https://nudge.kit.com/readinglist

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phill-agnew-22213187/

Watch Nudge on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nudgepodcast/

----

Sources:

BBC. (2016). Corsodyl: How an unnerving ad campaign works. BBC News.

Behavioural Insights Team. (2013). Applying behavioural insights to charitable giving. Government & Society.

Berger, J., Moe, W. W., & Schweidel, D. A. (2023). What holds attention? Linguistic drivers of engagement. Journal of Marketing, 87(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429231152880

Berger, J., Sorensen, A. T., & Rasmussen, S. J. (2010). Positive effects of negative publicity: When negative reviews increase sales. Marketing Science, 29(5). https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.1090.0557

Harris, K. [Kamala Harris]. (2024, March 1). Enemy Within | Harris-Walz 2024 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQnugO8SEx0

Hopkins, C. (1923). Scientific advertising. Printers’ Ink Publishing Company.

Hüttel, B. A., Schumann, J. H., & Wagner, C. J. (2018). How consumers assess free e-services: The role of benefit-inflation and cost-deflation effects. Journal Name, 21(3).

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Monnier, A., & Thomas, M. (2022). Experiential and analytical price evaluations: How experiential product description affects prices. Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4046802

Pick, D. F., Sweeney, J., & Clay, J. A. (1991). Creative advertising and the von Restorff effect. Psychological Reports, 69(3, Pt 1), 923–926. https://doi.org/10.2466/PR0.69.7.923-926

Rogers, T., & Lasky-Fink, J. (2023). Writing for busy readers: Communicate more effectively in the real world.

Schindler, R. M., & Yalch, R. (2006). It seems factual, but is it? Effects of using sharp versus round numbers in advertising claims. Advances in Consumer Research, 33, 586-590. Association for Consumer Research.

Sutherland, S. (1992). Irrationality. Pinter Publishers.

Trump, D. J. [Donald J Trump]. (2023, September 12). Wolves [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/pxz9sxUqgsE

Weiner, M. (Writer), & Draper, M. (Director). (2008). Mad Men (Season 1, Episode 11) [TV series episode]. In M. Weiner (Producer), Mad Men. Lions Gate Television.