The advertisement above is arguably one of the most famous in American history.
At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.
This combination of 18 words that could have been typed out by a monkey on a keyboard catapulted Rolls-Royce sales to the moon and made it one of the best-known cars of the late 20th century.
Except these 18 words weren’t typed out by a monkey. They were selected as a headline by David Ogilvy, the father of modern advertising and Co-founder of Ogilvy & Mather, from a user manual Rolls Royce itself had already written.
In other words, a million-dollar luxury brand had already written the right stuff — but had no idea how to position it. They didn’t know where to market what they already had. So they called in Mr. Ogilvy. And, with a very simple fix, he turned their fortunes around and transformed them into even bigger millionaires.
Better Business Writing: The Rabbit in The Hat?
Two things about this Rolls Royce ad make it worth commenting on:
1. Rolls Royce already had the language in place. Just in the wrong place.
2. David Ogilvy had no background in marketing when he founded Ogilvy & Mather at the age of 38. But he did have stints as a French chef, a door-to-door salesman and a survey-based research lead.
The reason I cite this story is to debunk the myth that you need to be a great writer to be a great marketer. “Better writing” doesn’t automatically happen when you get a “better writer.” In fact, in the world of business, “writing” (the act of putting together and polishing up words) is often far less important than “selling” (which is gleaned from years of experience selling stoves door-to-door).
Although agencies will constantly sell you on the merits of “better writing”, it isn’t something that just happens when you hire someone who has a qualified resume.
Better writing has to start with better thinking. About your brand and its product or service.
- Who are you selling to?
- What keeps them up at night?
- What do you want them to know, feel and do?
- If you were in an elevator with them for 30 seconds or less, what would you tell them?
Write down the answers to these questions, then test the validity of your answers. You’ll be well on your way to creating famous copy. Not award-winning copy, mind you. But copy that sells.
That’s the only kind of “better writing” that matters.
