Talking to the Housewife – How to Create Ads in 1979
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In 1979, Alastair Crompton wrote The Craft of Copywriting: How to Write Great Copy That Sells. Two weeks ago, I wrote Social Media Marketing: How to Win Friends and Influence People, a post about how a book written 70 years ago has principles that still apply today, especially in the realm of social media. While much of the basics of copywriting will always apply, one chapter of Crompton’s book, Talking to the Housewife, is already pretty outdated.
The “creative types” defined in this book are men. The men are the advertisers and are the creative geniuses behind all great ads in 1979. This chapter begins by saying, “Housewives spend most of their time in the marketplaces; creative people spend most of their working lives in comfortable offices.” The first subheading, titled “In Defense of Women,” says that “women have been around long enough and are tough enough and canny enough to look after themselves.” It’s crazy how much has changed in just 30 years.
From 1979, here is how men should address ads toward housewives:
- Give plenty of facts on simple things, like the “sizes and washing instructions.” It has to be something simple enough for a woman to understand.
- Never make a claim that a regular woman wouldn’t believe. If a woman in your life wouldn’t believe the add, most women wouldn’t. Unless it’s “one of the few intelligent women in the country.”
- Steal techniques from women’s magazines. If you can stand it, pick up a women’s magazine and find an item about “cookery, fashion, knitting, make-up, and the best way to care for a husband.”
Here are some other tips to market to women:
- Be sure to include a lot of pictures (“very few women tire of pictures of babies”)
- Include recipes (have a “qualified home economist” try it out to make sure it’s good first)
- Use money-off coupons (of course housewives cut out coupons)
- Give free samples (she wants to make sure the product is good before giving it to her family)
- Use economy sizes and value for money (allows “the housekeeping money to go further, which is a major task of many of the women you’ll be talking to”)
- Target the beauty business (you can hook a women “on a new dieting aid or a new shampoo as easily as you can hook a man on a new car or a new beer”).
Lastly, “women aren’t dull,” so you need to astonish them with your creative copy. Say what you want to say like no one has ever said it before. They are, however, only housewives. My, how times have changed.
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Tags: ASK, Copywriting, Marketing, Search & Marketing, Social Media
Posted in Copywriting, Search & Marketing
Love it! Great find Michelle, thanks for sharing.
January 25th, 2008 at 11:45 amI’m glad you liked it, Crystal. There’s a lot of interesting stuff in that there book.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:56 amSshhh! Don’t tell. I was born in 1979.
While some of the advice seems dated, I would argue that the concerns of stay-at-home-moms haven’t changed much since ‘79. They still want good value, they still want to save money, etc. I don’t think these things will ever change.
Also, I love this line: “If a woman in your life wouldn’t believe the ad, most women wouldn’t.” I think this is generally true. A woman’s B.S. detector is usually a lot better than a man’s.
Of course, we can all do without Crompton’s condescending attitude toward women. I guess a lot does change in 29 years…
January 28th, 2008 at 10:50 am