We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.
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Shoot your big guns on the first prize, for therein lies the big appeal. Don't ring in the boxtops and other requirements for entering until after you have completely sold the prizes. Then give them the con^ test requirements as simply as possible.
Repeat the most important rules and the mailing address. Then plug the "hurry" angle, or closing date, and end up with the mailing address again. There, in brief, you have the salient points of successful contest mail-pull copy.
Words to Frame Commercial Thoiiglil;
Words are man-made tools. Man gives them meaning, and he also gives words shades of meaning that do not appear in dictionaries. These shades of meaning, or connotations, are very important. For example, in writing copy for a bank, it is better to say, "Let the First National Bank finance your home loan ..." than, "Let the First National Bank hold the mortgage on your home." The word mortgage is a legally correct term, but it has an unpleasant connotation through usage and association. Say, "You'll enjoy Bolton's Coffee. Get a pound today" rather than, "Buy a pound of Bolton's Coffee." The word "buy" connotes exchanging money for something, and in one more way reminds the listener of the cost.
The language you write in a radio commercial is the spoken language. Actually, we think and often talk in thought sequences ... a series of picture adjectives ... or consecutive phrases. It is no glaring error if you fail to use technically complete sentences, for only in our written language is a technically complete sentence gramatically necessary. Use contractions as in the spoken language. Avoid trite, worn-out phrases and slang, but remember — words used in their correct meaning seldom become trite. Food is always
"delicious"; low prices for quality merchandise are always "economical."
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Most announcers have pet phrases and pet aversions. When writing copy for a particular announcer, listen to him. Note the phrasings that seem awkward and unnatural. When he throws in words you didn't write into the copy, note what they were and try to find out why he put them in. Stylizing copy to the announcer helps make it more effective. ■
There are a great many words in the English language that are in the average person's writing vocabulary yet are omitted from his speaking vocabulary. Avoid words that are foreign to the ordinary spoken language of Mrs. O'Leary, Mrs. Jones and Mr. Smith. The reason is simple. You are transmitting a series of thoughts. When you ring in an unusual word — even though it be understood — the mind of the listener may jump to the word itself instead of to the message you are attempting to convey. The best copy is simple and direct, for that's the best way to insure understanding on the part of the listener.
Radio advertising will often pay off in spite of misuse, but carefully planned and executed, it can become a cornerstone of a retail business, and bring returns all out of proportion to investment.
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