There's so much to learn from this amazing ad and copy. Ogilvy was famous for his story telling, saying over and over that "the more you tell the more you sell", but the unfiltered, raw, informative, compelling, educational, and entertaining copy that was central to the early examples of long form has slowly devolved into long 'squeze-type' 'copy that says virtually nothing, provides no answers, and exists solely for the purpose of escalating 'manufactured' intent with little regard to the broader 'Lantern' attributes that are central to BM's own advertising models (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust).
We often draw upon a Simpson's line "you don't make friends with salad" to articulate the nature of the digital handshake at the top of funnel, and this ad tends to support this ideology. Content engages, while hyped sales copy does not.
"About This Stock and Bond Business" was one of Louis H. Engel's most innovative advertisements. Considered one of the the one hundred most influential ads in North American history, the ad appeared in the fall of 1948, approximately two years after he had joined Merrill Lynch.
The ad consisted of six thousand words of very small print squeezed onto a full-size newspaper page (the full-page broadsheet advertisement was the original landing page). The copy was informational and educational, and textbook dry in tone. There were no explicit references to the firm's own brokerage services in the entire text, but at the bottom right of the page was a small calling card (call-to-action) that identified Merrill Lynch as the sponsor and invited readers to request free reprints of the advert in pamphlet form.
Once tested, responses exceeded three million, and those returns translated into millions of prospective customers.
Use long form to tell a story - not to sell. The former achieves the latter. Full write-up in our FB group.
