The Difference Between Typical Ad Agency Copy and a Direct Response Copywriter's Copy

An ad agencies' job is to produce copy that makes you, the client, and other creative types, say, “WOW!” Ad agencies like to spin cute, clever phrases, and couple them with “concepts” dreamed up by a room full of 21-year olds looking for an Addy award.

If you've got a $1.13 billion marketing budget, like McDonald's, that's fine and dandy. Creators of copy for McDonald's simply want to get your attention and put their name in your head so many times that when you get hungry, you'll think warm, fuzzy thoughts about McDonald's. Ad agency copy is about image. It's about repetition. It's about awards. It's NOT about sales.

Examples of Ad Agency Copy

And guess what? Ad agency copy is mostly what you see out there. These examples I'm about to share with you come from a combination of copywriting “bibles” and current issues of popular publications like Inc. Magazine. You'll have to try to visualize here...scanned images of these ads would make this file impossibly large.

• (Picture of old-time telephone operators): A Century of Experience. CenturyTel Telecommunications
• (Picture of a gold chain posed like a checkmark): Quality is a Fact. Goldas Jewelry
• (Picture of a spool of thread and a needle): Tailored Solutions. Experian
• (Picture of guy bending backward): Unparalleled Flexibility. Solomon Software
• (Picture of a guy at a desk doing paperwork): Hard Work. Attention to Detail. Personal Service. Sound Familiar? We Live Where You Live. State Farm
• (Picture of a Chevy Tahoe – at least we know what the ad is for!): Protection and Fun Haven't Been Packaged Together This Successfully Since Bubble Wrap. Chevy Tahoe
• (Picture of a restaurant-style coffee maker): Why Do We Work? Principal Financial Group
• (Picture of guy sitting at computer facing away from us): Passion. Fortune Magazine
• (Picture of a ladder): Elevate Your Perspective. Michael F. Corbett and Associates, an outsourcing management education and research firm
• (Picture of guy rock climbing): Are you a novice in expert territory? Sterling Commerce, e-business outsourcing
• (Picture of guy in a suit, but tie is wrapped around his head): Don't let the freedom get to you. ICG Communications
• (Picture of a shark): More Teeth From Your Web Host. Worldwide Internet

Notice similarities among the ads? Do any of them make you want to jump up and call? Or to visit a website? Or to run out to a showroom? Or even to read on, and learn more? Face it; in most of these ads, you don't even know what the company's selling, unless you take the time to dig into the copy.

Why is this a problem?

Well, imagine you're browsing through a magazine, and see a very large image of a needle and thread. Will you be interested in it? Perhaps if you sew for a living or for fun. So whom do you think will be attracted to that ad at the outset? Will it be the marketing managers and business owners Experian is hoping to capture? Sorry, Experian. Ain't gonna happen. Chances are the people most apt to read further into this ad will be people into sewing.

Unfortunately, that's what ad agency copywriting is all about. About being cute and clever. About coming up with some meaningless phrases and trying to match eye-catching pictures to them. And about paying hefty entry fees for a chance to get pats on the back from other creative types by winning coveted industry awards.

See the Difference Yourself: Copy by Direct Response Writers

The whole basis of direct response writing, also known as scientific advertising, is to produce results.

Give a direct response writer the task to write an ad for a company like the Principal Financial Group (remember the ad I mentioned above with the picture of the coffee pot and the words Why Do We Work? That's them.), and chances are good you'll get a headline something more along these lines:

Let Principal Financial Group Show You How to Put Together a 401-K Plan That Will Help You Retain Key Employees.

I don't know about the images yet, and I probably wouldn't use that headline since it's the first one I wrote and I came up with it in like 23 seconds. But it does show you the clear difference between the copy you get from an ad agency type, and the copy you get from a student of direct response writing:

Ad agency writer's copy : Why Do We Work?

Direct response writer's copy : Want to Build a 401-K Plan That Helps You Retain Key Employees?

Notice that I modified the headline a little from my last attempt. That's because headlines are one of the most important components of direct response materials, whether on your brochures, web content, sales letters…or anything else you write. Why? Because the headline has to grab your target readers' attention. It has to make them stop, look and listen. To make them say, “Hey…they're talking to (or about) me.”

If you enjoyed this article, which is an edited excerpt from my new, free 17-page Special Report, you might enjoy reading the rest of it: How to Evaluate a Copywriter to Make Sure You Get the Results You're Looking For . Click here now to find out how to get your free copy.