Claude Hopkins | Long Lost Marketing Secrets

Claude C. Hopkins (1865-1932)

Claude Hopkins first worked as a carpet sweeper salesman for Bissel, and then for Swift and Co. and then Dr. Shoop's Family Medicine Co.

But he really made his fame when he was the man who replaced John E. Kennedy at Lord and Thomas in 1907.

His copy, notably his Schlitz beer slogan, "The beer that made Milwaukee famous," led Lord & Thomas' Albert Lasker to hire him (for $185,000 a year).

He was 41 then and he stayed with the company for 18 years.

His classic, "Scientific Advertising," was published in 1923 by Lord and Thomas and later re-published by Alfred Politz 30 years later.

His second book, "My Life in Advertising" which was an autobiography was published in 1927 and first serialized in Advertising and Selling Magazine.

In 1946 "Advertising and Selling" reprinted his autobiography with a forward by Walter Weir, who had this to say:

“There are few pages in ‘My Life in Advertising’ which do not repay careful study – and which do not merit reading. Before your eyes, a successful advertising life is lived – with all that went to make it successful. The lessons taught are taught exactly as they were learned. They are dashed up dripping with life. It is not a book, it is an experience – and experience has always been the great teacher.”

Hopkins was an advertising pioneer. He was cautious enough to work on “fixed principles and done according to fundamentals.”

He believed in Kennedy’s “Advertising is Salesmanship-in-Print” and as such it should be measured to justify the results.

To help him trace his results he incorporated coupons. Coupons allowed him to record results and get feedback on how to improve them.

He also invented the money-back guarantee and was quoted as saying: “Ask a person to take a chance on you, and you have a fight. Offer to take a chance on him, and the way is easy.”

He also believed in Kennedy’s “Reason Why Copy”.

Some of his work may seem to be out-dated today but the principles remain. His style was to write short, staccato sentences. Short, simple, and right on point.

For example, this excerpt is taken from the first chapter of his autobiography:

“ I am sure I would fail if I tried to advertise the Rolls Royce, Tiffany & Co. or Steinway pianos. I do not know the reactions of the rich. But I do know the common people. I love to talk to laboring men, to study housewives who must count their pennies, to gain the confidence and learn the ambitions of poor boys and girls.

Give me something which they want and I will strike the responsive chord. My words will be simple, my sentences short. Scholars may ridicule my style. The rich and vain may laugh at the factors which I feature. But in millions of humble homes the common people will read and buy. They will feel that the writer knows them. And they, in advertising, form 95 percent of our customers."

Claude Hopkins believed advertising existed only to sell something.

Hopkins insisted copywriters acquire detailed knowledge of client products and produce brief, dry, reason-why copy.

He also promoted couponing, premiums, free samples, mail order and copy testing. For Pepsodent toothpaste, he "discovered" plaque.

After Claude Hopkins retired from Lord and Thomas, where he had served as president and chairman, he then invested in the company and made another fortune.

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