John Carlton’s Best Ads: No-Rules Cage Fighter

My clients had roasted the self-defense magazines for years using what we called “down and dirty” print ads — no photos, no graphics, just 3 solid pages of hard-charging copy. Worked like gangbusters, hauling in cash by the barrel load.

Then the competition started copying us, right down to the typos we left in place. Our ads didn’t stand out anymore… so we brought in the designers. Tightened things up, used photos (cocked at an eye-pleasing angle), made the copy easier to read, paid attention to the little things which made the ad look good.

And that worked like crazy for a long time.

Eventually, as online marketing squashed the reach of the specialty magazines and the smaller lists for direct mail, this ad was used as a manuscript for a video sales letter. Which worked very well for years. I always like it when copy I’ve written decades ago still work.

The market changed again, though, and the specific appeal of this ad no longer dominates like it did for so long. So we’ll put it aside for a bit, and wait for the next opportunity.

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