They Laughed When I Sat Down at The Piano by John Caples

swiped by Mike Schauer ran 1927 108

"They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano - But When I Started to Play!"

Quite possibly the most swiped advertisement ever, this historic masterpiece by John Caples is famous for a reason. Written almost a century ago, the ad became...View More

They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano - But When I Started to Play!

Key Takeaways

  • There are secret emotional desires we all have as humans. The most effective copy taps into these desires. We buy with emotion & justify with logic. You can't sell on logic alone.
  • Create headlines that are cliffhangers. This was a great example of a headline that made the reader want to know what happened next.
  • Try using a story told by a happy & successful customer to sell your product. People are always more likely to listen to a customer than the seller & when you put it into story format, it doesn't look & feel like a testimonial.
  • When you are giving away something for free, don't shy away from asking people information that will better help you get a sale on the back-end. This is shown in this ad when they ask if the person has an instrument.
  • As good as this ad is, understand that many people in the marketing world have heard of this ad & swiping the exact concept would likely get more eye rolls than eyes peeled.

Analyst Spotlight

Mike Schauer

Mike Schaueris the founder of Swiped.co and the main analyst in the swipes section. After intently studying & building conversion-focused websites for 6+ years, he started Swiped to help others master marketing & copywriting through the analysis of great examples!

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