Confessions of an Advertising Man: 80/20 Summary
- Amazon: Link
- Score: 8/10
- Skills Category: Copywriting
- Mental Models: Attentional Bias, Co-operation, Emotions, Specialization, System 1 vs System 2 Thinking, Trust
Mental Models from the book:
'Confessions of an Advertising Man' can be summarised into 6 mental models:
1. Attentional Bias
- Unless your campaign has a big idea, it will go unnoticed.
- Use Captions under photos.
2. Co-operation
- Committees can criticize ads but don't allow them to write them.
3. Emotions
- Your ad should not be cute or funny. People don't buy from clowns.
4. Specialization
- Your ad can not be all things to all people. It can't be a male brand and a female brand. The result will be a brand without personality.
- Concentrate on creating a sharply defined personality, it will get the majority of sales at the highest margin.
5. System 1 vs System 2 Thinking
- Break free from reason and unblock your imagination to be creative.
6. Trust
- The more facts you provide the more you'll sell.
- Start with axioms that people can not question and then move on to more questionable ones.
- Tell prospective clients about your imperfections. You become more believable and trustworthy.
Mental Model Mind Maps
Mind maps can help you to remember the most important parts of a book. Signup to my newsletter below to get a free mindmap of this book:
