The Bob Test

In Dominik Imseng’s short history of the mid-century VW ads, Ugly is Only Skin Deep, he tells this wonderful story about copywriter Bob Levenson.

Bob wrote what many (including me) consider to be one of the greatest ads of all time, “Think small.”

The ad wasn’t his concept—he didn’t even come up with the headline. That work was done by Julian Koenig (father of Serial’s Sarah Koenig, interestingly enough) and Helmut Krone.

No, Bob’s skill was making the copy sing, and work. He took the concept, which initially ran as a dealer ad, and turned it into one of the most famous campaigns of all time.

And the best part is, we know how he did it.

Here’s what he said, according to Imseng:

“Just say as skillfully as you can … what it really is that you are selling, what is good about it and why somebody should buy it instead of what they are buying now.”

…

“When you really don’t know what to put on that blank paper in the typewriter, you should just write ‘Dear Charlie’ at the top. Assume that Charlie is a neighbor of yours,” has “all the mental equipment you have, but none of the information that you have about the Volkswagen. So just put down what you want to tell [them] in this ad, and cross off ‘Dear Charlie’, and you’ll probably be all right.’”

…

“Here’s the test: If you look at a commercial and fall in love with the brilliance of it, try taking the product out of it. If you still love the commercial, it’s no good. Don’t make your commercial interesting; make your product interesting.”

So that’s your test:

Does your ad say “what it really is that you are selling, what is good about it and why somebody should buy it instead of what they are buying now”?

If yes:

Is it written to someone instead of a crowd?

If yes:

And if you took the product out of it, would it still be a good ad?

If no:

I’d say it passes the Bob test.

That doesn’t mean it will definitely work, but it means you’ve made sure it can.