David de Souza

Feb 26, 20201 min

The Copy Book: 80/20 Summary

Updated: Feb 10, 2022

  • Amazon: Link

  • Score: 8/10

  • Skills Category: Copywriting

  • Mental Models: Curiosity Instinct, Desire, Ego, Emotions, Evolution: Adaptation, Narrative Instinct, Replication, Trust, Velocity

Mental Models from the book:

'The Copy Book' can be summarised into 9 mental models:

1. Curiosity Instinct

  • Write headlines that make you think: "Bloody Hell, that's interesting, tell me more.
     

2. Desire

  • The basic motivations of people never change. Use them for great advertising. Human history boils down to the influence of:

    1. Love

    2. Hate

    3. Sex

    4. Greed

    5. Hunger

    6. Insecurity
       

3. Ego

  • Make sure that "you" appears 3 times more than "I" or "we".
     

  • "Our job is not to make people think what a great ad, it's to make them think what a great product".

4. Emotions

  • Use your life to bring your copy alive. If something has moved you, chances are that it will move someone else.
     

5. Evolution: Adaptation

  • The first paragraph must segway from the headline into the sales pitch.

6. Narrative Instinct

  • The reader's imagination is important - Spell it out and you ruin the spell.

7. Replication

  • Write every headline 100 possible ways, don't stop too soon.

8. Trust

  • Raw statistics are better than opinions e.g 68 MPG is better than "outstandingly economical"

9. Velocity

  • Take a train or a plane. Movement will help you write better.

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:

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