Is Long-Form Copy Making a Comeback?
11.28.25: I’ve seen several social media posts recently about print advertising created in the mid-to-late 20th century, with examples that reminisce of products, places and people from a fondly remembered era. It’s given me reason to reflect on what I know about creating good advertising, and how the business has, and hasn’t, changed. Long-form copy may not be widely used in print advertising, but it certainly has made a comeback.
When I see those old print ads, packed with copy, yet so brilliantly designed they made room for a big headline and a coupon, I’m triggered to dust off David Ogilvy’s 1983 book, Ogilvy On Advertising. Intended to be a “how to” for up-and-coming advertising practitioners, the book instead became a eulogy for advertising’s Golden Age. In my opinion, that era ended merely months later when Apple unleashed its Ridley Scott-directed “1984” ad for the first Macintosh computer.
Echoes of the Pre-Smartphone Era
Ogilvy advocated for long headlines and long copy in print advertising, citing the measurable results of his earlier work in direct mail advertising. He knew what he was talking about, and made enough money in the business to buy himself a castle in France. The long-form copy in print ads conceived under his agency’s direction for brands like American Express, Rolls Royce, Shell, Schweppes and others were packed with information. Ads with long headlines and packed full of copy worked because largely uninformed consumers relied upon them, and the sales promotion collateral produced by manufacturers and dealers, to inform intelligent purchase decisions.
Infinitely better informed and empowered than their pre-internet predecessors, today’s consumers can zip through the buyer’s journey in seconds and enjoy same-day or next-day delivery. With a quick online search and a couple of clicks we can discover, consider and buy. We rarely need to visit a retailer (although retailers still play an important role and go to great lengths to create fulfilling brand experiences). And we can do it all from our smart phones. This is, of course, why such a high priority is placed on search visibility, and a good deal of my recent work employs the principles and best practices of SEO. This contrasts so sharply with the calls-to-action in the examples of long-copy print ads Oglivy offered in OOA, it makes me feel like an advertising archeologist sifting through the relics of some ancient culture. In one ad, for a UK-based clothing and textile company, the CTA buried at the end of three justified columns of long-form copy asks the reader to write for the name of their nearest retailer. I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it seems to me this could be a pretty lengthy process:
- Write for more info.
- Wait for a response in the mail.
- Visit the nearest retailer.
- Make your purchase (unless it’s out of stock).
There is evidence to suggest the consumer’s time was worth less in those days.
Does the Rise of Long-Form Copy in Digital Channels Constitute a Print Advertising Renaissance?
In OOA, Ogilvy decried what he perceived as a shortage of print know-how and called for a renaissance in print advertising. Devoting an entire chapter to the subject, he called for headlines that offer helpful information, illustrations that arouse the reader’s curiosity, and ribbons of conversational, promise-filled body copy. But throughout the next decade, the messages became thin and the writers wrote fewer words. Celebrity endorsements took the place of real product information. Was advertising itself dying? Was Ogilvy all wrong?
With advertising shifting to an online environment, something extraordinary happened. Long-form advertising copy was resurrected in digital form. Repackaged for a digital world and a tech-savvy consumer, it’s found new life in algorithm-friendly blog articles and thought-leadership pieces, rooted in the journalism or creative marketing backgrounds of its practitioners. This makes long-form copy a kind of comeback kid, informing consumers anew and connecting them to nearby dealers or linking them directly to a website where they can buy instantly. And if it’s being done correctly, it’s also enhancing the search visibility of its brand, building a larger audience, converting more visits to inquiries, and racking up more sales.
To Become a Better Writer, Write a Strong Print Ad
I think it’s important for young copywriters to learn how to write a good display ad. It could be long or short, produced with AI assistance or not, and executed in a print or digital format. Advertising must still present a unique selling proposition, or USP (if you’ll forgive my use of such an old-fashioned term). The same goes for an outdoor, or out-of-home media execution. A good copywriter must know how to execute for long-form channels and translate the same positioning strategies to the mobile environment, where ads need to flash benefits and offers with impossibly few words to hurried, multi-tasking consumers.
It’s comforting to know that in modern copywriting education, the curriculum encompasses both traditional and digital formats, and focuses on a range of channels – digital advertising (display, social media, Google Ads), web copy and landing pages, and video and radio scripts.
Exceptions to the Long-Form Copy Rule
While we’re looking back at advertising from the mid-century era, what do I think was the greatest print ad ever? VW’s 1960 “Lemon” ad for the beetle. Its two-syllable headline proved to be the exception to the long head/long copy rule, and I don’t think it’s ever been bested. Can you imagine the courage it took for the client team to approve that headline? That’s another thing about advertising. You never know what will come along next. Rules? They’re made to be broken. What was the second-greatest print ad ever? The “Think Small” ad from the same Doyle Dane Bernbach-conceived campaign. During a time when budget-conscience clients preferred agencies to fill up the print advertising space they were paying for, I can’t imagine anything being more attention grabbing than its acres of white space.
Nobody’s Perfect
I’m no expert. Just a guy who’s done some good work to help clients make their value propositions. And even though I can be very critical of the advertising being created today (that’s for another article) I don’t pretend to be perfect. The first time the copywriting duties were entrusted to me, back in my account executive days, I came up with a killer concept and headline for a marine electronics client, but in the body copy I used the word “riggers” in place of the intended “rigors.” Turns out, these are two very different things.
It caused a kerfuffle. I blamed it on the New Jersey public schools. For the next ad, I called a copywriter.
SAS