Sex
The Final Frontier
A Lifetime Of Sex
My first promo for a sex manual, this was the breakthrough the client was looking for. Hereafter, I was the go-to copywriter for sex manual promotions. It was a dubious distinction. Though I enjoy writing these promos and pushing the limits, quite a few feathers were ruffled in a company where some executives were ambivalent about selling sex manuals. On at least one occasion, the trucks carrying millions of copies of one of my sex promos to the mail center were called back until high-level approval could be given. It was given.
A Lifetime Of Sex
(liftnote)
This piece is a great example of the power of suggestion when writing about sex. Everyone had a different and more lurid opinion of what “backseat driving” meant than what I actually was thinking of when I wrote this headline. It caused quite a stir, which I knew it would. That’s what advertising is supposed to do, no?
A Lifetime Of Sex
(liftnote)
There are so many inhibitions surrounding sex. Just suggest that you’re going to discover something forbidden and you’ll get people’s attention.
A Lifetime Of Sex
(liftnote)
I take absolutely NO credit at all for the Graduate thing going on in this photo! This was purely the genius of the designer, who was a young woman.
Playboy Magazine
Early in my career when I was hired to write a promo for Playboy Magazine, I figured I had arrived in the Big Time! I learned, instead, that in terms of direct mail, it was a step down into the minor leagues. Playboy was mailing sweepstakes packages and only sweepstakes packages. The circulation exec who hired me wanted to try something new. I give her a lot of credit for risk-taking. I created a package similar to what I had done for other clients. I created a premium and sold the hell out of that, as well as the magazine’s considerable editorial benefits. (continued below…)
Playboy Magazine
(brochure)
So on the night the package mailed I got a call from a Playboy executive. Hadn’t I ever written direct mail before? Didn’t I know this was NOT the way to do it? Oh, and, BTW, the person who hired me to write this awful thing had been let go. Click! I felt bad, but forgot about it, mostly, until six months later I got another call from Playboy. That premium thing mentioned in the promo… could I actually create it for them? Why would you even need it, I asked, innocently. Because your package beat our control sweeps package…. Now, you might assume that I went on to a long and profitable relationship with Playboy, since they had obviously learned that a well-written premium package can beat a sweeps…and that their circulation would only grow because of this newfound wisdom. You’d be wrong. I built the premium for them, went in for a meeting, and they tried to talk me into writing a sweeps package!