🎤 The SWIPES Email (Friday, November 28th, 2025)

Friday, November 28th, 2025 ​​
​​​ ​​SwipeFile.com​​​​​​: Inspiration for your marketing.
​​​​​​CopywritingCourse.com​​​​​​: Get good at selling your stuff.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TODAY from Austin, TX! 🦃

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I'd like to roll the clock back 50+ years to celebrate some legendary advertising.

Let's jump back to around the 1960's during a newspapers and magazines king, the TV was just starting to become a staple in every house, and the radio was huge.

Some great classics came out of this era. Let's jump in!!

Swipe:

Some of my favorite ads were "useful ads" that were so good you'd rip them out of the magazine and frame them!

For example this "Guide to Cheese" ad would be framed and posted on the wall in bars and restaurants.

This is genius since Guinness would get every more free advertising!

In fact this ad worked so well they made a bunch more in the same style:

Wisdom:

Influencer marketing isn't new....there have always been spokesmen for products and companies, and legendary ad man David Ogilvy got Commander Whitehead (the CEO of Schweppes) to be a "Most Interesting Man In the World" style character in a set of ads:

People tend to follow personalities more than companies, and this ad campaign did really well in the mid 1950's:

Interesting:

Back in the day you HAD to have a grabbing headline to draw in a reader since you only had one shot with a print ad.

I love classic headlines like this:

One of my all time favorite headlines is from the same ad set:

Picture:

One of my all-time favorite ad campaigns is still this Volkswagen Beetle ad set by the DDB agency.

Every single ad had a catching visual (bc the VW Bug was just such a unique looking car), and they all kind of poked fun of the flaws/drawbacks of the car too which was smart.

Just look at all of these great visuals and headlines!!

Essay:

In the year 2000, I was about to graduate high school, and fortunately I was reasonably tech-savvy.

I saw a lot of the people older than me were not tech-savvy and weren’t willing to learn the new stuff coming out with computers and the internet.

They were kind of blind to it or didn’t care.

I felt that was a competitive advantage I had, just being modestly up to date with technology and using it.

For example just being able to Google well put me ahead of like 95% of the people!

A few observations:

• People who were scared of computers and the internet were the ones who never really used them.

• Yes, any technology can have downsides or be abused, but when you use it a lot, you start seeing the potential of it.

• Skills that were once valuable eventually become useless.

Every time a new technology comes out, it destroys a bunch of jobs—but it also creates a bunch of new ones. And if you're on the side of the people who know how to use it and utilize it to your advantage, that can be very helpful to your career and your life.

So for fun, here's a list of mostly obsolete skills that used to be an important part of life or your career:

• Writing checks

• Using a Rolodex

• Burning CDs or DVDs

• Using a travel agent

• Long division by hand

• Reading road atlases

• Memorizing phone numbers

• Shorthand or stenography

• Typing on a typewriter

• Using carbon copy paper

• Operating a switchboard

• Using traveler's checks

• Balancing a checkbook

• Operating a film projector

• Using a physical alarm clock

• Sewing and repairing clothes

• Using the Dewey Decimal System

• Knowing time zones by memory

• Printing MapQuest directions

• Sharpening pencils with a knife

• Building or maintaining a fire

• Filing paper documents by hand

• Cursive writing (for most people)

• Using pay phones or phone booths

• Addressing an envelope properly

• Polaroid camera development timing

• Dial-up internet connection setup

• Knowing how to use a fax machine

• Handwriting essays instead of typing

• Knowing how to cite sources manually

• Installing printer drivers from CDs

• Manually setting computer IRQ settings

• Using microfilm or library card catalogs

• Reading a printed map or using a compass

• Remembering birthdays and anniversaries

• Setting rabbit ears to get a TV signal

• Using analog household tools like hand drills

• Faxing or scanning with giant office machines

Splurge:

Over at Copywriting Course we're currently running our ​biggest sale of the year EVER​ so it's an AMAZING time to get in if you've been on the fence!

What this means is you get 12 months of membership (plus 2 extra months) for half the price!

So grab it quick! Join and use coupon code ​BLACKFRIDAY​ right now. This deal is going away today when Black Friday ends!

Hope you have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Neville Medhora

P.S. Checkout some wins from Copywriting Course ​members​:

We also do weekly Live Reviews each week....we clip them up for members to watch: