Many regard a successful marketing campaign as a mystical, hard-to-define feat that only happens when the stars align and other intangible factors happen to fall into place. Author Claude Hopkins takes the opposing view, arguing that successful advertising can be boiled down to a handful of empirical variables and scientific principles. This classic of the marketing genre is a must-read for aspiring businesspeople and entrepreneurs.

How advertising works is not a question that has a simple answer. Advertising is a diverse entity and different campaigns work (or fail to work) in a plethora of different ways. Most advertising persuades people to buy things, but how? And who does it aim to persuade? And how are these decisions made? In this Very Short Introduction Winston Fletcher, an expert with extensive knowledge of advertising from the inside, aims to answer these questions,