I view advertising in what might be thought of as an ‘old school’ manner. In that I believe the fundamental point of all advertising is to ‘sell stuff.’

In the world of patient recruitment the stuff being sold is obviously that of participating in a clinical trial.

Which is why I keep coming back to the legendary figures in the advertising world, such as Claude C Hopkins, John Caples, David Ogilvy and the like.

Hopkins in particular – with his mantra of Scientific Advertising – was a pioneer in testing what works and what doesn’t, basing his strategies on mail order coded coupons that can be identified when they are sent in as to which ad they relate to.

Thus being able to determine which ad is more successful at ‘selling stuff.’

In today’s world of digital advertising we can track things in an even more sophisticated manner, enabling us to utilize these principles to successfully recruit patients for trials.