The Greatest Copywriters of All Time (Past & Present)

I am sure you will agree.

Copywriting and content marketing are incredibly important for business growth.

For that reason I have spent the last several years learning from the best copywriters and content writers on the planet, both past and present.

Either through their books, courses and also by studying their work.

And in this post, you will learn both about them and from them.

It's a huge post, packed with links to resources as well as insights from the copywriters themselves.

So, dive in and enjoy.

(I realise that I have missed many names from this post that deserve recognition, so, use the comment section to let me know and I will update the post regularly).

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Pic By Advertising Hall of fame 

David Ogilvy

David Ogilvy is considered the Father of advertising. 


His book 'Ogilvy on Advertising' is a classic, and packed full of great advice.


The agency he created in 1948 is still going strong today and his wisdom is still very relevant.

Ash Ambirge

Ash is possibly the most talented writer on the web. 


Her career has seen her go from copywriter to business woman, teacher and now a best selling author.


Her blog is one of the best on the web and I have learned so much from Ash over the years. 


Click here to visit her site.


What Ash says about the importance of copywriting:

"Right now, there is no in-person schmoozing, networking, wheeling, dealing. There are no stores to walk into. There are no sales happening OUTSIDE of the internet, right now.

So the only way that anything’s going to sell right now?

Is because of words on a screen."

Russell Brunson

Russell Brunson is the founder of Clickfunnels, however long before this, he became a successful online marketer.


His Expert Secrets books are among the best marketing books ever published.


And he offers a wide range of courses to help you to succeed online. 


Check his site out here.

Brian Dean

Brian Dean is the founder of Backlinko, an SEO and marketing training company.


Brian publishes some of the best SEO content on the internet and has built a 7 figure course empire over the years.


His sales pages are without a doubt among the best in marketing.


What Brian says about the importance of copywriting

"Copywriting has, more than anything, helped my business stand out. I'm in a super competitive space. Full of big brands and people great at their craft.

Copywriting has helped me grab attention. Keep that attention. And build a sizeable audience".


Craig Clemens.

Craig is the 9 figure copywriter that you probably never heard of. 


He is the co founder of Golden Hippo and he shares some of his tips for business, copywriting and life in this podcast episode.

Derek Halpern

When I reached out to Brian Dean to ask who he thought was great at Copy. His answer was Derek Halpern.


Derek Halpern is the founder of Social Triggers and the Co founder of Health and food product business Truvani.


You can find a lot of tips around marketing and copy on his blog along with free guides and e-books.



Claude C. Hopkins

The author of the advertising classic 'Scientific Advertising'. Claude C. Hopkins is considered a legend of the business.


Hopkins tracked results and used data in his work to improve his results.


Stan Freberg

Often referred to as the father of the funny commercial, Stan Freberg had a hugely successful career in radio and television, as well as building the advertising agency Freberg Limited.


 

 Albert Lasker

Albert Lasker was famous for creating one of the fastest growing ad agencies of all time. 


Within 6 months of launching their first ad, the agency was one of the largest on the planet.


After 30 years, Lasker sold his agency in 1942 to 3 executives. 


Today it is still going strong as Foot, Cone and Belding.


Dave Harland

Dave Harland is the 'Copy King of LinkedIn'.

Without a doubt one of the most engaging writers on the platform. His daily LinkedIn content is a masterclass of social media copy. 

He also has an incredible weekly email series that you can find access to on his website.

P.S. I covered Dave's LinkedIn posts in an article that breaks his process down, click here to check that out.

What Dave says about the importance of copywriting and content marketing:

"Good copy gets people to think, feel and do what you want. It lets you send one message to millions, which resonates with each person like it was written personally for them. It stands you apart from all the other brands that sell and do similar stuff to you. It’s your secret salesperson that builds relationships from afar."

John Emory Powers

John Emory Powers lived from 1837 to 1919 and is regarded as the first full time copywriter.


The Power's style of advertising didn't use images or complex words and limited headlines to just a few words.



Leo Burnett

The Leo Burnett agency is still going strong today, which shows the impact this copywriting legend had.


He famously once said “Good advertising does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public mind with desires and belief.”



Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

Bernice Fitz-Gibbon was a pioneer of advertising for the retail industry.


She famously penned the tagline "It's smart to be thrifty."


Bernice received numerous awards and widespread recognition for her talent.

David Abbott

David Abbot 11 October 1938 – 17 May 2014 founded the  Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO agency which today is ranked the number 1 creative agency in the UK.

David’s work started as an in-house copywriter for the photography company Kodak and is behind many of the most successful ads in British history, including the famous J.R. Hartley ad for the Yellow Pages.

Dave Trott

Author, creative director and copywriter, Dave Trott is one of the most well known names in the business of creative copy.

Responsible for successful campaigns with the likes of Pespi, you can learn more about Dave Trott from his blog which is packed full of advice and thought provoking articles.

William Bernbach

William Bernach left a long lasting legacy in the world of advertising.

He spent 2 years serving in the military during WW2 after which he worked at several agencies, eventually working his way up from Copywriter to creative director.

He was a believer of the importance of how a message was displayed and not just what was said in the ad.

Drayton Bird

Drayton Bird is a true legend of copywriting, advertising and marketing. 

And even today he is still actively marketing on a daily basis via both LinkedIn and his blog and taking on client work.

David Ogilvy once said “Drayton Bird knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world."

His clients have included Airbus, American Express, Audi, Bentley, British Airways, Cisco, Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM, McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, Philips, P & G, Toyota, Unilever, Virgin, Visa and Volkswagen – and many you never heard of.

He has written 7 books, out in 17 languages, one - “Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing” - has been selling since 1982. He has spoken in 55 countries; he still writes copy every day - and it sells.

What Drayton says about the importance of copywriting:

"If you can't write copy or pay someone who can, you can't sell - and if you can't sell you will go broke. Simple, really."

Jo Foxworth

Jo Foxworth began her advertising career as a copywriter at McCann-Erickson in 1955.

She was one of the few female copywriters working in a male dominated era.

However, she more than proved her ability to her male colleagues, resulting in working with the likes of Coca Cola and Hilton Hotels.

She went on to author several books and she taught countless advertising students her methods.

Frank Kern

Frank Kern is one of the most sought after direct response copywriters and strategists on the planet.

After finding success on the internet selling products, he now teaches business owners how to make money online using a wide range of tactics.

Click here to check out his website.

Eugene Schwartz

If there was a single copywriter that has had more impact on the advertising industry, Eugene Schwartz is perhaps the most well known.

His book Breakthrough Advertising is considered THE textbook of copywriting.

Eugene created some of the most powerful ads of his time which are still studied today by aspiring copywriters.

Howard Gossage

Howard Gossage co founded  the advertising agency Wiener & Gossage and is considered one of the greatest ad men of all time.

He famously said “People read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad.”.

Among the many achievements of Howard's career was his promotion of a healthy work/life balance which was years ahead of his time.

Click here to check out his other famous quotes.

Robert Collier

Robert Collier’s book ‘The Robert Collier Letter Book’  is still considered a go to book for anyone wanting to learn about copywriting.

Collier sold everything you could imagine during a period of time where money was rare. 

His book is packed with insights and he will go down in history as one of the greatest. 

Joel Klettke


Joel Klettke is the founder of Business Casual Copywriting and Case Study Buddy.

He has become known as one of the go-to people in the world if you need copy that converts and or case studies that let your customers tell their story.

And if you are an aspiring copywriter, I can't recommend Joel's training courses enough, check them out here.

What Joel says about the importance of copywriting:

Copy is about more than words; my job is about more than just language.

The things we say and the way we say them have the power to influence the way we think.

And if you can change the way someone thinks, there's almost nothing you can't do. I love copywriting because it's a constant battle for better communication—finding something different, better, or more interesting to say to people who desperately want to hear it (even if they don't know it yet.)

Eddie Shleyner

Eddie Shleyner is the founder of Very Good Copy. A copywriting blog that provides readers with tips, insights and strategies to write better copy.

With over 16,000 subscribers, Eddie has become the go to man for copywriting advice, work and training.

And for good reason.

He has successfully worked with hundreds of businesses to improve their copy and increase their conversions.


What Eddie says about the importance of copywriting and content marketing:

"Why is good copy important in business? Because copywriting is about more than just words. It's about psychology, the human condition. Copywriting is about people, your customers, what moves them, what makes them act. That's important, right?"

Doberman Dan

In the world of Copy, Doberman Dan is well known.

As one of the most successful copywriters within the supplement business.  Dan built not 1 but 4 of his own supplement companies and later sold 3 of them.

His daily emails are the stuff of pure gold and his book 'How to sell the damn thing' is one of my favourites.

Check out his great website here.

What Dan says about the importance of copywriting:

I reached out to Dan to get his views on the importance of copywriting, here's what he had to say.

"For the past 34 years, I've been a serial entrepreneur. A FAILED serial entrepreneur (multiple times) until I discovered direct response marketing and copywriting.

Since then, all of my businesses have been 100% driven by sales copy written by lil' ole moi.

It has been the master key to my success.

I believe that any smart business owner can leverage the power of direct response sales copy to grow his or her business. I think it's the most effective... and most efficient way of selling almost any product or service."

Doberman Dan
www.DobermanDan.com

Joe Sugarman

The author of the Adweek Copywriting handbook, Joe Sugarman is a well known copywriter who introduced the pocket calculator to the world among many other products.

Back in 1977 people would pay $2,000 for a 5 day seminar with Joe.  He created the company JS & A Group, which sold the products he wrote ads and copy for, so he learned how to generate results because it was his money that was at stake.

He is considered a copy genius.

Click here to read some of his many insights.

Gary Halbert

Gary Halbert was known as ‘The Prince of Print and is known for some of the most successful  sales letters ever written.

Gary produced a well known newsletter of which you read online here.

Robert Bly

Robert W Bly is a copywriter and internet marketing strategist who has become a go to source of wisdom in the industry.

From his classic books such as The Copywriter's Handbook and ‘The Big Book of Words That Sell’ (which is never off my desk).

Take a look at Roberts website by clicking here.

Laurence Blume

Laurence Blume is a name you won’t necessarily have heard of in the copywriting fanboys world. However he has worked with some of the worlds best agencies and brands.

His blog is packed with superb articles that will help you to better understand the copywriting business.

Brian Clark

Brian Clark is a name that most digital marketers and copywriters have heard of because he founded Copyblogger.

Copyblogger started as a 1 man blog and is now an 8 figure online business.

Aside from Copyblogger, Brian has built and created numerous other blogs and businesses. 

Clayton Makepeace

Clayton Makepeace has been referred to by some as the world’s highest paid copywriter.

A master of financial sales copy, Clayton Makepeace led an incredible life.

Check his story out and some of his tips in this interview.

Tom McElligott

You won’t find a lot of information on Tom McElligott, however he remains one of the greatest copywriters of all time.

His ads are among some of the most well known in modern advertising and you can check some of them out here.

Mary Wells Lawrence

Mary Wells Lawrence was the first female CEO  of a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1971 Mary Wells Lawrence was named Advertising Woman of the Year by the American Advertising Federation.

She was one of the most powerful figures in advertising and responsible for campaigns of the likes of Alka seltzer and Proctor and Gamble.

Many believe she was the inspiration for the Peggy Olsen character in the TV series Mad Men.

Julian Koenig

Julian Koenig might not be a familiar name, but almost certainly, his work has impacted your life.

The creator of the classic line ‘It takes a lickin and keeps on ticking’. Julian was the co creator of the Think Small ad that was voted the number 1 campaign of all time.

Read more about Julians work here.

What Henneke says about the importance of copywriting.

"Why good copy matters? The shortest answer is that good copy sells. But good copy does so much more than that. It sets the tone for your brand, engages your audience, tells your story, makes your brand stand out from your competitors, and it creates a bond with your long-time fans. Good copy sits at the heart of good marketing. "


Aaron Orendorff

Aaron Orendorff is the founder of iconicontent.com.

With clients that include Facebook, Salesforce and Shopify. Aaron has become known as the go to expert for content marketing.

Gari Cruze

Gari Cruze counts the likes of Proctor and Gamble amongst his clients.

His love for copy and advertising has led him to be one of the most indemand copywriters today.

You can learn more about his work at his website.

Lorrie Morgan

Lorrie Morgan is the founder of Red Hot Copy and studied intensely with John Carlton and Gary Halbert. 

Having worked with a wide range of brands and even co-created a product with the legendary Dan Kennedy, Lorrie now specialises in teaching business owners how to sell to female customers.

Gary Bencivenga

No copywriting greats list could be complete without the name of Gary Bencivenga.

Referred to as ‘America’s best copywriter’, Gary has worked with the likes of John Caples and David Olgilvy.

Check out his website here and some of his work here.

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Jay Abraham

Jay Abraham is probably the first advertising expert I ever learned from. His talk with Tony Robbins was virtually worn out in my car from repeated listening.

Often referred to as one of the greatest marketing minds ever known, his advice is sought out by some of the biggest businesses on the planet.

Jay is the author of several mind blowing books and shares his wisdom via his email list which you can join on his website.

Joanna Wiebe

Joanna Weibe founded Copyhackers in 2011 which has gone on to become a go to resource for copywriters across the planet.

Joanna is credited with creating the term ‘conversion copywriter’.

Learn more about Joanna in this superb interview.

 Earnest Elmo Calkins

Earnest Elmo Calkins is a name that needs to be remembered because he is considered ‘The dean of advertising’.

Earnest was one of the first people to bring colour and graphic design to advertising.

Additionally, he pioneered the term consumer engineering and the creation of consumers from advertising.

 Rosser Reeves

Rosser Reeves believed that the purpose of adverts was to sell and not to show off the cleverness of a copywriter.

His ads generated millions in revenue for his clients and he went on to publish numerous books on advertising. 

This excellent article provides some of his lessons on advertising.

 John Salmon

John Salmon famously fired the Ford motor company as a client for their interference with his creative process.

His work with Benson and Hedges won numerous awards and he is often referred to as a ‘gentleman among mad men’.

 Trevor Beatie

Trevor Beatie is the founder of creative ad agency BMB. He is the genius behind the FCUK campaign that sold millions of T-shirts and many others.

His work with the Labour party is considered to have helped Tony Blair win a landslide victory.

You can learn more about Trevor in this superb interview.

 Dan S. kennedy

Dan Kennedy is perhaps the most well known copywriter and marketer on the planet.

An author of numerous books, he has mentored and coached some of the biggest names in marketing today.

Learn more about Dan at his website here.

Ben Settle

Ben Settle is one of the best email writers on the planet. 

His daily emails are a source of entertainment and education for copywriters and marketers. 

However he is also known for his huge success as a copywriter. Ben’s sales pages and emails have generated millions in revenue for his clients.

I urge any reader to sign up for his daily emails by visiting his website.

John Caples

John Caples is perhaps known best as the creator of one of the most famous ads of all time:

“They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano but When I Started to Play”.

Caples had a tremendous impact on the world of advertising and copywriting by pioneering such activities as copy testing and extensive research.

He is the author of several amazing books which are required reading for anyone looking to become a better copywriter.

Jessica Manuszak

Jessica Manuszak is the founder of Verve & Vigour, a copywriting agency that has worked with brands such as Nike and Dove.

Jessica creates copy that not only delights but engages audiences, which is why she is one of the most indemand writers today.

Hillary Weiss

Hillary Weiss is on a mission to help businesses to define their 'statement piece'. What's that?

It's a bold view that helps you to become more relevant to the people that you actually seek to serve.

With a hit YouTube talk show to her credit and having worked with countless small and large businesses, Hilary is known for combining copy with positioning to set brands up for success.

You can learn more about Hillary here

What Hillary says about the importance of copywriting:

"Copy is an absolutely essential part of any business strategy. Your messaging shapes the purpose and profit-drivers for your work, and without it? You'd just be a cool website floating in space. After product/market fit, businesses would be wise to include it as the most critical piece of their approach."

Daniel Kingsley Daines-Hutt

Daniel is a master of blending copywriting and content marketing together to generate results that can only be described as staggering.

The author of ‘Content Marketing For Traffic And Sales’, Daniel has written some of the most read marketing content on the web and generated over $3 Million in client requests.

His website Amp My Content is dedicated to help others achieve success using his techniques.

What Daniel says about the importance of copywriting and content marketing:

"Content marketing and copywriting are two of the most powerful inventions for business growth.

It allowed us to go from one to one, to one to many and better still? It allows us to connect with them on an emotional level.

Not only that but it allowed us to educate our audience and move them towards being a customer. 

To connect with someone who has the potential to be a sale, but might not even understand what you sell or why they would want it.

Heck, they might not even understand the problem that's causing their pain. Content + copy has shaped entire industries and caused trends that have lasted multiple generations.

Diamond rings were not the classic wedding ring until a marketing campaign changed it. Michelin star restaurants came around after content marketing from Michelin tires, advertising restaurants to drive to so they could sell more tires. 

This was all years before Google and the like helped leverage content even further still. Content and copy will continue to evolve and be valuable many years from now."

Neville Medhora 

Neville Medhora is both a copywriter and entrepreneur.

The creator of the amazing copywritingcourse.com, Neville is responsible for millions in revenue and is the man who wrote the emails for AppSumo, and in the process generating them over 750,000 customers.

You can learn more about Neville at his blog.

Chris Von Wilpert

Chris Von Wilpert is making huge waves in the world of content marketing.

From his signature 900 word emails to helping Sumo generate 100,000 visitors per month.

Chris blends copy and content marketing into a powerful tool to grow revenue.

You can learn more about Chris at his website.

What Chris says about the importance of copywriting and content marketing:

"I used the AIDA copywriting formula for a blog post once... and the Head of Marketing at Amazon Kindle reached out to me for help. Now I don't need to keep writing every week... I can leverage that one blog post everywhere in my marketing. That's the power of copywriting... write it once, use it to sell forever."

Jacob McMillen

If you search for the term copywriting you are going to see the name of Jacob McMillen.

Jacob has gone from a copywriter who earned $15 an article to earning $15,000 a month.

Today he runs a successful copywriting business as well as a thriving online course.

Check out his website here.

Mitch Miller

Mitch Miller has revolutionised the world of copywriting by showing how to leverage organic Facebook posts to grow a business.

I personally have used Mitch’s training to generate income from Facebook.

Mitch is the owner of Opposed Media and helps clients to generate serious revenue with sales letters, pages and email writing.

He also has a wide range of coaching courses and books that are simply amazing.

Jim Edwards

Jim Edwards is the author of Copywriting Secrets and the co-founder of Funnel Scripts.

He first discovered copywriting when he first tried to make money online and once he learned the importance of copy, he spent years learning how to master it.

The result, he has generated millions in revenue with sales pages and letters.

Denny Hatch

Denny Hatch’s book Million Dollar Mailings was once described by Drayton Bird as the book he stole more ideas from than any other.

Denny is a copywriter, author and has analysed over 600,000 mailing packages. 

His blog is packed full of great content and useful ideas. Check it out here.

The Copywriters That Denny Has Learned From

I reached out to Denny to ask him who some of the copywriters he learned from were.

Thankfully Denny gave me a great list, here are a few of those names.

Click on the link to learn more about each one (Please note, each link is packed with educational copy and business insights).

Robert Shnayerson

Curt Strohacker

Don Hauptman

Ed McLean

Seth Godin

Type 'SETH' into Google and this man comes up.


Publisher of countless books and a member of the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame.


Seth Godin is a legend.


Check out his content and wide range of courses here.

Ray Edwards

Ray Edwards is the copywriter responsible for writing copy for some of the biggest businesses in the world.

Today he teaches aspiring copywriters and business owners how to create better copy.

His book ‘How To Write Copy That Sells’ is a best seller and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in increasing their sales letter conversions.

What Ray says about the importance of copywriting:

"“Your success in business can be directly correlated to your ability to communicate persuasively.” - Ray Edwards

Jon Buchan

Jon Buchan is known as the man who makes cold outreach work like a charm.

Indeed his cold emails have led to meetings and work with some of the biggest names in business. Including the likes of Pepsi and Hewlett Packard.

Jon runs a popular Facebook group and you can access his wide range of tips, and tactics on his blog.

What Jon says about the importance of copywriting:

"Copywriting is absolutely essential to my business. It's enabled me to package up my expertise and sell it at scale.

Before that, my irreverent copywriting style enabled me to open up as many leads as I needed through cold pitching.

It's the most important skill of any I have. No doubt about it."

Donald Miller 

Donald Miller is the founder and author of Story Brand and Business Made Simple.

Story Brand is a method of creating engaging, clear and compelling copy for the use on websites and sales funnels to tell your audience exactly why they should buy from you.

Since creating Story Brand, thousands of people have taken his course to improve their brand copy and positioning as well as numerous copywriters becoming certified in this method.

You can learn more about Story Brand and Business Made Simple here.

Brian Kurtz

Brian Kurtz built a $150 Million publishing company and knows more about creating great copy, offers and ads than almost anyone on the planet.

One of Brian's (many) game changing theories is to treat your email list like a family.

You can learn more about Brian on his website and check out his amazing book 'Overdeliver'.

What Brian says about the importance of copywriting and content marketing:

I reached out to Brian to ask him his views on copywriting and not only did he reply but gave me 30 minutes of his time where he dropped knowledge bomb after knowledge bomb.

Here are just a few of them:

  • Treat your list like a family.
  • Copy and messaging is the least important aspect when your doing a promotion (until it isn't).
  • You need a responsive list, a great offer and creative copy to generate incredible results. But if you have a responsive list and a great offer but average copy you will still make some sales. 
  • Brian suggest using the 41/39/20 rule . Meaning that your campaigns success relies 41% on your list, 39% on the offer and 20% on the creative.
  • Great creative when combined with a great list and offer are what allowed him to take Boardroom to a $100 Million a year publishing business.
  • Paying postage made him a much better marketer.
  • Copywriting isn't a commodity it's a talent. 

Brian is an absolute legend and if you don't own a copy of Overdeliver, then you are missing out on easily one of the greatest marketing books ever written.

Click the button below to grab your copy (P.S. this is not an affiliate link, there are no affiliate links on this site).


Bill Jayme

Bill Jayme was once the most sought after copywriter in the world as well as being perhaps the most expensive.

And at one time there was a 5 month waiting list to hire him.

However people waited because they knew Bill would deliver results as his campaigns generated millions in revenue over the years.

Click here to learn more about his work and life.


Mel Martin 

Mel Martin is often referred to as the 'Master of Fascinations'. 

Responsible for millions in revenue due to his creative campaigns, Mel's copy was once described as "copy that when you read it, it made you vibrate.”

You can learn more about Mel by reading this great post by Denny Hatch

And this superb article by Brian Kurtz.

So, there you have it, the Copy Warfare list of some of the best copywriters on the planet, past and present.

I am certain there will be other writers who deserve a place on this list.

So, please comment below and let me know who they are and we will add them.

Thanks

Andrew Holland 

Founder of Copy Warfare and Zoogly Media


  • Obviously I’m thrilled to be on this incredible list. You have a lot of greats and others I’m def going to check out. I missed seeing John Carlton, Pauline Longdon, and Kevin Rogers on here. Like you said, there are always going to be others to add but these left a huge hole IMO.

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