John Caples
1973 Creative Hall of Fame Inductee
Advertising, Education
John Caples, the "father" of direct response advertising, is famous for his iconic line about playing the piano. He spent 55 years at BBDO, authored "To men who want to quit work someday," and wrote the influential "Tested Advertising Methods" in 1932, pioneering copy testing in advertising.
Career
Known as the “father” of direct response advertising, John Caples wrote one of the most quoted lines in advertising history: “They laughed when I sat down at the piano… but when I started to play!” He spent all but two of his 57-year career at BBDO, where in one of the depression’s bleakest years (1930), he wrote his famous “To men who want to quit work someday.” A pioneer in copy testing, Caples wrote what is now considered to be one of the field’s standards: Tested Advertising Methods (1932).
