J Peterman

Image via Wikipedia

“Obviously used, look at the cleat marks.  Only $3000.00″

You know that Elaine worked as a copy writer for J Peterman on Seinfeld.  But you may not know that J Peterman is a real business, with some of the best copy around.

Amazingly they’ve been selling high-priced clothing items for years without even offering actual photos of the merchandise (this *just* changed).

Here’s a link to some classic J Peterman copy and here’s an interesting article on Sports Illustrated.

Notice the simple use of story, for the purposes of nostalgia.   Notice how the story likely relates to a specific demographic.  And notice how effective this is in the selling of a product that doesn’t even come with a photo.  Plus, no hype.

To me, this is great copy.  It sells something that transcends a piece of clothing – although it’s selling a new, contemporary item J Peterman has obviously recognized and mastered the selling of something we all long for – to re-experience our youth again.