posts tagged “copywriting”

Tell me quick and tell me true

Burn this into your brain.

It's a catchy poem by the legendary Victor Schwab.

And it helps you remember the simple secret to holding your reader's interest.

---

I see that you've spent quite a big wad of dough
To tell me things you think I should know.
How your plant is so big, so fine, and so strong;
And your founder had whiskers so handsomely long.

So he started the business in old ‘92!
How tremendously int’resting that is... to you.
He built up the thing with the blood of his life?
(I'll run home like mad, tell that to my wife!)

Your machinery’s modern and oh so complete;
Your “rep” is so flawless; your workers so neat.
Your motto is “Quality”… capital “Q” —
No wonder I’m tired of “Your” and of “You”!

So tell me quick and tell me true
(Or else, my love, to hell with you!)
Less — “how this product came to be”;
More — what the damn thing does for me!

Will it save me money or time or work;
Or hike up my pay with a welcome jerk?
What drudgery, worry, or loss will it cut?
Can it yank me out of a personal rut?

Perhaps it can make my appearance so swell
That my telephone calls will wear out the bell;
And thus it might win me a lot of fine friends —
(And one never knows where such a thing ends!)

I wonder how much it could do for my health?
Could it show me a way to acquire some wealth —
Better things for myself, for the kids and the wife,
Or how to quit work somewhat early in life?

So tell me quick and tell me true
(Or else, my love, to hell with you!)
Less — “how this product came to be”;
More — what the damn thing does for me!




100 Good Advertising Headlines — and why they were so profitable

100 Good Advertising Headlines Ad

  1. The Secret of Making People Like You

Almost $500,000 was spent profitably to run keyed ads displaying this headline. It drew many hundreds of thousands of readers into the body matter of a “people-mover” advertisement — one which, by itself, built a big business. Pretty irresistible, isn’t it?

  1. A Little Mistake That Cost a Farmer $3,000 a Year

A sizable appropriation was spent successfully in farm magazines on this ad. Sometimes the negative idea of offsetting, reducing, or eliminating the “risk of loss” is even more attractive to the reader than the “prospect of gain.”

As the great business executive, Chauncey Depew, once said, “I would not stay up all of one night to make $100; but I would stay up all of seven nights to keep from losing it.” People also have the feeling that losses and waste can often be more easily retrieved than new profits can be gained.

What farmer could pass up reading the copy under such a headline — to find out: “What was the mistake? Why was it ‘little’? Am I making it? If it cost that farmer a loss of $3,000 a year, maybe it’s costing me a lot more! Perhaps the copy will also tell me about other mistakes I might be making.”

  1. Advice To Wives Whose Husbands Don’t Save Money — By a Wife

The headline strength of the word “Advice” has often been proven. Most people want it, regardless of whether or not they follow it. And the particular “ailment” referred to is common enough to interest a lot of readers. The “it happened to me” tag line, “By a Wife,” increases the desire to read the copy. (This ad far outpulled the advertiser’s previous best ad, Get Rid of Money Worries.)

  1. The Child Who Won the Hearts of All

This was a key-result ad which proved spectacularly profitable. It appeared in women’s magazines. The emotional-type copy described (and the photograph portrayed) the kind of little girl any parent would want their daughter to be. Laughing, rollicking, running forward with arms outstretched, right out of the ad and into the arms and heart of the reader.

  1. Are You Ever Tongue-Tied at a Party?

Pinpoints the myriads of self-conscious, inferiority-complexed wallflowers. “That’s me! I want to read this ad; maybe it tells me exactly what to do about it.”

  1. How a New Discovery Made a Plain Girl Beautiful

Wide appeal; there are more plain girls than beautiful ones — and just about all of them want to be better looking.

  1. How to Win Friends and Influence People

This helped to sell millions of copies of the book of the same title. Strong basic appeal; we all want to do it. But without the words “How To” the headline would become simply a trite wall-motto.

  1. The Last 2 Hours Are The Longest — and those are the 2 hours you save

An airline ad featuring a faster jet-powered flight. Headline is a bull’s-eye for air-experienced travelers who know what those last two interminable hours can do to their nerves and patience. Like many fine headlines, it doubtless came right out of the personal experience of its writer.

This headline (and all the others discussed here) would have been good even if it had not been supported by any picture at all. But its effect was heightened by a photo of a wristwatch with the hour-marks indicating 1 to 10 bunched together — and 10, 11, and 12 stretched wide apart.

  1. Who Else Wants a Screen Star Figure?

Who doesn’t? Except men — and this successful and much-fun ad is not addressed to them. “Who Else” also has a “get on the band-wagon” connotation: not “can it be done?” but “who else wants to have it?”

  1. Do You Make These Mistakes in English?

This old-timer still keeps going. A direct challenge. Now read the headline back, eliminating the vital word “These.” This word is the “hook” that almost forces you into the copy. “What are these particular mistakes? Do I make them?”

IN THIS FIRST “BREATHER” let us stop to impress upon your mind how significant a part the “specific” plays in so many good headlines. It appears in many of our first ten. And it will appear in a surprising number of the next ninety. You will see how magnetically it helps to draw the reader into the body matter of an advertisement.

So notice, as you continue reading, how many of these 100 headlines contain specific words or phrases that make the ad promise to tell you: These, Which, Which of these, Who Else, Here's, Here's How, Where, When, What, Why.

Also, note frequently exact amounts are used: number of days, evenings, hours, minutes, dollars, ways, types of.

This “attraction of the specific” is worth your especial attention that you may want to encircle examples of it as you continue reading.

  1. Why Some Foods “Explode” in Your Stomach

A provocative “Why” headline. Based upon the completely understandable fact that some food combinations virtually “explode” in the stomach. Broad appeal. (Relevant picture of chemical retort shaped like a stomach, starting to explode.)

  1. Hands That Look Lovelier in 24 Hours — Or Your Money Back

Universal appeal to women. Result guaranteed: “Or Your Money Back.”

  1. You Can Laugh At Money Worries — If You Follow This Simple Plan

Something everybody wants to be able to do. A successful keyed ad upon which many thousands have been spent.

  1. Why Some People Almost Always Make Money in the Stock Market

A profitable checked-result ad selling a book written by a partner in a well-known and highly-regarded brokerage house. Important key words: “Some” and “Almost” — which make the headline credible.

  1. When Docters “Feel Rotten” This Is What They Do

What’s the secret of the success of this well-known ad? First: the suggestion of a paradox. We seldom think of doctors as being in poor health themselves. And when they are, what they do about it is information “right from the horse’s mouth”; carries a note of authority and greater assurance of “reward for reading the ad.”

Also, the use of the unabashed colloquialism (“feel rotten”) gets attention, sounds human, natural. Besides, it has surprise value — since the vocabulary of the advertising pages has a certain sameness and stilted quality.

This ad pulled only half the number of responses when a test was made changing When Doctors "Feel Rotten” to When Doctors Don’t Feel Up To Par. (Other examples of the use of common colloquialisms "surprise" words are given in some of these 100 good headlines.)

  1. IT SEEMS INCREDIBLE That You Can Offer These Signed Original Etchings — for Only $5 Each!

Anticipates the reader’s natural incredulity concerning such an exceptional bargain. Thus helping to overcome his doubt in advance, by acknowledging the likelihood of it.

  1. Five Familiar Skin Troubles — Which Do You Want to Overcome?

“Let me keep reading — to see if I have one of the five.” The old “Which of These” selling technique; not “do you want?” but “which do you want?” (Interrogative headline helps entice readers into the copy. Note how many of these 100 are interrogative headlines.)

  1. Which of These $2.50 to $5 Best Sellers Do You Want — For Only $1 Each?

This keyed ad sold hundreds of thousands of books. Strong comparative-price bargain appeal.

  1. Who Ever Heard of a Woman Losing Weight — and Enjoying 3 Delicious Meals at the Same Time?

Another example of a headline which anticipates incredulity in order to help overcome it.

  1. How I Improved My Memory in One Evening

This is the famous “Addsion Sims of Seattle” ad which coined that household phrase. Could you escape wanting to read it?

  1. Discover The Fortune That Lies Hidden in Your Salary

One of those good “discover what lies hidden” headlines. (Note others here.) A proven puller for an advertiser offering sound securities on a “pay out of income” basis.

  1. Doctors Prove 2 Out of 3 Women Can Have More Beautiful Skin in 14 Days

Women want it. “Why 2 out of 3? Am I one of the two? How have doctors proved it? Quick results are what I want….Only 14 days!”

IN THIS SECOND “BREATHER” we want to point out that many of the headlines already quoted (and others to follow) are, by ordinary standards, quite long. Yet, despite their length, they were successful.

Obviously, it is not wise to make a headline any lengthier than its primary function actually requires. However, greater-than-usual length need not worry you… provided the headline’s high spots of interest are physically well broken up and clearly displayed — and provided the personal advantages promised to the reader are presented so appositely that it is almost as though his own name appeared in the headline.

Worth recounting is the story of Max Hart (of Hart, Schaffner and Marx) and his advertising manager, the late and great George L. Dyer. They were arguing about long copy. To clinch the argument Mr. Dyer said, “I’ll bet you $10 I can write a newspaper page of solid types and you’d read every word of it.”

Mr. Hart scoffed at the idea. “I don’t have to write a line of it to prove my point,” Mr. Dyer responded. “I’ll only tell you the headline. ‘This page is all about Max Hart.’”

  1. How I Made a Fortune With a “Fool Idea”

Paradoxes excite interest. Broad appeal: almost everyone has once had a pet money-making idea that others have thought foolish and impractical. Sympathy for the underdog: “What’s the story of this man who ‘turned the tables’ on the people who ridiculed him?”

  1. How Often Do You Hear Yourself Saying: “No! I haven’t read it, I’ve been meaning to!”

A well-known book club has spent a great deal of money on this ad. Headline aimed accurately at large market — people who “mean to” keep up with the new books but somehow “never get around to it.”

And now let's go on to headline #25...

  1. Thousands Have This Priceless Gift — But Never Discover It!

“What ‘Priceless Gift’? Why is it ‘Priceless’? If ‘Thousands’ have it, perhaps I should have it too.”

The “undiscovered” angle has great attraction. Legions of people are convinced that they possess talents and abilities which others have never discovered. Consequently, their world is unfortunately inclined to underrate or misjudge them.

  1. Whose Fault When Children Disobey?

What parent wouldn’t be stopped cold by this headline? “I’m the one who’s probably to blame. It’s a distressing condition — and, most important, a reflection upon me. Maybe this ad tells me what to do about it.”

  1. How a “Fool Stunt” Made Me a Star Salesman

What is the ‘Fool Stunt’? Why did people call it that? How did it transform this fellow? I’d like to be able to ‘sell’ myself and my ideas — even though selling may not be my vocation.” (A large appropriation was spent profitably on this ad after its result-fulness had been proven.)

  1. Have YOU These Symptoms of Nerve Exhaustion?

Everyone likes to read about his “Symptoms.” The appeal is broad; the condition of “Nerve Exhaustion” is common.

  1. Guaranteed to Go Through Ice, Mud or Snow — or We Pay the Tow!

If you offer a powerful guarantee with your product, play it up strongly and quickly in the headline. Don’t relegate it to minor display. Many products are actually backed up by dramatic guarantees — but their advertising does not make the most of them.

  1. Have YOU a “Worry” Stock?

“Perhaps this ad will tell me why I need not lose any sleep over it — or how I can replace it with one that will zoom.”

  1. How a New Kind of Clay Improved My Complexion in 30 Minutes

Promises a desirable “reward for reading.” And the true experience of another person (with something relevant to our own desires) is always interesting.

  1. 161 New Ways to a Man’s Heart — in this fascinating book for cooks

If you have read this far, the particular merits of this headline will be obvious to you.

  1. Is the Life of a Child Worth $1 to You?

Trenchant headline for a brake-relining service. How the life of a little child may be snuffed out by an accident due to your ineffective brakes.

  1. Profits That Lie Hidden In Your Farm

Widely run in farm papers, with exceptional results. The “hidden profit” idea and the suggestion of “retrieving a loss.”

  1. Everywhere Women Are Raving About this Amazing New Shampoo!

The colloquial: “Raving About.” The “success” word: “Everywhere.” (“Nothing succeeds like success”) And the overworked “Amazing” still seems to have some power left.

  1. Do YOU Do Any of These Ten Embarrassing Things?

Bull’s-eye question. All of us are afraid of embarrassing ourselves before others; being criticized, looked down upon, talked about. “Which ‘Ten’ are they? Do I do any of them?”

  1. Six Types of Investors — Which Group Are YOU In?

This ad produced inquiries in large quantities. Investors reviewed the characteristics of each of the six groups, as described in the ad; then inquired about a program designed to meet the investment purposes of their particular group.

AND NOW WE COME TO “BREATHER” #3. It’s a short one because you already know its “lesson” very well. But to stress its importance, let us point this out to you: 43 of these 100 headlines contain one of these actual words — You, Your, or Yourself!

In many of the other 58 headlines “you” is implicit, even though it may not actually appear.

Even when the pronoun is first person singular (for example, How I Improved My Memory in One Evening) the reward promised is so universally desired that it is, in effect, really saying “You can do it, too!” That's all for that. No use adding more than a little “lest you forget” to the thousands of words already written about the “point of you.”

So let’s keep going...

  1. How to Take Out Stains… Use (Product Name) and Follow These Easy Directions

An example of a good “service” ad — one which, besides being relevantly tied up with the product, also contains helpful information usable in itself. (Such ads often have considerable longevity because they are cut out and used for future reference.)

  1. Today… Add $10,000 to Your Estate — For the Price of a New Hat

Who wouldn’t want to do that? Doubt as to the promise is offset by the fact that the advertiser is a large and reputable insurance company.

  1. Does YOUR Child Ever Embarrass You?

Direct; challenging; a common circumstance. Brings up a flood of recollections. How can such unpleasant experiences be avoided in the future?

Based upon a strong selfish appeal. Parents, are first, individuals; second, parents. The kind of reflection that children cast upon the prestige, and self-esteem of their parents is a useful copy angle to remember. (This headline is the negative opposite of #4, The Child Who Won the Hearts of All.)

  1. Is YOUR Home Picture-Poor?

A rifle-shot question hitting thousands of readers. Illustrated by a photo of an otherwise attractive living room with blank areas on its walls; with X’s indicating where pictures would improve the room’s appearance.

  1. How to Give Your Children Extra Iron — These 3 Delicious Ways

It obeys the wise maxim of newspaper reporters: “Start where the reader is.” In other words, the public already accepts the fact that children’s blood should contain plenty of iron. So the headline goes on from there — promising “Extra” iron and “3 Delicious Ways” to get it.

  1. To People Who Want to Write — but can’t get started

Unerringly selects its audience, which is large — and stymied.

  1. This Almost-Magical Lamp Lights Highway Turns Before You Make Them

The word “Almost” lends believability. Headline promises an automatic no-effort method of relieving an annoying condition or avoiding a dangerous emergency.

  1. The Crimes We Commit Against Our Stomachs

Another “start where the reader is” headline — because most people already believe they often give their digestive process some pretty rough treatment. This rapport, between the theme of the ad and the common belief of its readers, makes the “We” and “Our” practically equal in effectiveness to “You” and “Your.”

  1. The Man With The “Grasshopper Mind”

An immediate association with himself leaps to the mind of the reader. He wants to check at once on the personal parallel. What are the symptoms? Starting things one never finishes? Jumping from one thing to another?

“How much am I like him? It’s not a good trait. What did he do about it?” (An example of a negative headline that strikes home more accurately and dramatically than would a positive one.)

  1. They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano — But When I Started to Play!

Another one that has entered our language. Sympathy with the underdog. Particularly interesting, structurally, as an example of a headline which “turns the corner” by using a final tag line to make itself positive instead of negative.

Also worth remembering: the before-and-after angle can be effective in many headlines.

  1. Throw Away Your Oars!

When Ole Evinrude, the outboard-motor king, ran a small ad with this headline, he took the first step toward building his one-room machine ship into a big business. (A similar headline, Throw Away Your Aerial!, was also once responsible for building a business in the radio field.)

This type of headline is worth thinking about when the product eliminates the need for some heretofore necessary piece of equipment, some onerous job, or some sizable item of expense.

  1. How to Do Wonders With a Little Land!

A successful headline which pulled 75% better than Two Acres and Security and 40% better than A Little Land — a Lot of Living. The reason: “How to” and “Do Wonders With.”

  1. Who Else Wants Lighter Cake — in Half the Mixing Time?

Strong appeal. Another good “Who Else” headline. (#9, Who Else Wants A Screen Star Figure?)

  1. Little Leaks That Keep Men Poor

A keyed “retrieving a loss” ad whose checked resultfulness justified frequent repetition.

  1. Pierced by 301 Nails…. Retains Full Air Pressure

Who wouldn’t be interested in reading more about a tire like this?

  1. No More Back-Breaking Garden Chores For ME — Yet Ours Is Now The Show-Place of the Neighborhood!

A good example of a before-and-after headline which “makes the turn” from negative to positive. Also worth noting: it has an effective element of excitement in it — a feature of many good headlines, communicating the copywriter’s enthusiasm to the printed page.

“BREATHER” #4 IS ABOUT Negative Headlines. “Accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative” advised a popular song of a few years ago. For years that has also been the popular refrain of the advice often given to copywriters. Discussion about negative headlines has sometimes sparked more fire than enlightenment.

Yet our 100 headlines include 21 which are completely negative and 10 others which start with a negative approach and then become positive. So the negative approach must have some good reason for existence. It has. What is it?

One of the principal objectives of a headline is to strike as directly as possible right at a situation confronting the reader. Sometimes you can do this with greater accuracy if your headline pinpoints his “ailment” rather than the alleviation of it. (For example, Is YOUR Home Picture-Poor?Have YOU a “Worry Stock”Little Leaks That Keep Men Poor.)

So when you face that kind of situation don’t be afraid to “accentuate the... negative.”

Now let’s proceed to another great headline which captured a place in our everyday language.

  1. Often a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride

So poignantly true; so pointed — and so common.

  1. How Much Is “Worker Tension” Costing Your Company?

An ad which was successful in business magazines reaching executives. “I want to know which are the kinds of ‘Worker Tension,’ specifically. What is ‘Worker tension’ costing other companies in net profits? How much is it costing us? If it is, what can we do about it?”

  1. To Men Who Want to Quit Work Some Day

Selects its readers without wasting a word. (And who can say that the Audience isn’t kind of large?)

  1. How to Plan Your House to Suit Yourself

This pulled almost 20% better than How to Avoid These Mistakes in Planning Your House. Apparently, people expect the architect to avoid the mistakes — but feel that they themselves know better than anyone else what will best suit their particular needs and preferences.

  1. BUY NO DESK... Until You’ve Seen This Sensation of the Business Show

Strong stopper type of headline... adaptable for many uses. Copy quickly follows with “until you have checked as to whether it has this feature, and this one, and this…”

  1. Call Back These Great Moments At The Opera!

Sometimes it’s a good idea to “start where the reader was.” This nostalgic headline was used to sell phonograph records of great operas. The idea can be used in a positive way: typing up with a desirable remembrance. Or it can be used negatively: contrasting a certain new product advantage with an undesirable remembrance.

  1. “I Lost My Bulges… and Saved Money, Too”

World “Bulges” is a stopper; not commonly used in advertising’s lexicon. Double-edged appeal: the promise to end an unwanted condition and to save you money also.

  1. Why (Brand Name) Bulbs Give More Light This Year

This one illustrates an important point. It is usually not a good idea to tell the name of the company (or the brand name) in the headline — or to make it tell too much of the story. When this is done right in the headline itself it often “gives the whole thing away” and does not tempt the reader into the copy.

However, as is this case, when the advertiser is a nationally famous company (particularly when it is noted for its enterprise, innovations, improvements, and research) the use of the company (or brand) name can add news value to the headline — and help to substantiate the truth of the claim made in it.

  1. Right and Wrong Farming Methods — and Little Pointers That Will Increase Your Profits

Exceedingly profitable in farm papers. A combination of negative and positive appeals, with a lot of “come hither” for farmers.

  1. New Cake-Improver Gets You Compliments Galore!

There are three things which advertising can tell its readers. 1. What the product is. 2. What it does. And… this headline utilizes the third (and often overlooked) one: In terms of the advertiser, it is this: What other people will say of you, think of you, do for you — how they will admire you, envy you, imitate you — because of what my product can accomplish for you.

In terms of the prospective customer it is this: Because of what your product can do for me, people may think more of me!

  1. IMAGINE ME… Holding an Audience Spellbound for 30 Minutes

A profitable narrative-ad headline. Broad interest in this kind of ability. Narrator’s surprise and apparent humility lend credence and humanness to the statement.

  1. This is Marie Antoinette — Riding to Her Death

An often-repeated ad for a set of books. It pulled 8 times as many responses in 1/4 page size as were ever received from a double-spread.

This is the only straight “curiosity” headline included here. Its headline was relevant — not one of those commonly-used trick devices to force attention when advertising a product not closely related to the headline.

  1. Did You Ever See a “Telegram” From Your Heart?

A real stopper of a headline, with a great deal of “come hither” lure into the copy. Top picture shows a cardiogram report printed upon a Western Union telegram form.

  1. Now Any Auto Repair Job Can Be “Duck Soup” for You!

What do you know — the words “Duck Soup” in an ad! But doesn’t it tell the story in a more unusual way than would “Easy,” “Simple,” or some such word — particularly to the type of market at which this ad is aimed?

  1. New Shampoo Leaves Your Hair Smoother — Easier to Manage

A result that all women want is clearly and persuasively stated. Word “Leaves” makes it sound effortless.

  1. It’s a Shame for YOU Not to Make Good Money — When These Men Do It So Easily

The colloquial “It’s a Shame.” Sympathetic understanding of the reader: “You are as capable as these other men.” (Headline supported by photos and good testimonials.)

  1. You Never Saw Such Letters As Harry and I Got About Our Pears

Friendly; human; refreshingly non-“advertisy” in language. And, of course, the reference to “such letters.”

  1. Thousands Now Play who never thought they could!

A headline perennially profitable for a large music school. Again, the copy is crammed with testimonials and references substantiating the claim.

  1. Great New Discovery Kills Kitchen Odors Quick! — makes indoor air “country-fresh”

The headline of an ad that launched a big business. Faces a common problem head-on; offers an easy and pleasant solution.

  1. Make This 1-Minute Test — of an Amazing New Kind of Shaving Cream

The “make this test” angle has been used in many good headlines. It is widely usable for others. Its purpose is to induce the reader to participate in a demonstration of the product’s merits.

  1. Announcing... The New 1959 Edition of the Encyclopedia That Makes It Fun to Learn Things

The “announcement” type of headline (when bringing out a new product) wins attention because people are interested in new things.

THIS “BREATHER” #5 reminds you that in a whole flock of these headlines you find the “New” — or connotation of it. Americans are partial to the new or novel; they do not suffer from neophobia. To them the mere factor of “newness” seems to be prima facie evidence of “betterness.”

Undeviating affection for the old and tried may be strong in other countries; in ours the desire to try the new is stronger. The great achievements of our inventors and enterprising manufacturers have trained us to believe that if it’s new, it’s likely to be better.

And now we come to another familiar headline…

  1. Again She Orders… “A Chicken Salad, Please”

You still hear it quoted. It sold hundreds of thousands of copies of an etiquette book because it capsulized a common and embarrassing situation.

  1. For the Woman Who is Older Than She Looks

This headline was a stopper to thousands… and more successful than the subtly different For the Woman Who Looks Younger Than She Is.

  1. A Program of Supreme Importance To Anybody Who Ever Buys Classical Records

A keyed ad widely used by a record club. Pinpoints its audience. The savings and other benefits enjoyed by its members are prominently displayed in subheads.

  1. Check the Kind of Body YOU Want

Check list displayed at top immediately invites reader’s participation in specifying “which of these” improvements he would like to make in his physique. Keyed ad repeated frequently by well-known physical culturist.

  1. “You Kill That Story — Or I’ll Run You Out of the State!”

A true narrative ad run by a nationwide chain of newspapers. Could you flip over the page without wanting to know what happened?

  1. Here’s a Quick Way to Break up a Cold

In simple everyday words, a direct promise to end an undesirable condition — quickly.

  1. There’s Another Woman Waiting for Every Man — and she’s too smart to have “morning mouth”

Had quite an impact on women readers, this toothpaste ad. Obviously, for there surely is a lot of motivation in its theme: “No woman wants her husband to carry the memory of her morning breath to work with him. The attractive women he meets during the day don’t have it.”

  1. This Pen “Burps” Before It Drinks — But Never Afterwards!

Headline expressed in a few words a copy theme credited with pushing one brand of fountain pen up to a leading position.

  1. If YOU Were Given $200,000 to Spend — isn’t this the kind of (type of product, but not brand name) you would build?

A “self-incriminating” (and widely applicable) way to have the reader help to specify what he himself would value most in such a product.

The copy follows through along these lines: “Surely you would put this feature into it. You would be sure that it brought you this advantage, and this, and this... Well, we’ve done it all for you. As you can see, this product was really created for you!”

  1. “Last Friday… Was I Scared! — My Boss Almost Fired Me!”

A human narrative people wanted to read because it did — or could — “happen to me.”

  1. 67 REASONS WHY it would have paid you to answer our ad a few months ago

An interesting example of an ad that back-tracks — pointing out in detail what the reader missed by not buying the product before. A frequently repeated ad used by a well-known news magazine to pull for subscriptions.

  1. Suppose This Happened on YOUR Wedding Day!

A profitable narrative-ad headline which makes it pretty hard to flip the page. “What was this tragic happening? Could it — or did it — happen to me?”

  1. Don’t Let Athlete’s Foot “Lay You Up”

This pulled three times better than Relieve Foot Itch. It gives the disease a relevant name, points out unwanted effects.

  1. Are They Being Promoted Right Over Your Head?

Another question aimed at a big target: the legion of frustrated, discouraged people who feel that their ability and conscientiousness are not being amply rewarded by recognition and advancement. (Frequently run by an educational institution which checks the resultfulness of its advertisements.)

  1. Are We a Nation of Low-Brows?

This headline helped to sell inexpensive editions of the classics, hundreds of thousands of them. It “starts where the reader is” — because we, as a nation, are not reputed to be greatly addicted to the high-brow type of literature.

Yet this successful campaign showed that Americans know very well the difference between the meritorious and the meretricious — and, if challenged, can prove it with orders. The “We” angle avoids the accusatory “You.”

  1. A Wonderful Two Years’ Trip At Full Pay — but only men with imagination can take it

This ad about a course for businessmen was repeated again and again, for a period of 7 years, in a long list of magazines. It offers a worthwhile “reward for reading” — with an intriguing challenge in its second line.

  1. What Everybody Ought to Know… About This Stock and Bond Business

The headline of a full-page newspaper ad crammed solid with small-size type — and nary a single picture! It drew 5000 replies when first published; has since appeared in more than 150 newspapers. Promised helpful information of interest to a large audience. The ad was run by a big investment house.

  1. Money Saving Bargains From America’s Oldest Diamond Discount House

Of course the “bargain appeal” is a sure-fire — and this headline is a good example of straight-forward presentation.

  1. FORMER BARBER EARNS $8,000 in 4 Months As a Real Estate Specialist

Featuring an actual testimonial can make a good headline. In this case, the reader’s first reaction is “if a barber can do it maybe I can, too!”

  1. FREE BOOK — Tells You 12 Secrets of Better Lawn Care

If you are offering something entirely free (such as a booklet or sample) — and want requests for it in quantity — feature it right in your headline.

  1. Greatest Gold-Mine of Easy “Things-To-Make” Ever Crammed Into One Big Book!

Perhaps you have a new product (or even an old one) and still lack sufficient accurate data as to which, specifically, are the strongest selling appeals to feature in your advertising.

In that case, it is often good strategy to “merchandise” the multi-purpose “coverage” of your product as thoroughly as you can. By doing so, you avoid the risk of laying too much stress upon any specific appeal which may prove weak or ineffectual. And, by exposing many of your product’s uses and advantages, you at least enable your reader to know what they are — so that he can judge for himself the ones which appeal most to him.

  1. $80,000 IN PRIZES! Help Us find the Name for these New Kitchens!

No review of good headlines could be considered even fairly representative unless it included an example of one featuring a Prize Contest. Of course, it first boldly displays how much money can be won; secondly, what you have to do to win some of it.

  1. NOW! Own Florida Land This Easy Way… $10 Down and $10 A Month

This one also represents a commonly-used headline offer: Easy Terms — and conveys it forcefully and persuasively.

  1. Take Any 3 of these Kitchen Appliances — For Only $8.95 (Values Up To $15.45)

The familiar Reduced-Price Offer which we see in so many different and alluring forms.

  1. SAVE 20¢ On 2 Cans of Cranberry Sauce — Limited Offer

An example of the ever-popular Coupon-Redemption Offer. “Limited Offer:” to increase response. (Sometimes an actual expiration date is stated, to spur quicker action.)

  1. ONE PLACE SETTING FREE For Every Three You Buy!

And last, but by no means least, the ubiquitous Free Offer headline. The rules specify (as exemplified here) that when something must also be bought, this requirement must be displayed with sufficient prominence.

100 Good Advertising Headlines Ad




50 things I’ve learned in 50 years

By John Caples

Vice President

Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc.

Editor’s Note: On September 7, 1925 John Caples began his career as a copywriter with Ruthrauff & Ryan, an advertising agency that specialized in handling mail order accounts. In 1927 he moved to BBDO where he is still active.

The famous ad “They laughed when I sat down at the piano,” and other well-known campaigns were originated by John Caples. He has written copy for many nationally known products and has supervised advertising research for Du Pont, General Electric, U.S. Steel, Lever Brothers, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance, The Reader’s Digest, United Fruit, Goodrich Tires, U.S. Navy Recruiting, The Wall Street Journal and others.

Caples has taught advertising at Columbia and at the Advertising Club of New York. He is the author of four books on advertising and in 1973 was elected to the Copywriters Hall of Fame. In 1975 the fourth edition of his book “Tested Advertising Methods” was published by Prentice-Hall. This book has also been published in Japanese and Italian. In this article John tells some of the things he has learned in his long career concerning headlines, copy, copy testing and account handling.

Headlines

  1. The Headline is the most important element in most advertisements.
  2. The best headlines appeal to the reader’s self-interest or give news. Examples:
    • The secret of making people like you
    • Do you have these symptoms of nerve exhaustion?
    • Announcing a new fiction writing course
    • How a new discovery made a plain girl beautiful
  3. Sometimes a minor change in a headline can make a difference in pulling power. A mail order ad for a book on automobile repair had this headline:

How to repair cars

The pulling power of this ad was increased 20% by changing the headline to read:

How to fix cars
  1. Re-casting a headline can make a big difference in response. Here is the headline of a couponed ad selling retirement annuities:

A vacation that lasts the rest of your life

Here is the headline of an ad that pulled three times as many coupons:

A guaranteed income for life

The losing headline attempts to be clever by calling retirement a vacation. The winning headline is a straightforward promise of a benefit.

  1. Long headlines that say something are more effective than short headlines that say nothing. A book publisher had difficulty selling a book with the title “Five Acres.” This book was transformed into a best seller by changing the title to: “Five Acres and Independence.” Another publisher had a book entitled “Fleece of Gold.” The sales of the book were more than quadrupled when the title was changed to “Quest for a Blonde Mistress.”
  2. In writing headlines, the copywriter should try to break the boredom barrier. “How I became a star salesman” was the headline of a successful ad for a course in salesmanship. The pulling power of the ad was increased by changing the headline to “How a fool stunt made me a star salesman.”

Copy

  1. Write your copy to the sixth grade level. Simple language is not resented by educated people. And simple language is the only kind that most people understand. When you read over your copy, say to yourself: “Will this be understood by my barber or by the mechanic who fixes my car?”
  2. What you say is more important than how you say it. Mail order advertisers do not use expensive artwork or fancy language.
  3. Illustrations that show the product in use or the reward of using the product or service are usually the most effective. Examples: In an ad for a bicycle, a picture of a boy riding a bicycle shows the product in use. In a retirement income ad, a picture of a happy couple sitting on a beach in Florida shows the reward of using the service.
  4. There are two forces at work in the minds of your prospect. (1) Skepticism, and (2) The desire to believe. You can do your prospects a favor by giving them evidence that what you say is true. Your client will also benefit by getting increased response.
  5. Specific statements are more believable than generalities. An example of a specific statement is the famous slogan for Ivory Soap – “99 44/100% pure”
  6. Include testimonials in your ads. Two ads for a financial publication were split-run tested in Reader’s Digest. The ads were identical except that one contained four brief testimonials buried in the copy. The ad with the testimonials produced 25% more sales. Some of the most successful mail order ads have been built entirely around testimonials. Examples: “I was a 97 pound weakling” ... “How I improved my memory in one evening.”
  7. Localized testimonials in local media are especially effective. Seven couponed ads for a public utility were tested in New Haven newspapers. One ad featured a testimonial from a New Haven woman. This ad out-pulled all the others. A newspaper campaign featuring local testimonials for a packaged laundry soap raised the sales of the soap from fourth place to first place.
  8. Ads that involve the reader are effective. For example, the best pulling ad for a book of etiquette showed a picture of a man walking between two women. Headline: “What’s wrong in this picture?” A successful ad for a course in Interior Design had this headline: “Can you spot these 7 common decorating sins?”
  9. Straightforward ads usually out-pull “cute” ads. Two couponed ads soliciting subscriptions for a daily newspaper were tested by mail order sales as follows:

Ad No. 1

Headline: “Take it from me this is the newspaper for you.”

Illustration: Picture of a smiling newsboy offering the reader a copy of the Times.

Ad No. 2

Headline: How to get the Times delivered to your home

Illustration: No illustration. Just headline and copy

Results: Ad No. 2 out-pulled Ad No. 1 by 190%

  1. In writing copy, don’t merely tell your prospect the benefits he will get by buying your product or service. You should also tell him what he will lose if he doesn’t buy.
  2. Put your best foot forward in your copy. A copywriter asked my opinion of an ad he had written. He said: “I saved the best benefit till the end and used it as a punch line in the last paragraph.” I said: “Put your best benefit in the first paragraph. Otherwise the reader may never get to your last paragraph.”
  3. Avoid humor. You can entertain a million people and not sell one of them. There is not a single humorous line in two of the most influential books in the world, namely, the Bible and the Sears Roebuck catalog.
  4. If you want to drive home a point, you should say it three times. For example, suppose you are making a free offer. At the beginning of your copy, say “It’s free.” In the middle of your copy, say “It costs nothing.” At the end, say “Send no money.”
  5. You can sometimes combine two successes to make a super success. For example:

Seven ads for house paint were tested for pulling power. Here are the headlines of the two most successful ads:

New house paint made by (name of manufacturer)

This house paint keeps white houses whiter

These two headlines were combined as follows:

New house paint made by (name of manufacturer) keeps your white house whiter

A campaign with this theme sold more house paint than any previous campaign.

  1. Long copy sells more than short copy. The more you tell, the more you sell.
  2. Write more copy than you need to fill the space. If you need 500 words of copy, begin by writing 1,000 words. Then boil it down to a concise, fact-packed message.
  3. You can often improve the pulling power of an ad by setting a time limit. Retail advertisers increase sales by setting a cut-off date. Reader’s Digest, in selling subscriptions, frequently uses such phrases as: “Return this card before October 31”.
  4. Spell out your guarantee. The word guarantee has been used so many times it has lost much of its force. Here is a classic example of a spelled-out guarantee:

“This is my own straightforward agreement that you can have my coaching material in your hands for 10 days examination and reading before you make up your mind to keep it. You are to be the sole judge.

You can return the material for any reason, or for no reason at all, and your decision will not be questioned. Your refund check will be mailed to you in full by the very next mail. This agreement is just as binding as though it had been written in legal terms by a lawyer.”

  1. You should ask for action at the end of your ad. Tell the reader what you want him to do. Sometimes it pays to offer a reward for action. In selling a 10-volume world history, the Book-of-the-Month Club offers a free book “to new members who enroll at this time.”
  2. People who buy once are your best prospects for buying again. I used to write ads for a publisher who sold little booklets by mail for 25¢ each. The people who bought the booklets were good prospects for the publisher’s $5 books. And a number of the folks who bought the $5 books were later induced to buy the publisher’s $25 library. The same principle applies in fund raising. People who give once are the best prospects for giving again.
  3. The copywriter’s job does not begin at 9 a.m. Nor does it end at 5 p.m. His job is with him all the time. Some of his best ideas come to him while he is shaving in the morning, while he is riding on a bus, or at lunchtime, or while he is walking along the street, or sometimes in the middle of the night. He should have paper and pencil handy at all times. He should write down ideas the minute they occur. Otherwise some of his most precious thoughts will be lost.

Testing

  1. The key to success in advertising (maximum sales per dollar) lies in perpetual testing of all variables.
  2. Over the years, many methods for testing copy have been devised. Opinion tests, readership tests, eye camera tests, pupilometer tests, recall tests, comprehension tests, coupon tests, inquiry tests, attitude tests, etc. Most of these tests produced useful information.
  3. Here is a simple test. When you write a piece of copy, put it aside and read it over the next day. You will almost always be able to improve it.
  4. Another simple method is to ask somebody to read your copy aloud. If he stumbles over a sentence, say to yourself: “That’s not his fault. It’s my fault. I must make the sentence better.”
  5. If you want to get an associate’s opinion of an ad you wrote, don’t show him just one ad. Chances are he will try to please you by saying: “It’s good.” That gets you nowhere. Show him two ads and say, “Which is better?”
  6. Testing ads by asking people for their opinion is helpful. However, it can be misleading. Many will not vote for all-type ads. Most believe that an ad is not good unless it has a picture. This is not so. Some of the best-pulling mail order ads have had no pictures.
  7. In an opinion test, people hesitate to reveal their selfish motives. For example, in an opinion test of life insurance ads, an ad with the headline “What would become of your wife if something happened to you?” out-pulled an ad with the headline “To men who want to quit work some day.” When these ads were subjected to a mail order sales test, the results were reversed.
  8. Do not discard opinion testing because it is sometimes inaccurate. Opinion testing has one big advantage over mail order tests. You can ask the respondents why they voted for a certain ad. You can find out if the copy is understood or misunderstood. You cannot do these things in a mail order test.
  9. The best tests, if properly handled, are sales tests. Mail order advertisers have an advantage in this respect. Every mail order ad is a sales test. In mail order, you can test copy, media, position in media, and season – all by sales results. Hence, mail order advertisers know a great deal about the realities of advertising. Much of this knowledge is applicable in those forms of advertising which cannot be accurately tested.
  10. The most accurate test is a mail order split-run test where two ads – Ad A and Ad B – are tested under identical conditions. Many publications offer split-run copy testing. They do this by splitting the press run. Ad A runs in half the circulation. Ad B runs in the other half of the circulation – same issue, same page, same position on the page. If a news dealer has 100 copies of the publication, 50 copies will contain Ad A and 50 copies will contain Ad B. Thus each ad has an equal chance to get results.
  11. Testing copy is fun, exciting, rewarding. I recall working on ads for a finance company that offered small loans. Several of us wrote ads and we tested them in newspapers by counting phone calls from prospects. For example, one ad would say “Telephone this number and ask for Miss Smith.” Another ad would say “Ask for Miss Miller,” and so on. Thus we could tell exactly how much business each ad brought in. Then each copywriter would bet a dollar that his ad would win. Testing copy became a game we all enjoyed. It was as thrilling as betting on a horse race. We learned a lot. And the client benefited.

Account Handling

  1. When you are soliciting a new account, don’t tell the ad manager how bad his ads are. You may be talking to the man who wrote the ads.
  2. In starting work on a new account, you are sometimes faced with the tough problem of beating the client’s best ad – an ad that he has used successfully for years. How do you proceed? One way is to include in your ad every good thing in the prospect’s ad plus some good things of your own. Another way is to test, not just one new ad but ten new ads. Your chances of finding a winner are increased tenfold.
  3. Here is a philosophy you can use when your ad is competing with somebody else’s ad. If your ad wins, you can say to yourself: “My experience paid off.” If your ad loses, you can say, “I learned something.” Socrates used a similar philosophy in regard to marriage. He said: “If a man has a good marriage, that is a good thing. If he has a bad marriage, he becomes a philosopher, and that is a good thing.”
  4. Clients often tire of ads before the public does. Hence advertisers who cannot measure sales results frequently demand a new campaign every year or so. Mail order advertisers repeat an effective ad till it wears out. Max Sackheim’s famous ad “Do you make these mistakes in English?” ran for 40 years before it wore out.
  5. Be honest. I recall serving an advertising manager who was the smartest client I ever met. I said to myself: “I can never fool this man. If I think a quarter page ad will be more efficient than a full page ad, I must tell him so, even though the agency makes only one fourth as much commission. If I try to mislead him, he will see through me. After that he will never trust me.” This policy of honesty paid off. It was a happy account to work on for eighteen years. After I stopped serving this man, he continued to recommend my services to other advertisers.
  6. Be flexible. I used to take train trips to Hartford to present new ads to the advertising manager of a large insurance company. It was a happy relationship. The ad manager became one of my best friends. We usually agreed on ads. But sometimes we disagreed. In those cases, I argued all morning for my point of view. But after lunch, I would remark: “There may be something in what you say. When I get back to my office, I’ll try it your way.”
  7. Be diplomatic. A successful account executive said to me: “If the ad manager is in a rejecting mood, I don’t show him any more new ads that day. I keep them in my brief case and show them to him some other time.”
  8. Don’t feel bad if your client revises your ad. He will like the ad better and his revisions may improve it. Miscellaneous
  9. Bruce Barton, former head of BBDO, gave this advice: “Be polite to everybody, even the Western Union messenger. You never know when he may turn up as a client. If you are going to be mean to somebody, be mean to the chairman of the board. He won’t be around very long.”
  10. Get out and meet new people whenever you can. Don’t spend all your time with comfortable old cronies. One time I was having lunch with a BBDO associate. A man stopped at our table. It was Roy Durstine who was then president of BBDO. He said: “You men can’t make any money talking to each other.”
  11. Alex Osborn, former vice chairman of BBDO said: “Never have an open break with anyone. The memory of the break will linger on long after the object of disagreement has been forgotten.”
  12. Find work you enjoy. My earliest ambition was to make enough money so I could retire at forty. But at twenty-five, I had the good fortune to get into advertising. Now that I am in my seventies, I never want to retire. The secret of happiness is enjoyable work plus helping others.



I Write With My Ears

By Eugene Schwartz

Copywriting is the simplest of all possible jobs. It consists solely of turning items into ads, of making the physical verbal, of constructing an emotional holograph of the product so convincing that people will part with their good money to share it.

To produce copy, therefore, is not really to write it into being, but to listen it into being. In other words, to be a semi-passive conduit between the producer of the item, and it's needer. Between the man who makes it do what it does, and the other man somewhere out there who needs what it does.

The first step, therefore the essential step in turning an item into an ad, is turning yourself into a listener.

You listen two ways: first with your ears, and then with your eyes. You hear everything you can about the product, and then you read everything you can about the product.

The thing that astounds me, when I read most ads, or work with writers, is that they really haven't bothered to listen deeply enough. This is the most obvious in book copy, where you can check the ad against the text. But it also stands out quite clearly in product advertising, where you can check the ad against the way the product works for you.

Lazy ads produce bad ads. Here's what I've discovered about sharpening mine:

1. Sit down with the owner of the product the man who's hiring you and pump hell out of him. Put on a tape recorder and have him talk for 3 or 4 hours. Ask him where the product came from, what it does, what are its problems and how he's tried to cure them, why it's better than its competitors, who likes it, who doesn't like it, what proof he's got that it works, what strange uses have people got out it, what funny stories has he accumulated in regard to its manufacture or use, what problems was he trying to solve when he created it, how would he improve it if he had unlimited money, what causes most of his refunds, who works for him to help him make it, how it is made, does he keep up the quality, who writes him what about it, etc.

2. Talk to his customers. Do it in person or on paper. See if they agree with him. If they don't find out why.

3. Listen to his competitors. They often tell you more about the opportunities they're missing in their ads, than the opportunities they're seeing and therefore seizing. Let them write a possible head or two for you, out of the body copy of their ads.

4. Then put all the material down, in one big pile, and underline it. Start blending it together like you'd make a cake. Give it, first, priority (your head and sub-heads); and then, order (the body claims). And then type it up preferably adding little of yourself except as selector and condenser.

Want examples? Well, Joe Cossman spoke my most successful fishing lure head SWIN UNDER ITS OWN POWER I just put it on paper for him.

Harry Lorayne blurted out my longest-lived book head: GIVE ME 15 MINUTES AND I'LL GIVE YOU A PUSH BUTTON MEMORY. Again, I just put it on paper.

Martin Edelston dreamily pronounced my best-known newsletter head: READ 300 BUSINESS MAGAZINES IN 30 MINUTES. I just picked it out of a 17-page transcript a day later.

And Bill Bartman came up with FLOATS FAT RIGHT OUT OF YOUR BODY... Dave Ross with INSTANT LEARNING... Clem Martin with WORLD'S FIRST EFFORTLESS EXERCISER.

You see? People constantly ask me why I haven't burned myself out by now... how I can write three or four fresh ads each week without going crazy.

The answer is simple: I don't write them. I listen them. And you can too.