For the last 2 weeks I’ve been listening to a famous seminar put on by Eugene Schwartz. It is a seminar he gave to the copy group at Rodale.
One thing Schwartz said was that as an advertising copywriter, you have to spend at least 2 hours every week getting in touch with the culture… you have to see every movie that grosses $100 million dollars… and you have to read “junk…very much junk”.
By that he meant magazines like People, The National Enquirer and USweekly.
So, last week while getting a cup of coffee at the local convenience store chain, I grabbed 3 papers: People, The National Enquirer and Star.
I have to admit I looked around to see if anyone was watching before I ran to the counter placing the magazine face down and not making eye contact with the clerk.
RED FLAG!
At that moment, I realized how out of touch I might be with the masses.
After all, these are some of the best selling magazines in the world. Which means that there is a good chance that a percentage of mine and your target market reads and believes this stuff.
You see, Schwartz understood the need to stay connected or at least aware of this “low culture” part of society.
Now, I know what you’re thinking…
“MY market doesn”t read that stuff.” or maybe, “My customers are too sophisticated to read that stuff, it would never apply to my market.”
Here’s my take…
People want to believe… and if they don’t have something real to believe in at any given moment they’ll believe that which seems the most real at the time, or they’ll believe what they believe most others are believing at the time.
Something to think about next time you sit down to write copy for an advertisement… wouldn’t you agree?
Anyway let’s look at some of the headlines that caught my eye and stopped me as I turned through the pages with on eye open…
The National Enquirer:
—————-
Headline:
Cloris Lechman’s LOVING BOND WITH STUFFED ANIMAL
Subhead:
No, it’s not a toy, it’s her beloved dog Joe
Opening sentence:
Cloris Lechman couldn’t bear to part with her beloved shis tzu, so with dogged determination, she found a way to preserve her pet’s memory – she had the animal stuffed.
Even stranger…
————————
How’s that for copy? Sure it’s got some ridiculous puns, BUT people are paying $155 per year to read this stuff…
That’s more than we can get people to pay for a front end financial newsletter subscription!
Here’s another from the Enquirer:
——————
Headline:
My ex-wife’s WEDDING DRESS
Subhead:
Dumped hubby determined to come up with 101 ways to put it to good use
Opening Sentence:
Jilted ex-husband Kevin Cotter has come up with a hilarious way to deal with his post-divorce blues.
—————
Turns Kevin has a blog called www.myexwifesweddingdress.com and it made the Today show… Go Ahead you know you want to look.
Ok, how about Star:
————————
Cover Headline:
Drugs! Lies! Secret Lovers!
Subhead:
Betrayal That Will Break Brad’s Heart!
Bulleted subhead:
- Cheating with married actor
- Ecstasy and LSD binges
- Cutting and Voodoo rituals
Opening sentence in article:
Uh-Oh! just as Angelina Jolie’s relationship with Brad Pitt is getting back on track, a new book exposing more of the actress’ shocking secrets is about to be published!
———————————
Remember one of the most famous financial newsletter promos…
Lies, Lies, Lies!
Hmmmm, maybe there’s something to this.
And this one also from Star caught my attention as a possible bear market headline:
————–
Headline:
RHONJ SHOCKER… TERESA’S BANKRUPT!
Subhead:
The NJ Housewife lives a lavish lifestyle on the hit show. But behind the scenes, she’s millions in the hole and struggling to make ends meet.
Opening Sentence:
A swanky estate filled with marble and gold trimmings. Designer Clothes. Luxury Cars. And new boobs!
——————-
How could you not read on from there?
Crazy stuff, huh?
What Schwartz said about reading this type of stuff is that it allows you to see “people’s ability to believe”.
And in turn, I guess that gives you the confidence as an advertising copywriter to go with that crazy headline or angle that seems a little too crazy.
I mean “Burn Disease out of Your Body…”
That ad alone which ran for more than 15 years kinda proves the point of this post, don’t you think?
Well, That’s about it for today…
Leave me a comment below and let me know some of your favorite crazy headlines and how you might use them in your chosen copywritng niche.
Later,
McCool
Sean, I agree 100% with Schwartz! I frequently visit book stores and hit the magazine racks. Commonly I will have a stack of magazines, some specific to my interest, some to my trade and those are always on top of the gender/demographic targeted magazines that I use to help create headlines to target our online marketing campaigns with.
Great article and glad to see that I am not the only one flopping them down on the way out.
RD
No it’s not just you, Ricky. There are many of us with this peculiar sickness.
COPYWRITER CAPTURED – MCCOOL A MARTIAN?
Sean McCool seen at counter placing Enquirer in plain brown paper bag.
Why else would Sean McCool be buying the likes of People, Star, and The National Enquirer unless he had been abducted by aliens? Or is an alien himself!
Wow, Sean, I had never thought of the “want to believe” factor with checkout magazines and how it relates to advertising. People DO want to believe. I see it in myself. Just last week I heard somebody talking about one of the “miracle cure” products and thought, “you believe that?” Well, in spite of their higher educatioin and above average income, they do believe it.
What strikes me is how this type of headline is really absent of any “hype.” It may seem outlandish but the thread of believability makes it real somehow.
Anyway, thanks for the great lesson. This is a keeper.
Russell
LOL! I even laid them face down in my car seat because I didn’t want anyone to see them.
Sean,
Great post Sean. I think we’re all a little guilty of only consuming information that’s only focused on our specific interests. I’ll be picking up my copy of Globe tomorrow.
On a side note, I’m reminded of one of my favorite ads- those old Charles Atlas strips in the comics I used to collect “The insult that Made a Man out of Mac”.
http://members.shaw.ca/fz-pomd/wazoo/insult.jpg
Jonathan
Thanks. It’s easy to get caught up in doing and in promoting to a market. Meanwhile we forget to relate to our market.
Great Ad!
I used to read those mags every day! When I was 14 I worked at a little grocery story in NJ. And my guilty pleasure was a box of Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls… and a copy of Enquirer, Star, and the Weekly World News (which had more alien/celebrity lovechild stories than anyone else).
Luckily the Swiss Cake Rolls didn’t kill me… And as for the tabloids? Now that you mention it, they may have given my copywriting career a boost.
Sean,
A great read as always! Like Jonathan, I get a kick out of the headlines in the classified ads in those rags. It’s hilarious what actually gets our attention and how drawn we ALL are to these types of headlines no matter what side of the tracks we’re from.
Thanks Leon. Yeah I think we all relate to those stories at some level. I’m in a marriage workshop at church right now and the main point of the course is that all of us are a mess.
So in these magazines we “enjoy” the fact that someone else’s life might actually be worse than ours… that we are better than at least one other person or couple on the planet.
That’s a strong desire that we can tap into as marketers… and a strong need we can fulfill with our products and services.
In fact, how would your product or service make a potential customer feel better about themselves compared to those around them?
Sean
By the way, anyone reading this, should get the book Love and War by John and Stasi Eldredge
I couldn’t agree with you more! It’s ironic that so many of us in the communications industry tend to think that our audience is exactly like us. It reminds me of that old “New Yorker” cover that showed NYC and LA with virtually nothing in between.
Your article also reminded me of my absolute favorite tabloid headline. I forget which paper it was, but the cover screamed “Man Cuts Off Own Head with Chainsaw and Lives!”
I thought I would die laughing in the supermarket.
Sara, That is a great headline… or headlessline? Either way, it shows (again) the ability of the American public to believe and pay money for what seem to be “stupid” ideas.