| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Alan Rosenspan's "Improve Your Response"
Newsletter INSIDE THIS ISSUE: • 7. Canadian Copywriters Protest
Dear Friends, Last issue, I gave you the visual for a famous Harley Davidson ad, and I invited you to provide the headline. The visual was a motorcycle parked inside a church, right at the altar.
Light is streaming in from the stained glass windows, and the whole feeling
of the ad is spiritual, even heavenly. You were invited to come up with your own headline – and so far,
we’ve received 59 of them from 7 different countries. They ranged from the sacred to the profane. But I was amazed at the quality
of your thinking and your creativity! (Silly me – I should have used one of my current assignments for
this exercise. I would have gotten some great ideas!) We also received a very strong protest letter from a group of copywriters.
But I’ll share that with you in a few minutes. Your Answers As you know, I promised that the best headline would win
a free copy of my book, "Pushing the Envelope." But picking the best headline was difficult, because there
were so many excellent entries. Let me give you all the finalists first,
before I reveal which one was the winner. Please keep in mind: I chose the headlines that I liked the best. Yours may have been just as good, even if I didn’t select it.
Harley-luia! Harley-Davidson: romance may fade, but true love endures. God Parking Hog Heaven Saint Harley Even God Wants One Guess who else wants to ride a Harley? The Most
Unusual Headlines If it breaks, make it bigger. If it sticks out, chrome it. It's street legal, but is it legal to marry your motorcycle? The
Most Headlines Only He has greater power Mercedes Benz request! "With this bike, I thee wed." Harley Davidson ...Hallowed Be Thy Name. When you're THIS GOOD, you NEED a Harley! EVEN a man of GOD needs to sin a little A Heavenly Experience Holy Smokes! A gift from Heaven. "I Do." Sacrifice Nothing Sunday Best On the wings of angels. The Forbidden Fruit "Thank You" Heavenly! On a Harley, you can go anywhere What's Heaven without a little Hell? Get The Spirit We Confess, Nobody does bikes better "I Do" Come to free us Holy Roller. "Amen." When your destination is as important as your journey... WWJD? He'd Ride. To Have and To Hold And finally, the Winning Headline… "Reborn to be Wild" Submitted by Randy Lauer. Congratulations, Randy – you will receive a free copy of my book in September. The Real Headline "You Commit 4 out Of 7 of The Deadly Sins Just Looking at it" The advertisement won a number of advertising awards – but here’s
the point: Your headlines were just as good as their headline. Some were
even better. How were you able to come up with so many "better-than-award-winning"
headlines? Easy – once you have a great visual, the headline practically writes
itself. And sometimes the best solution to an advertising or direct marketing
problem is a visual one. Or at least, that’s what I thought – until I received the following
7 French Canadian Copywriters
Protest! Mr. Rosenspan, While reading the most recent "Improve Your Response" newsletter,
your Harley Davidson Contest really caught our attention. More specifically, the reasoning that "This exercise proves that
visuals are much more important than headlines" troubles us. While
we respect that your theories and methods have obviously lead to great
success, this thinking does a great disservice to our industry. Many in the direct world - both agency and client side - do not understand
the concept of a concept, and see creative executions as two distinct
parts: words and pictures. Of course, those responsible for taking a strategy
and making it sing understand that the visual and copy are born from a
bigger idea - a concept developed prior to any execution. If what you’re trying to get across were true, copywriters would
become obsolete in conceptual circles, and called upon to provide copy
decks only. Art directors, as a result, could look for nice pictures in stock
photo catalogues and wait for on-strategy headlines to write themselves.
This point may seem extreme, however the one you’re trying to make
is not only dangerous, it leads to half-baked, mediocre work. It also raises questions as to whether you believe that it’s
possible to So, Mr. Rosenspan, are visuals really much more important than headlines?
C’mon, we’re confident you can come up with something better
than that. My Response Dear Friends, First and above all, let me apologize. I too am a copywriter. I too place great value on the power of words.
I would never suggest that copy is not a critical part of any communication
- advertisement, direct mail package, or website. Furthermore, I completely agree with you. What you call a concept
- I call an idea. And an idea is far more important than any visual or
any copy. My little exercise gives people the visual - but I now realize that
I am really giving people the idea. And once you have your idea, the words
come easily. So thank you for pointing this out to me - perhaps it wasn't as clear
as I intended. I attach an article that I hope you will find interesting, called
"Letter to a New Copywriter." All the best, Alan So what do you think? And by the way, if you would also like a copy of the article, "Letter to a New Copywriter" just e-mail me at ARosenspan@aol.com Forward and Backward, and a Few Words about Privacy You are welcome to forward this to anyone else who you believe
may be interested. To unsubscribe, just send me an e-mail that says "Remove" and I will understand. And once again, please let me remind you that your name and/or e-mail address will never be shared, sold, circulated, or passed along to anyone else. Thank you.
Back to Top of Page | Back to First Page of Newsletters Section
© Alan Rosenspan & Associates
|
||||
The
Best Headlines