#213   Tuesday 22 July 2025

 https://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2025/07/213-headlines-dupe-dupe.html

Posted by Denny Hatch 

 "The Wickedest of All Sins Is to Run 
An Advertisement Without a Headline."
                                       —David Ogilvy  

This artsy-craftsy, zero-headline ad ran as a full page in Fortune magazine. Because it had no offer, nothing to sell, nothingto entice the reader into reading the copy (the paltry total of 13 words!), no coupon or order mechanism, no address or phone number to askfor more information, it was impossible to come up with the ROI — Return on Investment. 

This is like peeing in blue serge. It makes you feel good and nobody notices.
   

• Inthe world of advertising, they are called headlines.
 

• Newspaper journalists call them heds.

• On book covers, special reports, whitepapers, articles, short stories, blogs and press releases they are called titles.

 • On memos and e-mails they are the subject lines.

 • On a direct mail envelope the illustration and text make up the teaser.

 • Whatever the medium — a headline,title or teaser — it's what your reader sees first.

• The headline selects the reader. 
    —Directmarketing guru Axel Andersson.

• Writing headlines is one of the greatest journalist arts.
    —Claude Hopkins 

•  Headlines, subject lines, teasers andtitles are the hot pants on the hooker. 
    —Bill Jayme

•  Headlines make ads work. Thebest headlines appeal to people’s self-interest or give news.         
    —John Caples 

•  Long headlinesthat say something out-pull short headlines that say nothing.
    —John Caples

•  Remember that every headline has one job. It must stop yourprospects with a believable promise. 
    —John Caples 

•  In TV, it’sthe start of the commercial. In radio, it's the first few words. In a letter, the firstparagraph. Even a telephone call has a headline. Come up with a good headline,and you’re almost sure to have a good ad. But even the greatest writer can’t savean ad with a poor headline. You can’t make an ad pull unless people stop to read your brilliantcopy.
    —John Caples

•  Don'task questions in teasers and headlines that can be answered yes or no. This gives control of the communication to your reader. 
    —George Duncan

                                   David Ogilvy on Headlines
Theheadline is the ticket on the meat. Use it to flag downreaders who are prospects for the kind of products you are advertising. If you want mothers to read your advertisement, display MOTHERS in yourheadline. And so on. Conversely do not say anything in your headline which is likelyto exclude any readers who might be prospects for your product.

On the average, five times as manypeople read the headline as read the body copy. It follows that if you don’tsell the product in your headline, you have wasted 90% of your money.    

The headlines that work best are those which promise the reader a benefit.

Headline Length. Inheadline tests conducted with cooperation of a big department store, itwas found that headlines of 10 words or longer sold more goods than short headlines. In terms of recall, headlines between 8 and 10 words get the most coupon returns. In the average, long headlines sell more merchandise than short ones — headlines like our: "At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock."

News and headlines. Headlines that contain news are sure-fire. Time after time we have found that itpays to inject genuine news into headlines. 

 Simple headlines. Your headline should telegraph whatyou want to say — in simple language. Readers do not stop to decipher themeanings of obscure headlines.

Localize headlines. 
In local advertising, it pays toinclude the name of the city in your headline.

Typography. The more typographical changes you make inyour headline, the fewer people will read it.

Capital Letters. Set your headline, and indeed your wholeadvertisement, in upper/lower case. CAPITAL LETTERS ARE MUCH HARDER TO READ, PROBABLYBECAUSE WE LEARN TO READ in lower case. People read all their books, newspapers and magazines in lower case.

Surprinting. Never deface your illustration by printingyour headline over it. Old-fashioned art directors love doing this, but itreduces the attention value of the advertisement by an average of 19percent.  Newspaper editors never doit. In general, imitate the editors;they form the reading habits of their customers.
 

Blind Headlines. Some headlines are “blind." They don’t say what the product is, or what it will do for you. They are about20 per cent below average in recall.

Humor. Don't use humor or puns. People don't buy from clowns. 
    —David Ogilvy

Three of the Most Powerful (and Successful!) 
Headlines in the 20th Century!

Note: These three ads appeared in Julian Lewis Watkins' masterpiece: THE 100 GREATEST ADVERTISEMENTS 1852-1958 — WHO WROTE THEM AND WHAT THEY DID.

Allthree ads have order coupons in the lower right corner. No phone numbers. (These were created decades before telemarketing.) No email address. To order a product took work on the buyer's part: you had to fill outthe little coupon by hand. Then cut it out of the newspaper or magazine, insert it in an envelope, address the envelope, lick the envelope flap, lick and affix a First Class Stamp and finally go to the post office to mail it.

    Below is Perhaps the Most Memorable
    Headline in the History of Advertising. 

Thisad ran in myriad newspapers for many years as did many imitations. It was written and designed in 1925 by 25-year-old cub copywriter JohnCaples. He had a 60-year career and went on to become CEO of the advertising agency BBD&O that today has 15,000 employees spread across 289 offices in 81 countries.

As Victor O. Schwab, of Schwab & Beatty wrote in the November 1939 issue of Printers' Ink Monthly, "Whenan advertisement does a noteworthy job all of us can learn something from it, no matter what it is selling. Mr. Schwab had in mind the ad that sold a million books: How to Win Friends and Influence People. Thatis, it had sold a million books between December 1936 and November 1939. The sales to date aren't terribly important here; any ad that brings in cash for a million copies in three years via the coupon route, is one whale of a great ad!"
     —Julian Lewis Watkins.

Writtenand designed in 1918 by Max Sackheim who, with Harry Schermann, foundedBook-of-the-Month Club in 1926. This masterpiece ran continuously for 40 years without change, with the exception of slipping a new and bettertestimonial into the copy occasionally.

 Takeaways to Consider.

Theseheadlines were not slapped together as afterthoughts. For master copywriter Claude Hopkins copy was secondary to headlines. He often spent:

 "... hours on a single headline. Often scores of headlines are discarded before the right one is selected. For the entire return from an ad depends on attracting the right sort of readers. The best of salesmanship has no chance whatever unless we get a hearing.

"The vast difference in headlines is shown by keyed returns... The identical ad run with various headlines differs tremendously in its returns. It is not uncommon for a change in headlines to multiply returns from five or 10 times over."

Hopkins'observation directly relates to all other writing. A poorly written headline, subject line, teaser or title guarantees poor readership.

Considerthe schlub of a corporate executive who spends hours — perhaps days — writing, rewriting and perfecting a career-changing email and then slamsout the first idea for a subject line that pops into his or her head and hits SEND!

Copy wizard John Caples echoes the wisdom of Claude Hopkins on the importance of headlines: 
    

•  "What do people see of advertising? Headlines! What do you yourself see of advertising as you glance through a newspaper or magazine? Headlines! What decides whether or not you stop for a moment and look at and advertisement or even read a little of it? The headline!

 •  "Now, I spend hours on headlines—days if necessary. And when I get a good headline, I know that my task is nearly finished. Writing the copy can usually be done in a short time if necessary. And that advertisement will be a good one — that is, if the headline is really a 'stopper.'

  •  "What good is all the painstaking work on copy if the headline isn't right? If the headline doesn't stop people, the copy might as well be written in Greek.

  • "If the headline of an advertisement is poor, the best copywriters in the world can't write copy that will sell goods. On the other hand, if the headline is a good one, it is a relatively simple matter to write the copy."

These four prior paragraphs apply to all communications today — 
print, online, TV.

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Word count: 1452 

 A Riveting Rave Review of Denny Hatch's Masterpiece.

By Oluchi Samuel
10 December 2024

An official OnlineBookClub.org review of Method Marketing by Denny Hatch.

               5 out of 5 Stars

Tomake a lot of profit, business owners need to understand and employ marketing. As the name implies, Method Marketing by Denny Hatch is a book that educates readers on method marketing. The author also shares the stories of some people who employed method marketing.

Marketingis the business of acquiring customers and continually thrilling them. Method marketing, on the other hand, is the ability to get inside the heads and under the skin of the people you are marketing your product to. Direct mail is the largest advertising medium, and it is the medium alot of method marketers build their businesses on. The author shared the stories of some marketers with huge businesses. These marketers wereFather Bruce Ritter, Martin Edelston, John Peterman, Bill Bonner, Bob Shnayerson, Curt Strohacker, David Oreck, and William Kennedy. They owned businesses like The Boardroom, J. Peterman Company, Agora Publishing, The Eastwood Company, The Oreck Corporation, and Western Monetary Consultants. He shared their stories, how they started their businesses, and he also dropped points for marketers to pick up from their experiences.

This is a wonderful book with lots of great lessons in marketing. I loved that the author shared some successful marketers' experiences. He used these stories to educate us. He discussed how they started their businesses and some of the mistakes they made along the way. These real-life stories made me understand his lessons quite well. I appreciated them. Readers who are planning on venturing into these businesses could learn a great deal from these stories. The author also exposed me to some businesses I hadn't heard ofbefore, like The Teaching Company, Agora Publishing, Quest/77, and The Oreck Company.

Copywriting is a business venture I have been meaning to start. Luckily for me, I got the opportunity to read this book. The author showed the significance of copywriting and also shared tips on how to write a great copy. It gave me insights and taught me howgood a copy should be written. The story of the First Bank of Troy was one of the stories I loved. The president of the bank, Frank O. Brock, operated a customer-friendly business. He paid personal attention to allhis customers. He would go over lists of customers and call or give personal notes to them at least once a month. As a novice in marketing, Iappreciated the appendix the author added at the end of the book. It saved me a lot of trips to the dictionary.

For all these reasons, I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.It is an amazing book that all marketers should read. There was absolutely nothing to dislike. I found one error, showing that it was professionally edited. I recommend it to marketers and people planning on venturing into marketing, as it contains a lot of tips to flourish inmarketing. 

METHOD MARKETING
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