Getting the reader’s attention: Headlines Headlines have to be intriguing, eye-catching, and clever without being totally obscure. See if you can predict what sort of company ran these headlines. Task 1 Match the advertisement headline to the company. Headlines 1. On November 17 th 2006, we set fire to our client’s factory. It’s all part of the service. 2. More Business Acumen 3. Could a greener fleet boost your company’s growth? 4. Find your Shangri-La HERE 5. DIRK RAVENSTEINER, ACCEPTING IMPOSSIBLE MISSIONS DAILY. 6. In keeping with the Touareg’s seductive lines, here’s another. Over £3,000 of extras, for free. 7. Efficiency is the fuel of success Companies a. a business school b. a car manufacturer c. an insurance company d. a courier company e. a hotel f. a vehicle management company g. an airline The principles of writing promotional copy There are some techniques that may help you write advertising copy. One useful classic formula used by advertisers is AIDA. This stands for: Attention Interest Desire Action The principles of writing promotional copy 75 Attention – as already mentioned, the headline has to attract the readers’ attention. Interest – and once you’ve got their attention, you need to create an interest in your product or service. Desire – you’ve then got to convert that interest into a strong desire for your product or service. Action – and then you’ve got to convert that desire into action. At the end of the ad, you need a call to action. Tell people exactly what they need to do to follow through and make it easy for them to do so. This is where many people go wrong. Even if you have a good ad, you still need to tell people precisely what to do – how to take action. Look through your company’s advertising and see if it follows this advice. Attention Remember that this is the crucial starting point. If you don’t attract the readers’ attention in the first place, then all the other techniques will be worth nothing. When you look at the examples of headlines in Task 1, you’ll notice that companies use shock tactics, clever abbreviations, indirect promises of growth, freebies and success, and the appeal of the daring action man all in an attempt to catch the reader’s eye. Interest Punctuation In addition to the vocabulary and style of the ad, correct punctuation leads the reader smoothly through the text. It’s part of maintaining the interest. If the punctuation is wrong, the reader may get confused and give up. Checking punctuation is a proofreading task but it has been included here because it also affects the readers’ interest. Task 2 Punctuate the following advertisement and include capital letters where necessary. Can a mere radish drive customer loyalty in a way yes we worked with a major grocer to develop a unique scale that identifies and prices produce through a plastic bag so checkout queues move faster technology innovations like this coupled with business innovations such as *RFID inventory control give this grocer a real competitive edge how did it happen we put together a team of supply chain management specialists systems analysts and engineers who melded vendors variable pricing strategies and visionary (literally) scale want innovation for loyalty talk to the innovators innovator to learn more visit: * Radio Frequency Identification Technology Read Appendix B, page 158, for the basic rules of punctuation. 76 Writing promotional copy Curiosity Another sure way to create interest and desire is to arouse the readers’ curiosity. One recent ad did this by using new words; words which have scarcely reached any dictionary yet. This ad was run by a magazine. The aim was to get people to want to read a particular survey. Your curiosity might well be aroused if you’d never heard these words before, or you’d only vaguely heard of them, but weren’t absolutely sure what they mean. Task 3 Put each of these words: blog, vlog, metaverse, folksonomy, podcast, in the gap before its definition. 1. : a word coined by Neal Stephenson’s science fiction novel Snow Crash (1992) constitutes Stephenson’s vision of how a virtual reality-based Internet might evolve in the near future. 2. : is a Web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles (normally in reverse chronological order). 3. : is a collaboratively generated, open-ended labeling system that enables Internet users to categorize content such as Web pages, online photographs, and Web links. 4. : is a blog which uses video as the primary content; the video is linked to a videoblog post and usually accompanied by supporting text, image, and additional metadata to provide context. It has become a significant contributor to clip culture. 5. : is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs or music videos, over the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. (Definitions from wikipedia.com) If you come across new words which aren’t in the dictionary, try looking them up on wikipedia.com The principles of writing promotional copy 77 Blogs, vlogs, metaverses, folksonomies, podcasts. Will new media have as big an effect on business, society and politics as they are having on dictionaries? Read the survey on new media. Rhetorical questions You’ll notice in the ad on blogs etc. the use of a question. This device is common among advertisers. An airline used it in the headline and body of this ad. Task 4 This is the rest of the copy for the ad above. Complete the gaps with the phrases in the box. Write capital letters as appropriate. Would you be surprised to learn that a flight to Europe costs from as little as £29 one-way? (1) , especially when you consider what’s included. Firstly, our service. You are our guest and should expect to be treated as such. You should also expect the option to check-in online and to print your own boarding pass on all routes from the UK to Europe. Some think the British are keen on queuing. (2) . There’s also our network, which currently covers over 300 destinations. And when we say we fly to a destination, (3) a small town fifty miles from it. (4) brings us back to the seat itself. With us you’re still allocated one. Essentially, we believe your holiday should start long before you arrive at your destination. With British Airways, (5) . Spelling Once you’ve got the concept, and carefully chosen the vocabulary and images for your ad, you write your text. You then need to check and recheck. There are certain cases where you cannot rely on the spellchecker on the computer; the spelling may be correct but it could be the wrong word. Task 5 Correct the spelling in this advertisement. None of these spelling mistakes showed up using a typical spellchecker programme. As the official shipping and logistical partner for Mission Impossible lll, we needed a man like Dirk Ravensteiner on the ground. Dirk and his teem made sure the preps, sets, and high-tech equipment were in places when the cameras reeled. Weather it was in Rome, Shanghai, Berlin or Los Angeles, it was truly an amazing performance. It’s the spirit of can do and the experience of know-how. We call it Do How. 78 Writing promotional copy What does £29 buy you these days? Take a seat. we’d beg to differ / we don’t mean / we hope so / all of which / it does Desire Looking through ads, you’ll see that desire is often created by appealing to our basest instincts: competitiveness, envy, greed, and sex, to mention but a few. TV ads in particular often show how you can not only keep up with the Jones, but you can actually go one better by having a flasher car, whiter washing, and a greener weed-free lawn. Generally speaking, these ads are there to convince us that our aspirations can be realised. Action Direct response advertising aims to convert the readers’ interest and desire into action, and it’s got to be easy for the reader to buy the product or contact the company. Task 6 Write a second call to action similar to the first one. Task 7 There are two mistakes in each of the numbered paragraphs below. They could be spelling, punctuation or grammar mistakes. Find them and correct them. The text is written in American English. The principles of writing promotional copy 79 Example To find out more, visit www.trendsolutions.com visit www.trendsolutions.com for more information 1. ordering is easy: call 0500 00 50 30 Call 0800 325 7989 2. SAVE OVER £108.00 A YEAR Always prices 3. BUY NOW, GET MORE! BUY FREE 4. Hurry! special offer ends 26th JULY days to . shipping and logistical partner for Mission Impossible lll, we needed a man like Dirk Ravensteiner on the ground. Dirk and his teem made sure the preps, sets, and high-tech equipment were in. is written in American English. The principles of writing promotional copy 79 Example To find out more, visit www.trendsolutions.com visit www.trendsolutions.com for more information 1. ordering. (literally) scale want innovation for loyalty talk to the innovators innovator to learn more visit: * Radio Frequency Identification Technology Read Appendix B, page 158, for the basic rules of punctuation. 76