The Art of Creative Planning.
There are three levels of creativity that you can apply to create a new headline:
- Word-Substitute: The shallowest and most ineffective method, it tends to be type of headlines clients write, not copy writers
- Formulas: Using prior rules and principles to develop new material. This does not work. Each problem of copy demands its own unique solution.
- Analytic approach: Each headline demands a unique solution that has not previously been used. Each ad must be analyzed and new material must be created specific to that very ad. This means that previous successes cannot be used again.
Motivational research can be used in two ways:
First, it can be a source of great information. It can give the copy writer great insight into his market’s most powerful needs and desires. Second, and perhaps most beneficial to the growth of the copy writer if he chooses to use it, is to test his own hunches, to gauge how his knowledge of the market has grown.
The personality of the headline always expresses one trait, among many, that is the most effective in summarizing and expressing the personality of the product.