Attention Copywriters- What is your favorite headline of all time?

[erosking]

Heres one that I have used don't remember where I saw it but it works most of the time:
Are you afraid to get rich? Well let me scare you to death

[Andy Jenkins]

"This headline space intentionally left blank"

The ORIGINAL StomperNet Launch, October 2006.

[ewenmack]

The Ironic Halbert Ad

"How A Bald Headed Barber Saved My Hair"

Gotta love how he pours on petrol to the curiosity flames.

All the best,

Ewen Vile

[ewenmack]

Couldn't get to sleep thinking about this.

Shows what a good question does to you!

Anyway came up with another 2 classic headlines which have the same pattern as the last one I posted.

When broken down it becomes easy to make one for yourself.

Let me show you...

First are the 2 Headlines...

1 Eugene Scwartz
"How A 79 Year Old Chinese Man Has Sexual Congress 5 Times A Day"

2 John Carlton
"How A One Legged Golfer Humiliates Pro Golfers"

The exact wording may be out slightly, as I'm going on memory on this.

Now for making your own head turning headline...

Start with "How A" then add a most unlikely character to the story.

An example would be "How A Broke Garbage Man"
"How A Skinny 4 Foot Nine Nerd"
"How A Homeless Mom Of 11"

That's the set up which Hollywood Blockbusters are made of ...Forest Gump, Pretty Woman, Erin Brockinvich.

Now time to add the amazing feat our audience quitely lusts after...

Using the previous starters,

"How A Broke Garbage Man beded 7 Beauty Paegent Winners"

"How A Skinny 4 Foot Nine Nerd Took Out A Purple Belt Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Master With This NEW Game Changing Method"

"How A Homeless Mom Of 11 Now Has Her Own Money To Feed The Starving Children Of Africa"

Once again...unlikely person/animal plus heroic feat.

Go through the headlines again and you can imagine the reader thinking ..."Geez that's what I want, how come that person got it, I'm better than him/her"

You're lighting a fire in the readers belly straight away...and getting the reader fired up to take action...action to pull out his/her credit card and, by golly, Molly IS going to have what the character in the story has.

See how it goes from disinterest to high attention in seconds this type of headline creates?

Let's see how many whacky headlines we can come up with, since I got the ball rolling with these 3.

All the best,

Ewen Vile

[Josiah]

Eugene Schwartz with his deathly curious...

"The sex food so potent, priests were forbidden to eat it"

Josiah

[Big Al]

I read one that was a newspaper headline but think has potential (maybe weight loss niche or similar ...)

"She was easy to love -- until she took her clothes off"

Made me laugh. I really love the John Caples ...

“They All Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano,
But When I Began to Play...”

[Ken_Caudill]

Cubs Win World Series.