"Amazing Halbert Headline Explained ..."

by Jonathan 2.0 Banned

Posted: 14 years ago 10 replies

COPY WRITING

　
“Wife Of Famous Movie Star Swears
Under Oath Her New Perfume Does Not
Contain An Illegal Sexual Stimulant!”

...

　
I think (as a “Rookie”) this headline is successful because:

1. It's “news worthy.” (Which means it gets more readership.)

2. There's an element of proof (“Famous Movie Star …”)

3. It's “shocking” (“Swears Under Oath …”)

4. Has a strong implied benefit (“Sexual Stimulant.”)

5. And __________. (Please contribute if you know more.)

If you haven't read this already (and if you have even a drop of entrepreneurial or marketing blood in your veins) then you're in for a real treat. Here's the story behind the headline:

The Gary Halbert Letter

#“amazing #explained #halbert #headline

Rylynn 14 years ago

In my opinion, this headline combines curiosity and an implied benefit.

The Famous Movie Star is not really proof. It just increases curiosity since a movie star was involved. People will go "oh what? a movie star? who? what's this about? I've gotta read it!"

Proof is kinda like when an internet millionaire teaches you how to make money online. That's proof because hes been there and done that.

For this case, I don't think you could say that it's a proof element.

But yea I agree with all other points you've mentioned. So the only one I'm going to add is the curiosity factor.
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- Jonathan 2.0 Banned 14 years ago
  
  Thanks for the correction Rylynn.
  
  I'm thinking that it adds more “credibility” (or something) which makes the Ad more persuasive. However I could be wrong. Maybe it's just a curiosity element like you said.
  
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RHert 14 years ago

Very interesting. I agree about the curiosity factor.
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Rylynn 14 years ago

Yea it could be Johnathan. Like kind of a "legitimate" factor to it - "since it involves a movie star it must be real!" kind of feeling.
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- Jonathan 2.0 Banned 14 years ago
  
  Yeah. Exactly. : )
  
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  "Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity."―Joseph Sugarman
  
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  perryny 14 years ago
  
  Hi Jonathan,
  
  I thought you might get a kick out of this older post.
  
  http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...y-halbert.html
  
  Hope you enjoy,
  -Rob
  
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  Jonathan 2.0 Banned 14 years ago
  
  Looks awesome. Thanks Rob.
  
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  DougBarger 14 years ago
  
  I always wondered if some women may have thought to themselves (if even on the more instinctual, subconscious level)...
  
  "Hmmm. Maybe if I wear this perfume, I can attract a famous movie star for a husband too!" or "If it's good enough to keep the interest of a famous movie star, maybe it will help me keep the interest of a man like that too."
  
  Something along those lines.
  
  I know some men may have wanted to get it for their girlfriends or wives, but you'd think with it being perfume, the majority of buyers were women.
  
  And I've had girlfriends who would see male reaction to things a woman would wear and ask me if I thought that was hot, or they'd say something like, some men like such and such, do you like that?
  
  Kind of like a twist on the keeping up with the Jones' or "The Jones Effect"
  Mr. and Ms. Prospect, your neighbors the Jones bought 10 cases, would you like 10 too or 11? "We'll take eleven then."
  
  I hadn't heard that possibility suggested before in discussions about that headline, so figured I'd throw it out there for a new twist.
  
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  => Stay tuned...
  
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Michael Stuart Kelly

14 years ago

That Halbert headline made me think of a book I'm reading called How to Shoot Video that Doesn't Suck by Steve Stockman.

There is a chapter called: "How to Shoot a Viral Video--Guaranteed!" Here is a quote:

Two words: Naked celebrity.

I don't know where you get one or how you convince them to get naked, but that's the only surefire, guaranteed-to-go viral video out there.

Everything else is a crapshoot.

That rings true to me.

And what does this have to do with the headline?

Well, Halbert has celebrity, albeit unnamed ("famous movie star") and sex appeal ("sexual stimulant").

But he also has gossip ("wife of famous movie star") with a hint of scandal ("swears under oath") and crime ("illegal sexual stimulant").

The power-word "new" is gravy.

All that adds up to massive National Enquirer-like curiosity. It's one hell of a hook.

The product, the perfume, is almost irrelevant at this stage of reading. But at least it's mentioned so, later on, the reader has no irritating feeling of being spam-tricked into a sales pitch.

I'm glad the OP started this thread. It forced me to analyze the text and prompted some free association with a book I am reading.

Thanks, Jonathan 2.0.

Michael

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DanEitreim

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Michael Stuart Kelly

But he also has gossip ("wife of famous movie star") with a hint of scandal ("swears under oath") and crime ("illegal sexual stimulant").

The product, the perfume, is almost irrelevant at this stage of reading. But at least it's mentioned so, later on, the reader has no irritating feeling of being spam-tricked into a sales pitch.

Michael

I agree with the gossip angle. I think - even though we don't like to admit it - that we humans ALL like to gossip at least to some degree. And even if we don't do it ourselves, few can resist listening to others gossip.

The fact that the perfume is almost irrelevant at that point is a good one. The whole purpose of the headline is to draw us deeper into the sales copy, not sell the product.

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