The power of the headline

One of the greatest skills in writing is the headline. An advertising slogan or a company tag line that distils everything the brand stands for into a single, neat piece of copy. It has to incorporate the brand’s tone, an understanding of what sets them apart, a good knowledge of the audience, and an ability to communicate the benefits of it, all in the fewest number of words.

There’s a technique to it – a selection process from all the available words, to find the ones that fit best. Then a honing process – when I talk to writers at Dyson about it, I compare it to an engineer removing everything extraneous from a machine, until you’re left with the most streamlined, effective tool you can have.

This line was for the Dyson Airblade™ hand dryer, familiar in washrooms around the world. The brief was to communicate that it dried hands in an innovative way, by placing them down into the machine, which also made it quicker and more hygienic than any other.

For TLT, a private family law firm in Bristol, the brief was to show how they were different. That they would grow with you over the lifetime of your relationship with them – whatever life threw at you – and weren’t just around for the short term. This work was done with an agency in Bristol.

This speculative ad for Bosch was a line I’d been thinking about for a while. I love the way the words feel, creating a memorable line that sums up the quality of Bosch products, as well as the ease with which they help you complete a task.

One of my favourite parts of any job, and often the trickiest, writing great headlines requires skill, patience and a whole lot more time than the number of words might suggest.