I read in today’s news that a fugitive in China, on the lam for 17 years, was finally caught inside the cave where he had been hiding.
Police couldn’t track him down for years.
But they finally found him by flying drones over a wooded mountain region where he had been living a Yeti-like existence for so long that he had forgotten how to speak.
This modern use of technology to rope in poor fugitive scum made me think of a much older technology.
The WANTED poster.
Or rather, the WANTED headline.
In his 1974 book Tested Advertising Methods, famed copywriter John Caples wrote that “Wanted” is a good word to use in headlines.
“Wanted — Man with car to run a store on wheels”
Fast forward to 2019, and this WANTED idea was just spotted scurrying across a subject line for an Health Sciences Institute email, which ran twice this month.
The thing is, not all headline formats that worked back in 1974 work today.
And in spite of the HSI email, you probably shouldn’t count on WANTED being a great headline format today.
However, the underlying idea is still very sound.
And that idea is to specifically call out your audience.
So looking back over the last couple of years, here are some examples of successful headline complexes that do exactly this:
* Confirmed: If you are over 60 as of January 1, 2019, you need to protect yourself now…
* Warren Buffett’s Shocking Advice to Americans Who Hope to Retire in the Next 5-7 Years
* Attention: Men & Women Over Age 50:
By the way, did you know Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan wrote a song titled “Wanted Man” back in 1967?
Cash sang it live at San Quentin Prison to a crowd of felons.
I’ve always liked this song for its list of no-name American towns that still meant something fifty years ago, as well as for the backing vocals, courtesy of Johnny Cash’s wife and her family.
If you have 3 minutes and 24 seconds, and you want to give this song a listen, here’s the original, outlaw recording: