Ads: Need for Speed

"The average person spends 4.5 seconds reading an ad, and ... 85 percent of them only read the headline and look at the graphics." according to Geil, Wells & Mohr. An old college textbook from my bookshelf (Engel/Warshaw/Kinnear,1987) confirms that fact: five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy!

The reason most ads don't get read is most ads don't grab the reader.

A good headline and design, however, will draw in readers. I'm not talking about gimmicky headlines, like "Read This NOW!" I'm referring to headlines that are meaningful to the reader, like "Reduce your fleet's fuel usage" -- perhaps with a graphic of a thimble.

Also, GWM's statistics fail to point out that a good ad doesn't need to be read word-for-word. You should get the message instantly. The body of the ad should just fill in the details.

My point? Get your point across quickly with a well-written headline and arresting graphics.

- Phil Sasso