Page 205 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

96 CREATE A
QUESTIONNAIRE

People LOVE being asked their opinion. It’s one of the reasons
market research companies manage to recruit members of focus
groups or even just stop people on the street. And think of all the
times you’ve seen questionnaires or personality tests in magazines.
They’re an editorial staple. So why not exploit this natural human
foible (vanity?) in your copywriting?

The easiest way to do it is to write a questionnaire. You can have
lots of fun designing it to look like a real one (well, in a way, it is
a real one)—just make sure the questions (and answers) lead your
reader to the desired destination: seeing the world the way you want
them to.

The idea

From a computer magazine
Most house ads used by magazine publishers follow a very simple
plan. Big photo of the incentive, or premium—variously, a bag of
cosmetics, be-logoed sweatshirt, picnic hamper, golf umbrella,
T-shirt, big bottle of perfume—huge headline advertising said
premium plus percentage savings off the shop price, and a few lines
reiterating the qualities of the premium.

For this computer magazine, the circulation manager asked us to
come up with something a little different. The concept we suggested
was a personality test. It followed the classic outline: first you answer
a bunch of questions, with multiple-choice answers identified by
letters. Then you add up your score. Finally you read off your score

196 • 100 GREAT COPYWRITING IDEAS