How to write 100 headlines

Sometimes you just need to churn.

Years ago, we had an assignment to produce close to 50 distinct billboards as part of a national, new vehicle model launch. Each billboard featured a headline, product image and logo. The presentation math dictated our clients ought to review at least 80 options to winnow down the final 50. To get to 80 for the client, our internal gauntlet demanded over 100 headlines.

Here’s how it can be done:

First, stop writing headlines.

If ever there was cause for measuring before cutting, this is that cause. The writing will come soon enough. Think marathon running, not sprints.

Start writing themes. Themes are categories, silos, buckets, titles for collections. Themes indicate potential. Dig lots of shallow holes, quickly. This is a task similar to outlining found in screenplay development. It is prediction.

Try to define at least five distinct themes from your assignment. If your assignment is a new car model launch, themes might include “fuel efficiency,” “standard features,” “competitive advantage,” “design motivation” or “engine power.” (With five clear themes, you might, by default, define five opposing themes. “Standard features” establishes “What isn’t standard.”)

The goal is eight to ten themes, to help properly define the hours and days ahead, indicating directions you will explore. I often consider the first hours of theme writing as a means of mapping what is to come. If the assignment allows four days, I might parcel two or three themes per day. The sheer wall of 100 becomes much less daunting if its chopped into numerous themes, spread across the time provided. It’s a math game. Instead of one broad assignment, you’ve got eight to ten very specific assignments.

Now it’s time to actually write. As you churn, feel free to move rapidly from theme to theme. You might unearth a new theme in the process. The point is to fill in the space under each theme, to vet potential. If a theme isn’t fertile, drop it.

If you can write four or five headlines under a theme, you can probably write ten. (Luke Sullivan’s great book offers plenty of direction on this point.) If even one headline is a struggle, move on, quickly. Themes should inspire, not constrict.

And don’t edit. Not yet. Commit the words without analysis or reaction. Set a pace and churn.

At the midpoint, 50 to 60 headlines down, you’ll see connections, influences and preferences. You’ll have done the due diligence now to truly know where the gold isn’t. (You’ll also have a useful framework to help your partners understand and embrace and sell the work you’ve done.) But ask yourself, what haven’t you written?

You can address a theme at its face value, literally. Speak directly to the issue, its merits and facts. Or you can address a theme tonally, as attitude. How might this theme provide drama?

For me, the theme-approach gets better towards the end. Having established mile-markers, having outlined potential, it becomes a matter of practice, of taking swings for the fence and making slight adjustments. The words pile up.

And then you’re into editing. Kill your darlings. Reveal your faults, your shortcomings. And write again.

I hope this helps.