Some pros and cons concerning the adapting of magazine advertisements for newspapers (2 page images)
The pattern
This still is filed under Question headline.
Define
The first line is a question the reader was already asking, or one they cannot leave unanswered.
Mechanism
Open loop plus recognition. A good question is the reader's objection, spoken first by us.
Verdict
We know the real objection and can answer it in the next breath.
Why it works
The paper builds one premise in patient detail, that a magazine ad is determined by a visualised reader, that reader's mood, the magazine's make-up and its paper stock, and then turns every element of that premise into a question aimed at newspapers. Rhetorical questions let the writer force a position on colleagues without issuing an order, so the reader arrives at the conclusion himself and cannot argue with a verdict that was never stated. The single underlined word magazine is the hinge of the whole argument, marking the moment the shared premise becomes the objection. The close raises money, the size of a newspaper buy, which is the one argument an account man cannot dismiss as craft preference.
Steal this when
Use this when you need to change a colleague's or a client's default habit and cannot afford a confrontation. State the shared premise in full detail first, then convert each part of it into a question they cannot answer comfortably, and end on the cost of being wrong.