Define
A conditional contract: if you do this, you get that. The sentence can be tested against the reader's own case.
Mechanism
Contingent claim. Specificity does the persuading. The if names the action. The then names the outcome. Hedging kills it.
Verdict
We can name both the action and the result without adjectives doing the work.
Don't
The condition is vague, or the result cannot be checked. An untestable if-then is a wish.
Copy skeleton
If you [ACTION / CONDITION], then [RESULT] within [TIME], or [CONSEQUENCE / GUARANTEE]. [ASK]
Gulf note
Write the if and the then in the register the buyer already uses. Name who honors the clause. A promise without a named party is decoration.
Rights-cleared examples
Charles Atlas Dynamic Tension ad, Weird Tales, 1941
The headline makes the coupon the hero rather than the course, so the small act being asked for is the same act the proof story is about.
Charles Atlas comic ad, The Insult That Made a Man Out of Mac
The comic strip is camouflage: it matches the medium it is printed in, so a reader consumes the sales argument as a story before noticing it is an ad.
Charles Atlas comic-strip ad, Slave Girl Comics #2
The headline is a line the reader has heard said about himself, quoted in the voice of a man who has already escaped it, so shame and aspiration are delivered in the same sentence.
24 Lessons in Scientific Eating course ad, Everybody's Magazine, 1915
The headline takes a literal physical event and applies it to the reader's own body, which is a curiosity lead that is also a threat, so it is nearly impossible to leave unread.
al-Malika al-Saghira silk fabrics ad, al-Kashkul 1928
The ad opens with 'my lady' and a reminder, as if a shopkeeper were speaking to one customer, then says the largest stock of silks for dresses, wraps and linens is at this one shop.
al-Musawwar commemorative issue ad, al-Kawakib 1970
The headline opens with 'if you missed it', so the only reader it speaks to is the one who already wanted the issue and failed to get it.
Ali Hassan and Mohammed Ali key copying by post ad, al-Kawakib 1958
The ad is a simple contract: wherever you live, post us your key with stamps of a stated value, and we post back your key and a new copy.
Amami shampoo ad, al-Musawwar 1927
The copy is built as a condition and a routine: if you want your hair to look beautiful, wash it once a week with Amami.
Anzora hair cream ad, al-Musawwar 1929
The drawing of a man with sleek, flat-combed hair shows the result, and the copy ties it to the moments that ruin it, a long dance or a strong wind.
Arcturus radio valves ad, al-Musawwar 1932
The headline is a single number a radio owner can test at home: switch on and hear sound in seven seconds, when valves of the time took long to warm up.
Aspirin tablets and Spirosal rub rheumatism ad, al-Kashkul 1930
The drawing of an old man in an armchair with his bandaged foot on a stool shows the sufferer the ad is for, and the headline names his complaint in the second person.
Aspirin tablets and Spirosal rub rheumatism ad, al-Kashkul 1930
A man in a suit bends and grips his hip while leaning on a chair, and beside him stand a tall Spirosal bottle and an Aspirin pack drawn almost his size, so the cure looks as big as the pain.
If this library is useful, leave an email
We send new patterns, ads, and notes when we add them. Name and phone are optional.
You are on the list
We will write when we add more library material.