I mentioned the mere-exposure effect in this email about 18 months ago, which is all about how us weird little humans are more likely to favour familiar things over unfamiliar things.
When writing ads, you can take advantage of this by piggyback on stuff that people are already familiar with – idioms, famous faces, popular culture, songs, iconic places. Anything that already has lots of clout.
British Gas did this to perfection with that headline.
Summer of £69 piggybacks on one of the world’s most popular songs of the past few decades. A masterstroke to get their headline noticed and remembered.
It’s so fucking simple. And so fucking effective.
The headline’s done the all-important bit of grabbing my attention. And the subheader is there to follow things up with clarity and context to hammer home the benefit of whatever it is they’re selling.
But (and it’s a big but), I reckon it that subheader falls a bit flat. And when I say “a bit”, I really do mean it. This ad still works really well. It’s like an 8.5 out of 10. But with a bit more thought, I reckon it could get closer to full marks.
Right let’s break it down…
✅ Add a £69 summer boiler service to your playlist
This subheader does three key things well.
1. It’s direct – telling the reader to actually do something.
2. It explains what the £69 relates to – the summer boiler service.
3. And the green tick-box thing makes it feel like a “must-do” thing.
But I’d argue that it’s a must-do thing on a to-do list.
Not a playlist.
The “playlist” thing feels like a nice circle-back to the headline. But why would I add a summer boiler service to a playlist?
It just doesn’t quite make sense.
It’s ever so slightly off. Like when you walk into your parents’ home for the first time in two weeks and one of the decorative plates is missing off the Welsh Dresser. You know something’s wrong, but you might not even notice exactly what it is.
Now, you might think I’m being picky here. Harsh even.
It can be easy to stop on what you think is a good idea. Especially when you’re pushed for time, and the client wants loads of options, and you know the sign-off hierarchy will probably pick one of the safe ones anyway.
But it’s the little things like this that make the difference between a nice idea and a great idea.
Not settling for "that'll do".
So how it could be pushed further? Here are three ways…
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Way to push it further #1 – Find a stronger play on words
Having worked with a headphones brand, a hearing aid brand, and a background music brand over the past year, I’ve explored every musical pun there is.
And whatever the sector, there’s usually a musical metaphor or idiom that fits the bill. Like “tune” – a service keeps your boiler well-tuned, doesn’t it?...
Keep your boiler in tune with a £69 summer service
Or just a little nod to the genre…
Keep your boiler rockin’ with a £69 summer service
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Way to push it further #2 – Keep the song link going
Summer of ‘69 has some delicious lyrics.
Like “Those were the best days of my life”. This could become something like:
For the best days of your boiler’s life.
And the chorus line: "When I look back now, that summer seemed to last forever". You could tweak this for a 2-liner:
When you look back now, that boiler seems to last forever.
And with a £69 summer service, it might.
Even the first verse is a belter: "I got my first real six-string, bought it at the five and dime"…
I got my first real Worcester
Bought it at Appliances Online
Boiled it 'til my radiators bled
Til the summer of £69
Sorry. Getting carried away now aren’t I?
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Way to push it further #3 – Flip the nerdy, sensible sentiment of “boiler servicing” on its head.
Who said boiler servicing was for squares?
Only proper rock stars get their boilers serviced.
Or
£69 summer boiler service? That’s rock and roll.
Oh, and please, please get the one line that you know the client will immediately reject out of your system…
Servicing your boiler just got a whole lot sexier.
There ya go.
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