Category: ADV 421 Assignment #2

 Using the article from Part A, Question #1, you are to create three (3) different headlines. Each headline must emphasize a different headline element discussed in class. (3X4=12 Marks) For each headline:

A – Include the Headline 

B –  Explain your reasoning 

C –  Reference specific class concepts 

Headline 1 (contrast/conflict) 

Police Reject Serial Killer Theory As New England Beach Town Locals Voice Concerns

 Explain your reasoning 

Rather than focusing primarily on the deaths themselves, this headline is centered around the strong conflict between locals in New England beach towns and their police force. People are naturally drawn to conflict involving others – especially when it affects public safety . Additionally, the word “serial killer” grabs attention, adds urgency, and intensifies the situation’s contrast.

Reference specific class concepts

This headline uses contrast and conflict framing writing tools that were discussed in class. When a headline presents two opposing frames or viewpoints, it effectively raises engagement because all readers are naturally drawn to unresolved conflict. 

Headline 2 (numbers) 

 4 Women Found Dead in New England Beach Towns as Serial Killer Fears Grow

Police Insist There is No Connection, But Locals Demand Answers.

B –  Explain your reasoning 

This headline utilizes numerical specificity. Using the phrase “4 Women Found Dead” makes the situation feel more concrete and helps readers quickly perceive the seriousness of the situation. Additionally, “Serial Killer fears grow” escalates the story and the subheadline highlights police vs. resident conflict to spark curiousity and encourage deeper reading.

C –  Reference specific class concepts

This headline uses the numbers principle, which as we discussed in class is one of the 3 tools that great headlines use. Using numbers in a headline increases memorability, engagement and effectively disrupts scrolling patterns. By combining this writing strategy with emotional escalation in the second part of the headline, it successfully creates captivation and tension.

Headline 3 (ask and discover intent) 

Why Are Women Turning up Dead in these New England Beach Towns?

Uncover what police are saying – and why locals don’t believe them. 

B –  Explain your reasoning 

I wanted to use a question based format in this version of the headline because it directly engages the audience by encouraging them to find an answer to the question presented. The subheadline reinforces this by using the word “uncover” and highlighting the story’s conflict. The subheadline also encourages discovery.

C –  Reference specific class concepts

In class, we learned that to write an effective headline, you should use at least one of the following; Do, discover, connect, or ask. This means through your writing, tell your audience to do something, Invite your audience to discover something, connect with your audience by speaking to them directly (ex. Using the word YOU), or ask them a question. In this headline, I used ask and discover to grab reader’s attention and then hook them in. To emphasize ask intent, the headline immediately asks “Why Are Women Turning Up Dead in These New England Beach Towns?, this prompts the reader to find answers to the question by reading more. It uses discover intent in the subheading using words like “uncover” and inviting them to learn more about a real small town conspiracy.

82. Headline Intent vs Outcome (4 Marks) Choose one headline you created in Part B, Q#1 Part B and answer the following: 

Why Are Women Turning up Dead in these New England Beach Towns?

Uncover what police are saying – and why locals don’t believe them.

a) What is the primary intent of this headline? (e.g. curiosity, urgency, clarity, relevance, emotional pull) 

The primary intent of the headline is to create curiosity and emotional pull. Right off the bat it uses the graphic word “Dead” to trigger shock/disgust emotions. It also speaks to the reader directly by asking them a question which subconsciously engages them and challenges them to find an explanation. It gives specific details to draw people in, but leaves enough out to create an unresolved story. Curiosity is also created in the subheading through the contrast between community fear and police denial; it makes the reader question “are the police lying?” “Why are locals suspicious?”. 

 b)What action or response is the headline designed to trigger?  

This headline is meant to trigger clicks and further reading. The question, specificity, and graphic wording and in the main headline encourages readers to find the answer through the article that follows. The subheading supports this by using the word “uncover”, inviting the reader to investigate further and draw their own conclusions about this mystery.

c)Explain why this intent is appropriate for the target audience you selected. 

The audience here is in the digital news space and has a particular interest in true crime reporting. For this group, the intention of emotional pull and curiosity are effective because they are already scrolling through lots of similar content and are more used to explicit or gruesome wording than the average reader, so using very shocking and emotional wording helps to disrupt their scrolling and hook them in.

The question based format in the main headline aligns with this audience because they are naturally curious, like to learn about true crime cases and create their own conspiracies based on facts. Rather than just presenting information, this headline invites readers to mentally engage and come up with their own concussion based on given information.

3. SCC Advertising Program Headline (6 marks) Create one headline for an article about the SCC Advertising Program, targeted to local graduating high school students. You must provide: 

A) The headline 

Why Creative Students are Choosing the 3-Year SCC Advertising Program

Explore 7 Career Paths That Combine Creativity and Business

B) An explanation of the information missing from the instructions 

Based on course concepts, this is what’s missing from the instructions…

Is the article Digital?

This is an important detail because digital is different; users are much more distracted with other content and they are scanning rather than reading, which means your headline has to disrupt scanning, be captivating and act as an immediate decision trigger. In this case, I’m going to assume that the article is digital because of the audience’s age.

–What do they already know? 

Graduating highschoolers in the area already know that st. clair college exists. However, they probably haven’t looked into what this specific program includes and associate it with one or two things exclusively like writing copy in ads or creating social media posts. By getting them to read the article about this program with a gripping headline, they would learn about its many different components such as media planning, digital strategy, email marketing, graphic design ect…

-What do they need to know?

This audience needs to know that the SCC advertising program creates real career opportunities for its graduates. They also need to know what types of jobs can be obtained, how this program differs from a general marketing degree, what skills they could build on or learn. Since this audience is feeling pressure to decide what is right for them moving forward to college/uni, they need to feel reassured that this program can translate their creativity to financial stability in a job they enjoy.

– What is the primary intent of the headline? Do we want the students to inquire? Enroll? Donate? 

We want students to click on the headline, read more about the program through the article, and learn more about it.

-Who is the competition?

 In this case, I believe that the competition is University of Windsor, which offers similar programs like business and marketing.

–What are the Program Strengths ( reasons students would want to enroll )?

 It’s only 3 years

 It can lead to a solid, high paying career

 It appeals to creative people who want stability

 There are many different career paths you can go with based on personal  interest/skills

– What is the headline’s specific promise?

 Based on the target audience, I believe that the specific promise of this headline is meant to be “if you enroll in this program, you can use your creativity to build a real career in just 3 years)

C) a detailed justification for your headline choice based on course concepts 

Because this headline is targeted at local graduating high school students, I’m assuming that the article is going to tell them information about the program, what careers it can lead to, and why it could be right for them. Based on this assumption I created a headline that will grab attention quickly using clarity, numbers where possible, and a two part structure. As discussed in class, these are the top 3 things that all great headlines have in common. It also invites the audience to discover what careers are possible after this program (from do, discover, connect, or ask) which aligns with the primary goal of them learning more about the program

Clarity – the headline clearly identifies the audience (creative students), the program (SCC advertising) and the benefit of reading the article (discover more about the program and learn about 7 future career paths that could interest them as a creative). And the main benefit of the program (3-year length, appeals to creatives, leads to a real career)

Numbers – we learned that it’s important to use numbers where you can in headlines because it increases memorability and engagement. In this headline uses this tip in the phrase “3-Year Program” and “ explore 7 career paths”

2 Part Structure – Successful headlines also use a 2 part structure (headline and subhead) where the headline immediately catches their attention (the hook) and the subheadline reels them in with more info, and this is exactly what i did here.

4. Second-Year Course Headline (4 marks) Create one headline promoting second-year digital courses in this program, targeted to first-year students. You must provide: 

a) Provide the headline 

7 Digital Skills You’ll Master in Second Year

Ready to Turn Your Ideas Into Industry Level Work?

b) Explain your reasoning clearly using class content

Based on the information given, I wrote the headline assuming that its main purpose is to encourage first year students to stick with the program by getting them excited about what skills they’re going to learn in second year digital courses and remind them that the program is going to prepare them for a real job in industry.

For this headline I used 4 concepts learned in class/from powerpoints…

Clarity – From reading this headline, the audience (first years in this program) knows that the article is going to tell them about different digital skills they will learn in second year. I also avoided using fluff words and only wrote in effective phrasing.

Connect and Ask from ( from do, discover, connect, or ask) – the headline addresses the audience by directly speaking to them; “skills YOU’LL master”, “YOUR ideas”. It asks them a question in the subheading: “Ready to Turn Your Ideas Into Industry Level Work?” 

Uses 2 Parts –  Successful headlines use a 2 part structure (headline and subhead) where the headline immediately catches their attention (the hook) and the subheadline reels them in with more info, and this is exactly what I did here.

Used Numbers – “7 Digital Skills” adds a level of credibility to the headline – it promises the audience a concrete number of skills they can expect to gain in second year. We also learned that using numbers makes a headline more memorable.

1. Headline Resonance (6 marks) Find one (1) headline you recently encountered that you felt was effective.

a) Provide the exact headline 

Dead Women Are Turning Up in New England Beach Towns. Police Deny a Pattern, But Locals Fear a Serial Killer

https://people.com/dead-women-turning-up-new-england-beach-towns-police-deny-pattern-locals-fear-serial-killer-11716607

b) Explain why it resonated with you

The first part of this headline caught my eye because I consume a lot of true crime content so it felt familiar, and by the time I got to the end I felt like I needed to read the article to find out what’s happening. The opening phrase “dead women are turning up” is immediately gruesome and shocking, while “New England Beach Towns” adds a level of specificity and interest. In the next part “ Police Deny a Pattern, But Locals Fear a Serial Killer” the is strong contrast between the first and second half; the police denying a pattern while people in the town think that there’s a serial killer on the loose heightens emotional attachment and leaves me asking “why aren’t the cops doing anything?” and wanting not only to learn about the deaths but also to read about how community and authority perceptions could be so different.

c) Tie your explanation directly to specific headline elements discussed in class 

This headline is effective because it uses several different concepts we discussed…

Curiosity Gap – This headline is specific enough for the audience to take interest in the story, but also leaves them with unresolved tension that they feel the need to settle. Instead of saying something vague like “police find dead bodies on a beach” they specify that they are women and the exact area they were found which makes the story feel more real and shocking. The second part also contributes to the curiosity gap because it makes the audience wonder why the police aren’t believing the community.

Contrast and conflict – this headline effectively uses contrast phrasing with two opposing frames; “Police Deny a Pattern” and “Locals Fear a Serial Killer”, which intensifies shock value and creates another level of curiosity. By adding this second part, the headline not only leaves people asking “who did it” but also “why aren’t the cops believing the community?”. It also creates a sense of conflict between locals and police, which may spark extra emotion in some people

Discover Intent – This headline successfully invites people to read the attached article by presenting a specific, disturbing situation with no clear resolution and then a strong conflict between a scared community and its police force. It encourages readers to read more, resolve their questions, and possibly come up with their own theories.

2. Accuracy & Representation (4 marks) Was the headline in Question #1 An accurate representation of the article content? 

a) Explain your reasoning clearly 

Yes, I believe that this headline is an accurate representation of the article’s content. The article is about a close community of beach towns in New England where there have been 4 women found murdered within just a few months. The article also highlights the fact that people who live in the area suspect a serial killer because of the close proximity of the bodies found and the short time frame, and the local police denying that there is a connection between the cases despite a pattern.

Importantly, the headline does not insinuate or state anything that is not a fact. It doesn’t imply that there is a serial killer in that area, it only states what’s going on (4 women found dead), what the community suspects, and how local police are handling the situation.The contract and emotional pull of this headline feels aligned with the seriousness of the situation rather than exploitative or overly dramatic.

b) Reference course discussion on misleading vs effective headlines 

In class we talked about the difference between a misleading headline and an effective one. Although it might seem tempting to overdramatize your headline to shock the viewer and get them to read further, if the article itself is inconsistent with what the headline states, the reader will feel tricked, annoyed and become less likely to engage with content from that source.

However, an effective headline uses writing techniques to pull strong emotions and tension while staying consistent with what’s actually in the article. The headline for theNew England beach town murders achieved this balance; while it highlights fear within a community, deaths, and police conflict to evoke emotions, the headline has an appropriate tone and is accurate with the story.

3. Click Motivation (8 marks) 

a)Provide a different headline you recently clicked on.

 Police Found Woman’s Remains in a Toolbox Thanks to a ‘Single Drop of Blood.’ Her Killer Was Living in the Same Home

b)Include the exact headline and a screenshot

c)Explain why you clicked it, not why you liked it

I clicked it because it’s shocking, has a strong curiosity gap, and catches attention quickly through concise wording and specificity.

I wanted to click this headline because within 3 seconds I was shocked and wanted to learn more about what happened. The phrase “woman found in the toolbox” was what caught my eye first because it’s highly specific and disturbing to picture. It presents a highly unusual situation that leaves me questioning “why did he do it?” “how did she fit in there?”, making me want to understand what happened. The mention of “A single drop of blood” also piqued my interest because it implies that a tiny, lucky detail led to the murder being solved, making the case feel rare and interesting.

The last part of the headline, “her killer was living in the same home” was the final phrase that drew me in adding a twist that made an already rare situation even more intense. Knowing that the killer was living in the same home as the victim left me with more questions; “who was it” “how did he fly under the radar?” and added a layer of betrayal to the story. My click was motivated by a need for resolution and details over personal interest or enjoyment.

d)Tie your reasoning directly to course concepts

According to many class discussions, viewers see thousands of pieces of content per day, so they don’t read – they scan. For an ad/article to pull a high CTR it must function as a “decision trigger”, and this headline strongly aligns with course concepts about how to write a good headline.

In class, the importance of cutting content was talked about a lot; when you write something you’re supposed to look at it and ask – what is not needed here? And to not write anything that your audience doesn’t need. The headline uses effective phrasing only and successfully grabs attention by using graphic words like “blood” “killer” and “remains” to disrupt scanning.
It also effectively uses a curiosity gap which was discussed in class; while it’s okay to “spoil” what’s in the article (because why are we hiding it) it’s also important to leave the viewer wanting or needing to know more. This headline is specific, shocking, and reveals enough information to draw the viewer in and give them an idea of what happened, but withholds full details to create a curiosity gap. For example,  rather than being vague and using a phrase like “woman’s body found” the headline uses the specific phrasing “woman found in toolbox” to highlight the story’s gruesome shock and uniqueness.