The Art of the "Cold Open"

"Ninety seconds into the longest red light in town... it's happening.   A series of stabbings between her shoulder blades, followed by pulsing rivulets of acid coursing down her arms.  By the time the light goes green her rigid body is an immobile encasement of frantic terror." --Where the hell are we?   --What is going on?   --Who is this woman?   --What is this story doing on the front of a brochure I found on the counter at a health food store??? If that opening paragraph sounds to you more like a TV network crime drama than a marketing brochure for a craniosacral massage therapist, you're right.  I took a page from the screenwriter's playbook and executed something that the entertainment industry calls a "cold open."  Why?  Because marketing copy is often a bore.  We're so used to a bland introduction followed by a couple of predictable "this is what we do and here's why we're great" paragraphs.   Sometimes we need to shake things up to stand apart. The cold open came into common use during the 1960s, when viewers had an expanding choice of shows to watch on television.  Commercial sponsors of the shows pressured producers to invent a stunt that would dissuade viewers from switching channels during the credit sequence (you know, the part with the theme song and text saying who played Gilligan, etc.).   The "beginning, followed by middle, followed by ending" way of doing things had just been put in the media meat grinder... for our entertainment! Think about how regularly you have seen cold opens: in the sequence that opens virtually every James Bond movie... in the inevitable crime scene at the beginning of CSI... in the weekly skit that ends with the ceremonial words: "Live, from New York-- it's Saturday Night!!!"  Movies like "Memento" and "Pulp Fiction" take the disorienting feeling of the cold open and maintain it for two hours. This kind of deep tissue storyline manipulation is designed to make you work to figure out what is going on, because for certain types of brains working is fun. Can the cold open be a useful tool in your marketing arsenal?  Maybe, maybe not.  The cold open can help to A.) hook the reader's attention early, B.) set up a mystery which the reader must continue reading to resolve, C.) foster ongoing thought afterward.  However it carries some potential risks, the main one being that if the opening tableau you choose is too unfamiliar or off-putting, you can lose audience before they even learn what your product is.   So how do you know whether to risk it?  As with any business decision, the better you know your audience, the better the decision you will make.   If your target demographic is under 45 years old, the chances are good that they are very familiar with the cold open from popular culture and would be receptive to seeing it in your marketing materials.  With older audiences it might still work, but consider turning down the shock value a few decibels, and shifting the tone from edgy to more playful.  You may also want to factor in whether you need to hook the reader in the first place.  This sometimes comes down to the question of whether the product information you're offering is compelling enough to do this on its own.  If it is, a cold open could actually have the effect of irritating a reader because it gets in the way of information they are actively seeking. The cold open is an informed gamble, a calculated risk, a silver sequined sombrero at a mortuary convention.   Mock up a test version and show it to a small sample of your target demographic, then ask them some in-depth questions about their reaction.   Sometimes people are more complex than you'd think.  And who doesn't love a good story when they're in the right mood to hear one? 2009-01-29T07:40:03Z

2009-02-01T00:38:35Z

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the-art-of-the-cold-open

2009-02-01T00:38:30Z

Forget what you learned in 7th grade English class... you don't always need an introduction.

The Art of the "Cold Open"

2009-02-24T09:48:56Z