HEADLINES are a copywriter’s favorite children. We agonize during their birth, straining to bring forth something undefined yet alive within us. We love them, even when they deceive us by speaking to our vanity instead of our audience. And we die a little when they go unappreciated.

Case in point: a job I did for Timberland apparel in November 2017. After a few listless hours of concepting, the clouds parted and I was struck by a headline that I liked more than any I’d written in a long time. It belonged atop a full-page GQ ad with lavish photography of urban hipsters, winning awards and a cherished place in my portfolio.

But that wasn’t the job, alas.

Instead my task was to write a plain-jane clothing tag about Timberland’s no-iron finish, all but invisible to outlet store shoppers as they pawed through shirt racks:

“Life without wrinkles never gets old.” What a nice line. But it deserved better. | DC |