THE OPENING LINE

 

I've written down 13.7 million words in my life.  Give or take.  

 

Ads, annual reports, brochures, blogs, websites, social posts, newsletters, videos, speeches, radio bits.  One children's book.  One for adults.  

 

But whether it's a seven-word ad or 90,000-word memoir, the most important line is always the first.  It sets the tone and draws the reader in. 

 

 

 

Judge not.  Lest ye be judged.  And heck, who needs that?  

* Western Art Director's Club 

 

 

Lower Manhattan.  Some say it's the straw that stirs the drink. 

* Marriott Hotels

 

 

If Africa is the cradle of humanity, then each of us is part of the story of the African diaspora. 

* Museum of the African Diaspora

 

 

In a world where millionaire teenage athletes throw tantrums on tv, we instill in our boys a firm sense of sportsmanship; the sublime ability to win or lose with equal grace and to treat a rival fairly.

* Landon School

Send not for a hatchet to break open an egg.  

* Spruce Technologies

 

 

I wish I was repelling down a 300-foot-deep chasm bathed in beautiful green light in search of the dangerous chalice from Argon.  The only thing I hear above the incessant beating of my heart is loose rocks cascading off the walls, and the occasional echoing wail of some strange animal down there.

* Oak Technology, audio chip maker

 

 

A school built on the belief that a child's work in Kindergarten is play. 

* Greenwood School

 

 

Through growth, mergers and capital investments, Champion has become a $5 billion company, making us 23 times bigger than the company that makes the sweatshirts and 10 times larger than the spark plug people. 

* Champion International Paper

 

 

Are you prepared for long-term care?  Because, you see, most people aren't.

* MetLife

 

 

If only germs would stay put. 

* EO Products, hand sanitizer

 

 

The beginning of brand equity.  Ours is the name of a man – born in Vermont, self-made, and hardworking. 

* Brink's Incorporated

 

Each day is a lifetime.  Each life has a death.  There are no answers for dying, only questions for living.

* Hospice of Washington

 

 

You are a phenomenal human being. You really are. 

* The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia, movie