Treasure Hunt Searching for some sparkling ad copy? It might be right under your nose.

Instead of looking heavenward, as many of us do, for inspirationon how to improve our advertising, sometimes it pays to do just theopposite: Look downward. By that I mean look down into the belly ofyour current advertising copy for any buried treasure that mightmerit boosting to the top, perhaps even as a stronger, moreeye-catching headline than the one you're using.

I say this because there have been several times a client hasanointed me an advertising Einstein as the result of a smart adconcept I've presented, only to learn the idea was actuallytheirs. I merely found it lying mildewed in the fourth paragraph oftheir old advertising copy and raised it to its rightful place.You'd be surprised how much potentially powerful, freshheadline material lies hidden below the surface of a lot ofadvertising efforts.

That's my primary message to Don Sims of Lamar, Arkansas,who wrote recently. Sims is in the seminar field, taking the stageevery week on behalf of a program called "Debt-Free andProsperous Living." The seminar describes a system ofsatisfying your debts within a few years and then using the moneyyou would have spent on your now-paid mortgage to build aretirement nest egg. The flier Sims sends out to solicit churchgroups and other prospective audiences across the country is notweak by any means; some provocative ideas are persuasivelycommunicated. But with a little burnishing, it could become evenstronger.