Advertising Is Good For You

What "LAST & FINAL CHANCE" really means

One of my favorite magazines wants me to renew my subscription.

Actually, the magazine started bugging me to renew almost as soon as my last subscription began.

Naturally, I've been ignoring the mail solicitations.

It's part stubbornness on my part. I simply refuse to renew a subscription when I still have practically a year's worth of magazines coming to me.

It's also about money. Direct marketers typically offer the best deals in their LAST effort to a subscriber before purging the person from their mailing list.

This is the junk mail I wait for:

"LAST & FINAL CHANCE" typically means "this is the best offer we're going to make you." 

In effect, the loyal readers who resubscribe early oftentimes pay more for the same subscription than those who wait until the last minute.

It may not seem fair but it makes sense. Look at it this way: every time you ignore a renewal request, many publishers will sweeten the pot to get you to reconsider.

Junk mail fail

Going through the mail the other day, I came across a simple white envelope from one of my utility companies.

On the outside of the envelope was printed this headline:

IMPORTANT SERVICE NOTICE ENCLOSED.
PLEASE RESPOND IMMEDIATELY.

My blood pressure spiked as I read it.

I was convinced this was a statement from the utility telling me it about to turn off my service. I tore into that envelope convinced I was in for a months-long battle trying to proof that I was up to date on my payments.

My blood pressure spiked again when I saw what was inside: a letter trying to sell me an upgrade.

Direct response advertising is my specialty. No one knows better than I the importance of getting a prospect to open the envelope. BUT YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO PISS PEOPLE OFF IN THE PROCESS.

Disgusted, I threw the letter away. Then went back to fish it out so I could write this post.

Now I get the satisfaction of throwing it away a second time.

Junk mail couture

According to Craftzine:

Colorful junk mail (catalogues, solicitations, newspaper ads) were folded into fans and sewn onto a skirt and dress made of scrap canvas and a mantilla for the hair. The vintage shoes are covered with old postage stamps. The inspiration for this outfit came from the origami peacock earrings- Nancy Judd made them in 1988 when she designed and sold origami jewelry for a summer job."

I've been invited to the Inauguration . . .

Or so I thought.

I received this mailing yesterday and for a few brief moments I thought my modest donations to the Obama campaign had won me tickets to the Inauguration ceremony.

First, I took out this letter. Printed on heavy cream-colored stock with a gold foil-embossed Inaugural seal, this letter makes quite an impression.

My enthusiasm started to wane when I got to the second page. This was printed on a lighter-weight stock. The seal was also printed; the ink is not even metallic.

I was downright crestfallen when I got to the last piece of the mailing: this black and cream brochure.

 

Alas, this invitation was to "attend and participate in the Inauguration" with the crowds of people freezing their butts off in hopes of catching a glimpse of the Obamas and Bidens. And, of course, it invites me to buy stuff "56th Presidential Inaugural Collectibles."

No thanks. I've got a ton of Obama campaign buttons left over from the election. And on Inauguration day I plan to stay toasty warm while watching the ceremony on TV.

My favorite holiday card from an advertising agency

This Instant New Year's Party Kit was developed by McCabe, Duval + Associates in Portland, Maine, and sent out as the advertising agency's holiday card. It includes a series of five 5" x 5" cards.

Card #1:

Card #2 is a cocktail recipe:

Card #3 lists New Year's Eve party music suggestions:

Card #4 illustrates how to dance the Salsa:

Card #5 provides hangover cures:

And the back of each card is a drink coaster:

Direct Marketing is doing its part for the U.S. economy

Direct Marketing:

• accounts for 52.1% of total ad expenditures in the U.S.
• generates about $2.057 trillion in total incremental sales
• accounts for 10% of the total U.S. gross domestic product
• directly employs 1.6 million people
• supports another 9.3 million other jobs

Image: Gary John Reynolds        Source: Direct Marketing Association

Even lolcats hate junk mail

Source: I can has cheezburger

Turn junk mail into mulch

Get Rich Slowly  has posted some guidelines for turning junk mail into garden mulch. I think I may try this in my flower beds.
 

Directions for making paper out of junk mail

Everything you need to know is at The New New.

How to recycle bills and junk mail

Design Sponge has directions on how to recycle security envelopes by turning them inside out. One could do this with plain window envelopes, too, but without such visually interesting results.

Spending on direct mail advertising totaled $58.4 billion last year.

And it's expected to climb to $70 billion by 2011.

That's according to a study released by the Chief Marketing Officer Council and reported by Media Post's Center for Media Research.

Image: Kenn Christ

Happy Chinese New Year

To celebrate the Chinese New Year last year, DDB International, Kuala Lumpur mailed the following greeting to its clients...

The mailing contained four pairs of chopsticks; the headline said: Great strength lies in numbers. With unity comes the belief that nothing can easily break us.

Source: ads of the world

A previous example of ad agency self-promotion: Guerrilla Hookers
 

Never forget, the purpose of a direct mail envelope is to entice people to open it

I really like this idea, although I think the open rate would have been higher if the envelope had been blind -- that is, if the envelope had not included the name of the sender.

Advertising agency: Marshall Fenn, Toronto

Source: Ads of the World