BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS
I Found Your Wallet/USA You know you’ve got a potential PRO award promo on your hands when you receive personal huzzahs from targets who are themselves past and present World PRO Award winners.
That was the immediate and glorious response to this B-to-B direct mail program from Phoneworks that targeted chief executives of promo 100 promotion agencies. These folks are “tougher to get an appointment with than the President and the Pope combined,” remarked the St. Petersburg, FL, company in its awards entry form. So it resorted to devious promotional devices to draw their attention to a new, interactive product called Smart Spiffs.
The agency execs arrived at the office one morning to find bulky Federal Express packages on their desks. Inside were bulging wallets bound by rubber bands, with notes attached reading, “I found your wallet! I’ll call tomorrow to make sure you got it. Kathy.”
You’ve got to love a promotion that gets a hundred honchos simultaneously patting their back pockets. And even though most found their wallets intact, it didn’t make the wallets on their desks any less intriguing – especially when they opened them and found I.D. cards clearly marked with their own names and business addresses.
Also inside the wallet were family photos with people holding little coupons, three dollar bills, and an ATM receipt boasting a large balance. A handwritten “to do” list on the back of the receipt reminded, “Find out about Smart Spiffs,” and a pink “While you were out” slip said Kathy called to talk about setting up a Smart Spiffs capabilities presentation. There was a matchbook cover with the Smart Spiffs 800-number scrawled on it, a fortune cookie slip predicting a call bearing good news, and several Smart Spiffs certificates. A live lottery ticket was added for good measure.
That afternoon, execs received a call from Kathy, and the mystery was solved. Some, however, couldn’t wait, and called Phoneworks right away. “Being in the business, they wanted to let us know how unique they thought the promotion was,” says Phoneworks creative director Ken Weightman.
Seventy-seven of the 100 targets scheduled meetings with Phoneworks, resulting in $14 million in quotes. To date, the company has closed more than $4 million in business off the single mailing.
One percent of respondents – initially at least – weren’t amused. “There was one agency president who had actually lost his own wallet and thought it was a cruel joke,” says Weightman. “He eventually came around.”
