A mailing tested poorly. So poorly, that if Ross Perot were around, he’d be describing the giant sucking sound coming from the basement of the mail room. People were wandering about the mail house in a daze not looking at each other. Something had to be done.
Go back to the direct mail basics wouldn’t you think?
Unfortunately, no.
The creative team was sure their stuff was dead on. It was the funniest, most original idea they’d ever come up with – pigs flying while holding model airplanes above their heads. Funny! Brilliant! Everyone who saw the illustration burst into laughter. They all agreed that it was pure genius.
Must be the list, or the offer was too weak. Maybe it was the timing. After all, it was mailed just two days before Halloween. Maybe that’s where they went wrong.
Someone else suggested that they add a better coupon.
A young kid working in the mailroom said he was reading “Scientific Advertising” by Claude C. Hopkins and the book said, “Never seek to amuse. That is not the purpose of advertising.”
Where do these kids pick up on these ideas? That book was written during the depression. That stuff is so old it was more than historical, it was hysterical.
It was a much different time then. Back then people had to worry about what they spent their money on. If they spent it on frivolous things like food or clothing, there might not be enough left over for heat or transportation. Money was hard to come by, and there were giant corporations that controlled prices and made obscene profits off of oil and gas sales. House prices were outrageous, thousands were homeless and finding jobs that offered a living wage were hard to come by.
“Huh? Isn’t that just like now?”
Oooh! I guess it is.
Some may be wondering, what’s wrong with humor? Look at pictures from the depression and you’d think they could really use a good laugh. That’s true. But you aren’t selling your product if you’re trying to entertain. That humor doesn’t sell in advertising has been proven, over and over. All it could ever do is distract from the selling message.
Read all of the real advertising geniuses:
If it doesn’t sell, it’s not creative. –Benton & Bowles Credo in the 1930s and 1940s
I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information. –David Ogilvy
Our job is to sell our clients’ merchandise … not ourselves. Our job is to kill the cleverness that makes us shine instead of the product. Our job is to simplify, to tear away the unrelated, to pluck out the weeds that are smothering the product message. –William Bernbach, Founder, DDB
I guess it’s time to take a harder look at those flying pigs.
Albert Saxon, Saxon Marketing, is based in Indian Orchard, MA.
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