Flat marketing in three dimensions IN CASE you haven’t noticed, we hate dimensionals. We keep hoping some marketing maven will send us a blowtorch to clear out the clutter cutters clogging our cube.
Well, someone did send us a branding iron once, but it wasn’t effective. As a blowtorch, that is.
This time we have a radio, a telephone, a computer peripheral and a tree. The first three items were so inadequate that they made us want to climb a tree; unfortunately, this one wasn’t big enough.
The Sounds of Silence We were actually targeted by Bloomberg Radio’s mailing, as was everyone else in our apartment building. It came in a small, brightly colored box with the tag line: “Tune into the one station that really matters to New York.”
“It’s a radio,” explained a neighbor who noticed our puzzlement when we pulled the piece out of our mailbox. “But you can only play Bloomberg Radio on it.”
Don’t worry, folks. He’s a New Yorker. Complaining here is an Olympic-level sport.
Indeed, there was a small black radio inside packed in bubble wrap. There were also two enclosures. The first was instructions on how to use the radio. The second, a pitch card, listed the times of various news broadcasts and requested that the recipient log on to Bloomberg’s Web site to “Let us know what you think of our new format.”
We’ll have to take our neighbor’s word that the radio can only be tuned to WBBR AM 1130, since ours arrived broken from the post office. However, the choice of dimensional makes sense: a radio to let us listen to the company’s station. And, unlike our friend, we think it’s reasonable to limit the range to this specific radio frequency. You wouldn’t want to send people a promotion for Bloomberg only to have them tune in to a rock station.
What’s wrong with this package? First, the packaging. The designers should have made the box strong enough to survive USPS handling.
The second problem is the targeting. This was a mass mailing in the crudest sense of the term. The demographic in our apartment building doesn’t match Bloomberg Radio’s audience.
But then again, we New Yorkers like to complain. There’s certainly ample opportunity to tell the firm what we think on its Web site.
Transparent Motives CrossLogic Corp. is an Asheville, NC technical services firm that hired Juhl Marketing Communications to create a B-to-B campaign offering CrossLogic’s programming expertise to internal information technology (IT) personnel.
So Juhl developed – yes – a dimensional. It’s packaged in a black cardboard box with a label that reads, “Demystify the technology.” Inside is a clear plastic telephone. You can see all of its workings, from wires and circuit boards to speakers and push buttons – and some copy headlined “Transparent development.” The theme, the agency explains, is that CrossLogic reveals its new technology to businesses instead of hiding it from them.
The body copy finishes the usual pitch with “Plug into the latest development technologies. Give us a call.”
Only 10 packages were sent each week to a limited and highly targeted list of IT professionals. Each piece was followed up the day after delivery with a phone call. Juhl claims CrossLogic earned a 5% conversion rate on the initial mailing, which paid for the campaign and enabled the firm to double its staff to handle all the new business.
Unlike Bloomberg’s radio, the phone arrived in working order. Score one for Juhl and CrossLogic.
We’re convinced most dimensionals are brought home for the kids to play with, but we think most recipients would keep this one for themselves. Who couldn’t use an extra phone?
But we wonder why the dimensional relates to CrossLogic’s campaign theme, not the actual product or service. Why not emphasize that help and technical support are a phone call away?
And how much of the effort’s success is due to the (justly) memorable mailing, as opposed to the rigorously controlled follow-up?
:CueCat’s Out of the Bag Another Internet technology company, Dallas-based Digital:Convergence Corp., also sent a dimensional in a black cardboard box. But this one’s big enough to hold a small-gauge model railroad train.
“It’s here,” says the mailing label. What’s here is :CueCat, a barcode reader you can install on your computer’s desktop. The idea is that consumers can link directly from, say, space ads to relevant Web sites. Understandably, business partners like Forbes magazine and Coca-Cola are keen on that sort of thing.
“It reads any product code and instantly transports you to the corresponding Web page for that product,” burbles the copy. “So, rather than searching through endless pages of unrelated text, you simply `swipe’ a product code with your :CueCat reader and the :CRQ software takes you instantly to the Web page you want. No more cumbersome searches. No more wasted downloads.”
Luckily, Digital:Convergence followed CrossLogic’s lead and we received a working :CueCat.
But the box is too large and cumbersome. Most of it is packaging. Something half the size would have attracted just as much attention and would have been easier to open on one’s (already cluttered) desk.
Here’s a more serious issue: Basically, how many people are going to install free software from a firm they haven’t heard of, given the computer viruses going around? Digital:Convergence isn’t exactly America Online.
And there’s another problem, which goes beyond the usual creative dilemmas. The plan here is to distribute some 10 million of these free of charge to consumers across the country. The firm’s business partners undoubtedly envision millions of people swiping barcodes and accessing (if not ordering from) Web sites.
We ask, How many interactive TV units are out there and how many of those are actually being used?
Tree’s Company As a Christmas promo, Harte-Hanks sent out a small tree for the recipient to plant – a sapling about the size of one’s hand.
The concept behind this interactive dimensional is that a company grows over the years, like a tree. In addition, the firm made a donation on behalf of each of its clients to the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center.
The enclosed note adds that if the tree is damaged, the recipient can call for a replacement tree.
Well, ours was just fine, as near as we could tell. But the offer certainly beats Bloomberg Radio’s broken and probably irreplaceable radio.
That said, we nevertheless found this one wrong-headed. Trees tend to be cut down, not planted, at Christmastime. While the idea of replenishing the environment is not inconsistent with the holiday season, the copy didn’t evoke this, even though The GreenWorld Project was responsible for the saplings.
A mailing that encourages tree-planting would be wonderful for Arbor Day, though. Then I can plant mine – as well as the three other dimensionals.
Network
