Leaving Us Flat
Through the years, Direct has received a variety of odd items as direct response promotions, including a red delicious apple sent via priority services (at a mailing cost of nearly $10); a single sock; a plastic horseshoe accompanied by a plastic hand grenade; and a series of nesting dolls.
The most recent addition to our trove of trinkets was an elaborately printed box from tableware firm Reed & Barton. Opening the box revealed an invitation to view the new Williamsburg collection, between Oct. 26 and 31, at the company’s showroom.
Printed inside the box were spaces for a five-piece table setting, with an actual soupspoon included to give the package heft. There was no cover letter, or indeed any information other than the invitation.
We were flummoxed by this mailing. Were we to go to the showroom and collect the other four pieces? Should they have been included to begin with?
An Oct. 31 sojourn to the showroom yielded no answers. We were met by a locked door. After we banged on it for a bit, a mystified salesperson appeared and explained that the Williamsburg folks had hightailed it out of there on the 30th.
We trudged back to our office, bearing the box and the single spoon. A call to the company public relations rep for clarification was unanswered at deadline. Were it not for the fact that we can now eat our oatmeal in style, we’d consider the trip, and the mailing, an unfortunate waste.
