Letters to the Editor
B-TO-B DM TESTING
Just read Ruth Stevens’ article (“Scaled-Down Testing,” November) and thought it was great. I took away several ideas for testing.
Scott Swedenburg
CEO
Mail Enterprises
Birmingham, AL
Ruth Stevens’ article reminds me of Paul Bringe’s rule for test sample sizes. Bringe was a Wisconsin-based DM consultant in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. His rule for testing sizes was whatever quantity would produce 100 responses at the expected rate of return.
If a company’s prospecting returned around 2%, Bringe called for a sample of 5,000. Maybe that’s too big for some scaled-down tests, but it’s a starting point for tweaking, twisting and torquing.
Lewis R. Elin
DR Consultant
Chicago
AN INSPIRING TIME
Thanks to Ray Schultz for capturing the mood at this year’s DMA Annual so vividly (Direct Hit, November).
On Sunday evening, Oct. 12 I’d expressed a feeling of melancholy as I headed back to my hotel from the exhibit hall. The sun going down right next to the Wynn seemed to serve as a metaphor for a 30-year career in our industry. After all, the mood in the exhibit hall that afternoon was not exactly uplifting!
I kept reminding myself I had that same feeling in October 2001 in Chicago. As Ray so accurately stated in his column, former President George H.W. Bush gave a keynote that was truly inspiring, and it had nothing to do with politics. The result was captured on the cover of Direct’s Nov. 15 issue that year — a picture of me, chest puffed out with pride and wearing an American flag tie, with the headline “The Tough Get Going.”
I was inspired then, and was inspired again on Monday, Oct. 13 in Las Vegas, not because of the keynote, but because of the buzz over the market being up some 900 points. This truly is an inspiring time. The markets are up one day and down the next. We’ve elected a new president in the hope that change can be effected.
Once again I’m confident that our industry, our country and all of us marketers and citizens will prevail!
Bob Portner
Account Director
Specialists Marketing Services Inc.
B2B Group
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
‘OFF-PUTTING’ MAKEOVER
The Makeover Maven column is always my favorite part of Direct magazine. Typically, I love every makeover Tom Collins does. However, October’s (“Pretty Pictures, Little Else”) was the first one I actually disagreed with. I’m more or less part of the target audience, and to be honest, I found his ad rather off-putting.
The somewhat offensive part of the ad is the headline. First, “Imagine us girls talking caulk” sounds, um, shall we say…kind of dirty? I may have a juvenile mind, but phonetically the word “caulk” sounds just like…I’m just too decent to say it. Second, the phrase “us girls” is really quite 1950s. I find it condescending. Truthfully, I could operate a caulking gun just as easily as any man in my life, be it husband, father, etc. I don’t need some ad telling me, effectively: “It’s so easy that even you, a woman, could do it.” Ahem.
I think Tom would have much more success if he spoke to today’s “busy career mom” like the resourceful, roll-up-your-sleeves DIYer that she is.
She’s financially savvy: She saves big bucks on doing minor home repairs herself.
She’s resourceful: She doesn’t buy expensive tools when she could do the job just as easily without them.
She’s efficient: She gets the job done right the first time.
She cares about making her home beautiful.
I’d replace the original ad’s images with illustrations that show a woman actually using the product — caulking her bathtub, windows and the like.
Thanks, and I look forward to Tom’s future makeovers!
Tracey Croughwell
Marketing Communications Manager
PacketVideo
San Diego
Tom Collins replies: I agree with much of what you have to say. It could be argued that there are two markets, women who are handy and those who are not so handy, and each of us is thinking of a different one — though both are worthwhile targets.
I think customer comments often do a better sales job than advertising copywriters. I felt that was true in this case and wanted to headline the ad with a paradoxical quote that would attract prospects and hint at the problem and solution. My headline may seem a little condescending to handy women like you, but it was meant not necessarily to describe women the way they really are, but the way it’s commonly believed they are.
I like your idea for illustrations, but my staff of one limited my show-how capabilities.
