letters to the editor

BUZZ OFF

The Makeover Maven is one of my favorites in DIRECT. I also enjoy reading the replies Tom Collins receives about almost every makeover on the Op-ed page.

After reading the latest interaction concerning Tom’s “Fun Diego” ad (Letters to the Editor, DIRECT, September), I thought I should encourage him: Please don’t become discouraged by the angry and sarcastic remarks different people make. I know how enervating such comments can be. I know, too, that one blast like that can probably outweigh a dozen or more letters like mine.

So keep up the good work! I wish Tom could have replied (or that someone else at DIRECT will yet reply) more directly to Tammy Haughey’s use of what sounds to me like rather useless buzzwords (or buzz phrases): “motivated by the intangibles”; “unaided recall”; “positive feelings”; etc. I agree that, at root, it’s sales that matter.

Do you think Haughey’s agency might actually agree to run an A-B split on the two ads? It would be quite interesting to see the results!
John Holzmann
Co-owner
Sonlight Curriculum Ltd.
Littleton, CO

VALPAK WAS THERE FIRST

The article “Tucker Co-op Abandons Mail for Mall” (DIRECT, August) included a quote from Larry Tucker in which he says he started in the co-op advertising business in 1974, “before Valpak.” Valpak actually began in 1968, six years earlier.

For 34 years, Valpak has been America’s leader in local cooperative direct mail. Our familiar blue envelope of offers — among the most recognized mail in America — reaches nearly 50 million homes and businesses in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico each month. In fact, consumer awareness of Valpak is more than double that of the next best known local cooperative direct mail company.
David Williams
Director, Corporate Communications
Cox Target Media
Largo, FL

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