Mailbox Marketing
“One sip of The Glenlivet can tell you an entire story. The creamy notes of oak combined with the clean balance of citrus and spice has always been rewarding.”
Now that’s smooth. Makes you want to snuggle by the fireplace and savor a glass of the scotch.
The words, from a recent mailing to Glenlivet Society members, accompanied richly colored images of the whisky’s label and stacks of stately casks in the background.
Enticing direct mail copy isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. But the massive shift in marketing dollars from mass to alternative media is forcing the creative bar to be raised.
“The offer is the hero of the direct mail piece, but the creative is the sizzle,” says Catapult Marketing’s vice president and creative director Chris Kelman.
IT’S ALL IN THE WORDS
The language used in these pieces is more dynamic than ever: Engaging, inviting, respectful, provocative. All with a call to action like the Glenlivet mailing, which offered a set of six Glenlivet coasters “in their own slipcase,” free with the purchase of a bottle of the scotch.
“Every word is a weapon that works for you or a weapon that will shoot you in your own foot,” says veteran direct mail copywriter Herschell Gordon Lewis.
Facts should be presented with practical advice to help consumers make informed decisions about what’s being offered. Gone are the days of the hard-sell pitch; now it’s all about what benefits customers. People want to know what’s in it for them.
Take Schick. It learned that women believed men’s razors were better engineered than those designed for ladies. And they were buying based on those beliefs. So when Schick launched its Quattro razor for women, it designed the mail piece along the lines of what a Ford engineer would put out to explain how to build the newest F-150 pickup.
“We sold the Quattro with an owner’s manual that showed the razor’s schematics, features and benefits, all with a fairly masculine tone,” says Ted Parrack, chief strategic officer at the Colangelo agency.
The mailings, which included a coupon, went to women who opted in to receive a sample at Schick’s Web site.
Another company, Kimberly-Clark, re-engineered its direct mail program last year to talk up the Huggies brand’s benefits.
Instead of sending a mass message to all moms as in the past, Kimberly-Clark now groups women from the prenatal stage through their child’s first 30 months. Messages are sent to the women every three months based on their experiences at the moment.
“This generation is expecting us to speak to them directly and have something that’s customized to their needs,” says Irma Tavlian, Kimberly-Clark’s baby and child-care consumer-promotion team leader.
The envelopes for the 12-page mailings are designed to capture attention: They show colorful, happy images of moms and babies beneath the Huggies banner. Three callouts talk about what’s inside and a highlighted message promotes “valuable” coupons.
One mailing to moms with 1-month-olds included photos of babies with their mothers and product shots. Three coupons offered discounts on diapers and bath and body products.
The copy explained the items’ benefits, described activities for moms and babies and encouraged readers to go to HuggiesBabyNetwork.com. There they can enter a contest to win a year’s supply of Huggies products, sign up to receive coupons and promotions or go to the Activity Playhouse.
“It’s about having a powerful headline, talking to the readers and not to yourself and being relevant,” Tavlian says. “We know that promotions still work, that coupons still work, but relevancy is critical. The change has given us great results.”
THE DRAWING BOARD
An art director’s job is to get people to read copy. Creative should support the message and direct the reader’s eye to what’s important. The package should be as simple as possible, with readable font and point sizes and a clean, fresh look. If it’s a tough concept, the design should make it easy to understand.
“Good design just makes good words better,” says Rob Del Genio, director of marketing at ShipShapes, a printer of dimensional custom-shaped mail. “Image can be a very powerful force, but it has to support the message.”
The company develops some wacky mailings intended to catch the eye during the one to two seconds people typically give to each piece.
One memorable mailing was a perforated action shot of Houston Rockets guard Tracy McGrady that begged the 50,000 basketball fans who received it to tear out the image and display it.
The back of the card, which carried an offer for various ticket packages, pulled a 49% response last season. The Rockets used the same piece for the current season, featuring center Yao Ming.
Another piece, for Propel Fitness Water, resembles the shape and size of an actual bottle and includes a snap-off coupon for a free sample. Propel mails about 100,000 to 200,000 at a time and pulls a steady redemption rate of about 14%.
The last thing Del Genio does before approving a piece is to give it a quick scan. Why? To ensure that the fleeting look recipients often give to mailings will be enough to spark their interest.
“If I just look at the highlights and don’t read things in detail, I want to make sure those points tell a story that would influence a buyer’s decision,” he says. “If there’s a part of the story not being told by glancing through the piece, I have to change that.”
READY FOR CHANGE
Valpak is celebrating its 40th birthday this year. It’s well-known blue envelope is filled with discount coupons from local merchants.
For the first time in five years, the company decided to update the package’s look. Even customers said it needed modernizing.
But the prospect was scary. Should the color blue, a mark of instant consumer recognition, be tinkered with? Valpak took no chances: It turned to its core customers — women age 25 to 54 — to choose the design.
A posting at Valpak.com asked visitors to choose one of 10 new looks, and some 10,000 people voted. Interestingly, 24% were men, and 50% of all voters were between age 18 and 44.
“In less than 30 days we knew there was a winner,” says Melissa Fisher, Valpak’s senior vice president of marketing and communications.
It all came down to two big changes: a bold, simple design replaced a busy, text-heavy look and a darker, more vibrant blue replaced the lighter blue. The new design began appearing last month.
Valpak conducts quarterly studies on certain design elements.
“We’re always monitoring the product to make sure it’s relevant,” Fisher says. “We want to know if we’re delivering value. Do they recognize us? Do they think we have something new and exciting inside?”
Valpak includes a promo on the envelope to get people to open it. The January mailing featured a sweepstakes tied to CBS’ popular crime drama “CSI” offering a trip to New York. Recipients can enter offline or at Valpak.com.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Does the creative process cause tension between copywriters and art directors?
“People in the office would be frightened by the screaming,” Del Genio recalls about his previous job as a copywriter.
He is not alone. There’s no shortage of tales of legendary battles — art directors rewriting copy, copywriters dumping on design. And while some of these relationships end bitterly, others, as difficult as the process may be for some, produce extraordinary packages.
“I don’t recommend that type of relationship because it really is wearing,” Del Genio says. “We did some really exceptional work together and I suppose that’s what matters. Some of [my former colleague’s] comments were legitimate. It was tough to take, but it was true.”
Not that copywriters want their designers to be yes men. Strong differences of opinion — professionally applied — can be an important cog in the wheel of success.
Some creative tension is good for the process,” Del Genio says. “You just have to manage it so it doesn’t get out of hand.”
Digital printing has aided the creative process by allowing as much personalization as available data permits. It’s popular with automakers like General Motors, which collects reams of information from its OnStar in-car safety and security system, such as how many miles are on the car and when it’s due for scheduled maintenance.
“We have a better understanding now more than ever of who we’re mailing this offer to, down to very detailed types of things,” says George Gier, executive vice president and creative director of Aspen Marketing Services. “You can design or write your piece directly to recipients, almost like you’re speaking to them one on one.”
One last bit of advice: Always keep in mind the U.S. Postal Service’s rules for dimensions, and — oh, yes — rates. Because the more you try to make a piece stand out in the mailbox, the more risks you take.
“It’s challenging to design something that’s creative and still stay within postal regulations,” says Linda Belcher, managing director at Catapult Marketing.
But fear not. Because, as she’s quick to add, direct mail is “still a good bang for your buck.”
