When I took over Hot Creative three years ago, I thought it would be interesting to review direct marketing in all media, not just mail, but also television, telephone, the Internet and, yes, radio. But until now no one ever sent in any radio spots. And then I got two.
First up is Robinson & Maites’ spot for Make-a-Wish of Northern Illinois. Make-a-Wish is an organization that fulfills favorite wishes of young people between 2-1/2 and 18 years old who have life-threatening diseases. Founded in 1985, the Northern Illinois chapter has fulfilled close to 3,000 wishes in 24 counties of the state.
The purpose of the pro bono campaign is to get people in the Chicago metropolitan area to donate vehicles to the organization. Essentially, they need wheels either to transport the young people to their wish site or to deliver the stuff dreams are made of to the youngsters. The radio spot features a master wish fairy who explains to an inquiring mind how the donation of a vehicle is magically transformed into a wish come true.
The actors are from Schadenfreude, a local Chicago comedy troupe, that, we assume, dares not live up to its name. (Schadenfreude is German for enjoying someone else’s misfortune.) Their delivery is a little too bright, brittle and breezy for the leaden whimsy of the copy.
Fortunately, the actual pitch for listeners to call a toll-free number or log onto a Web site is made by a sincere Melissa McKenney, a Make-a-Wish recipient as well as a cancer survivor.
We like the cause. We like the pitch being handled by someone who has benefited from the foundation. We think the spot itself is little too blithe, but at least it avoids any irony that might undermine the message. We also think that the spot will ultimately work more to remind than to recruit.
The second radio ad – G&G Advertising’s spot for Census 2000 – is also a public service announcement. In this case, the Albuquerque, NM-based agency has produced a series of PSAs for radio and television to get American Indians to complete census forms.
The campaign has its work cut out for it since, traditionally, American Indians tend not to trust the American government. According to Michael J. Gray, founder and head of G&G, “Our struggle is to build advertising sensitive to American Indians as a whole and to downplay the federal government’s role.” More important, however, is what Gray is stressing in the campaign, which is to stand up and be counted. “We feel that the census can provide opportunities,” he says, “especially the opportunity to be heard as American Indians. But you must first fill out the form.”
Opportunity, in fact, became the theme of the campaign aimed at “550-plus federally recognized American Indian tribes, state tribes and Indian communities, including urban American Indians.”
The radio campaign features Ulali, an aboriginal American Indian group, in a spot called “To Those,” and Irene Bedard, a film actress best known for being the voice of the lead character in Disney’s animated movie “Pocahontas,” in “Voices.”
Each spot runs a minute. The basic pitch is that by completing census forms, social services vital to the American Indian communities will be maintained or increased – not only for the present generation of tribes but also for future generations. Essentially, the spots equate completing the census forms with the survival of 500 or 600 tribes.
Of the two spots we heard, we thought Bedard’s was more persuasive. The first had a negative tone, emphasizing that silence – not responding to the census – is a bad thing that could lead to a reduction of services for everyone. However, silence, as we recall the poet Pablo Neruda pointing out, can also be a response. The other spot was more upbeat and positive, stressing the continuity of generations and the need for the information in the census to provide services for generations of tribes.
The full campaign – which includes television spots – is well targeted to its diverse audience. What we question here is whether anything short of door-to-door canvassing will really overcome years of justifiable mistrust of the U.S. government.
We suppose there’s a segue here to our next direct mail subject, since lacrosse is an American Indian contribution to European culture.
In any event, Breakaway Sports of Littleton, CO is a marketer of lacrosse equipment and related products through a store, a catalog and, as soon as it decides on the right URL, a Web site. Not only was the company founded by a former Hobart College lacrosse star, but the creative director of TDA, Breakaway’s marketing agency, is also a lacrosse player. The initial purpose of the campaign was to increase awareness of lacrosse as well as of Breakaway Sports.
The direct mail piece evolved into a poster because, as TDA creative director Jonathan Schoenberg says, none of the lacrosse players involved had seen a lacrosse poster in years. Apparently, no one else of the estimated 3 million U.S. lacrosse players had either.
The direct mail piece became a product and is sold at www.lacrosse. com. It will also be sold through Breakaway’s Internet portal when it launches. Breakaway’s looking forward to building a database drawn from its original mailing to college and high school coaches.
Schoenberg, who came up with the copy, “Lacrosse was invented by Native Americans to solve tribal conflict, when war was not violent enough,” appears in the poster along with Breakaway founder Philip McCarthy and some local players. Schoenberg’s instructions to the players were to hit big and hit hard. “It’s a phenomenal photo,” he says, pointing out that the real blood looks fake and the fake blood looks real. We don’t object as much as perhaps we ought to violence in sports, but this did give us pause.
Nevertheless, good poster. After all, the creative must be hot if people are willing to pay to get a display copy of a direct mail piece.
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