You want to talk about direct mail copy? Nothing can beat a series of letters sent by Time magazine during the early years of World War II.
June 3, 1940
Dear American:
The Nazi Blitzkrieg has swept like a flame —
— over Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Northern France.
In eight short weeks kingdoms and governments have fallen, peoples have been subjugated, the balance of power of the whole world has changed.
It cannot go on much longer, many experts say – the next hundred days should tell the story.
The enclosed card will bring you TIME for these hundred days for only $1.00.
Twenty thousand words an hour of news is pouring in from Paris, London, Rome, Berlin — and the capitals of uneasy neutrals from the Baltic to the Adriatic.
It comes so fast and changes direction so often that today more than ever we need TIME to make the news make sense.
Week after week TIME will tell you all the important news so clearly that you can’t help understanding it; so briefly that you can read it in a single fascinating evening; so vividly that you will always remember the tremendous drama of this historic summer.
One hundred days of a stirring crisis — with so much happening so fast that I will gladly pay airmail postage to get your subscription started before you miss another week of TIME.
So airmail the card today.
Cordially,
Perry Prentice
Circulation Manager
Network
