If the response is good, the effort is a winner. If it’s bad, the shark might get dinner
SO HAS your direct marketing campaign jumped the shark yet?
“Jumping the shark,” for those not in the know, refers to the moment at which something has crossed the point of no return into oblivion. The phrase was coined by JumpTheShark.com, a Web site that polls people as to exactly when a once-beloved television show started dipping into decline. The site takes its name from the fateful episode of “Happy Days” where Fonzie hopped on his motorcycle, and yes, jumped over a shark.
For those with even the tiniest bit of television trivia rolling around in their heads, Jump the Shark is vastly entertaining. You can easily waste hours trolling around the site to see how shows you haven’t even thought of for years fared (“She’s the Sheriff,” anyone?). A search for sitcoms that had characters employed as advertising executives yielded “Bewitched” (many thought it jumped with the new Darrin — poor Dick Sargent); “Bosom Buddies” (when the girls caught on that Hildy and Buffy were really boys in drag); and “Ned & Stacey” (a wide variety of reasons, including when Ned lost his advertising job).
Of course, no DM review of the site would be complete without a peek at the much (note the dripping sarcasm) missed Kirstie Alley vehicle “Veronica’s Closet.” The NBC “must-not-see-TV” sitcom, if you don’t recall, centered on a fictitious lingerie catalog modeled after Victoria’s Secret. An overwhelming majority of the votes said this show jumped the shark on day one, while others opted for different reasons, including Kirstie’s hair.
Few shows, it should be noted, have been deemed to have never jumped. These include “The Simpsons,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Fawlty Towers” and “The Rockford Files.”
The “patron saint” of Jump the Shark is Ted McGinley, an actor whose presence on a show is often a portent of doom for ratings and/or quality. He first caught the eyes of many on “Happy Days” (no, not as the shark but as Roger, a shop teacher), and moved on to purportedly help sink “The Love Boat” and “Married… With Children,” among others.
Live Bait
Last time I checked my mailbox, Ted wasn’t modeling for Lands’ End or Eddie Bauer. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against McGinley personally. But is there a direct marketing version of Ted, something that’s an indicator a once-strong initiative is about to become shark bait?
Some might say that DM has a leg up on general advertising or image-building campaigns, in that the success of direct response is based simply on whether or not it pulls. If the response is good, the effort is a winner. If it’s bad, the shark might get dinner. (Sorry. Grueling summer heat can make even the best of us rhyme occasionally.)
Some campaigns, like some television shows, seem to jump the shark right out of the gate. One that comes to mind is the telemarketing solicitation a friend received recently. He came home to a message on his answering machine from a broker at Morgan Stanley. Since my friend and his wife had participated in a road race a few weeks earlier, the broker thought he might be interested in investing in a fund created for runners. My friend’s reaction? “Why? So I’ll have enough money to buy new sneakers?” Needless to say, he didn’t return the call.
I think for many catalog and direct mail recipients, pitches jump back and forth over the shark, depending on the time of year, as well as their moods and needs at the precise moment a piece crosses their doorstep. We’ve been in a cleaning — rather than acquisition — mode in our household of late, so catalogs I’d normally pore over in depth go right into the recycling bin. Is it a permanent jump? If you said no, you’d be (as Arthur Fonzarelli himself would say) correctamundo. Come fall, those very same catalogs will be firmly docked on my coffee table for early holiday shopping.
The immediacy of the Internet gives Web marketers a much quicker indication whether their site or e-mail blast is up and over the hordes circling in the water below. Many banner ads these days, for example, seem to be over the shark, off the bike, toweled off, driven home and drinking a beer — in other words, well past their prime.
BETH NEGUS VIVEIROS (Bethdirect@aol.com) is the executive editor of DIRECT. She’s proud to announce that Ted McGinley will be joining the staff of this magazine next issue as a wacky editorial assistant.
What’s your telltale sign that a catalog, infomercial, direct mail piece, telemarketing pitch, Web site or other DM campaign has jumped the shark? And what DM efforts, for you personally, have jumped? Why — and when? Let me know at Bethdirect@aol.com and we’ll share the responses in a future issue.
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