I once read that the majority of people believe that advertising doesn’t work on them. In other words, they don’t fall for the tricks of the trade. However, at the end of the day we’re still mortals who like pretty pictures, beautiful-looking people, flashy headlines and great sounding deals. So, as I was sifting through a stack of mail that my wife refuses to help with, I noticed two interesting pieces. Even though I knew exactly why they caught my attention, and despite the fact I have worked in direct mail for over a decade, I am no more immune to a well-designed piece.
The first direct mail piece was from Yahoo. The outer envelope was oversized and made of a nice glossy cardstock. It looked important. The graphics were bright and well done, so I wanted to open it and find out what they had to offer. I was a bit disappointed. I pulled out the contents and it was a single card, sort of like a buckslip only it was cardstock like the outer envelope. To be honest, I just opened it about 24 hours ago and I can’t remember what the card said or even what the main offer was. I was really surprised because it was clear they spent extra money on large, higher quality components, but didn’t deliver on the promise of the outer envelope.
What could they have done? I immediately thought of our Flat Book-Cube design. Yes, I am a little biased, but the Flat Book-Cube packs a lot of punch and offers a generous amount of copy space. At tradeshows and presentations it’s always fun to watch a person’s expression as they pull a Flat Book-Cube out of an envelope. Let’s just say, it commands attention.
The second piece was from Gerber. Since our daughter was born we have been getting tons of “baby mail”, but this piece was pretty impressive. It was a somewhat thick package and was also personalized. It had a little icon that represented the age category our daughter was in. This level of personalization is great because it lets the recipient know that the piece will be relevant. When I opened the envelope a large sheet of coupons for baby food was folded out. What made the package unique was the nutritional guide that was included. It was a tabbed guide with different sections that dealt with baby nutrition. All of the tabs addressed concerns we were having with what to feed our daughter in her stage of development, so it was really relevant and helpful. Overall, it was a nice package, so what was the problem?
Though it was a great package I think they could have made it even more impactful. The tabbed guide was really helpful but it was also too flimsy. When I ripped the guide out with the intention of hanging it on the fridge, all of the individual tabs separated, so it just became a pile of papers on our already cluttered appliance. I thought of our Reference Guides. They are generally made with a heavier stock and can include any number of tabs that flip or pull out. It’s a sturdy piece that offers tons of copy space and design flexibility. Admittedly, the Reference Guide would have cost more to produce, but it also would have stayed in our kitchen for a long time. What would the value of that been for their brand?
