Outdoor

Oh fish, look at this Direct Mail

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Many years ago I was bitten by the Direct Marketing bug and spent a couple of years in a specialist DM agency. For many, Direct Mail could either mean a leaflet stuck inside an envelope or a fancy mail package that borders on the gimmicky (you know stuff like a jack-in-the-box). For the classical DM practitioner it is neither – it is about the science of database marketing and the art of Direct Mail copy backed with great offers – the hooks that get the response.

While most of the award winning DM stuff is of the gimmicky kind, they do have a role to play sometimes. Take for example, this direct mail idea: 401(k) Squared, a small company that specializes full-time in 401k plan development, asked LeeReedy to get a big bang out of their modest direct mail budget. They developed a direct mail piece that featured a live fish inside a box adorned with messaging. The concept? “If someone’s not watching over your 401(k), it won’t thrive either.”

401k_goldfish_print.jpg
401k_goldfish_box_open.jpg
401k_goldfish_instructions.jpg

Via Denver Egotist and The Inspiration Room Daily.

The result? According to the agency: Within weeks, 401(k) Squared had secured a $10M account and was in discussions with a number of large companies to manage their 401(k) accounts, ranging in size from $500k to $20M.

Nice work. Direct Mailers of this kind work on two counts: jaw dropping value or cute quotient value. Shall we put this down as our ‘pet’ DM campaign? Nothing fishy about it? Did the DM ‘bowl’ you over? I better stop now.

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3 Comments

  1. Jeez imagine a dead fighter fish in the DM. Creeps the crap out of me.

  2. Did I read “modest” as well? Don’t think so. A bowl and a fighter fish along with a wee bit of squishy worm crush is expensive. I bet packaging and mailing charges (I hope to God these were hand delivered, cos last time I checked live animals were not mailable) for this would have been a bomb.

    A very hurt fish lover I am.

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