*Normally, at the beginning of the month I would be going over monthly goals. I got so excited about sharing this story that I’ll catch up on goals a bit later.*
One thing I love about my job is that as part of our employee rewards, they’re experimenting with flexible work. For me, it means I can work from home a couple days a week (this came in handy when my back was out). What that means, however, is that if mail was delivered to me at the office, I may not see it for a few days. When I walk in the next morning, I get all excited…do I have mail today?
This morning there was a yellow envelope. From Texas!
I don’t know many people in Texas. I like the state, and actually, would love to visit again. So I was like, hmm, who would send this? I grab the envelope, and do the first thing any self-respecting Gen-Yer would do: start Googling.
The company at the top was VLG…and well, I got a church in my first search. I know I’ve talked about religion before, but wow, a church in Texas sending me stuff? Crazy. Then I dug a bit deeper, and saw that one of the other results was a marketing firm. Ah ha!
It now felt safe to open the package (you never know…).
Out fell a hotel key card and a napkin with a message to ME! Wow…these people are good. And slightly creepy. I debated whether I wanted to visit the website or not, who knows, maybe this isn’t the firm, and maybe it’s someone with the initials VLG stalking me. What if this card would locate me! Oh wait, they already located me by sending something…
Gotcha!
They admit they are the marketing firm! They even had a timer up of how long they had held my attention (something we marketers think about).
What did we learn?
- If you send another marketer something about marketing, there’s always going to be suspicion.
- While you may be hoping to get some business, most marketers will be weary of the bait and switch.
- As a marketer, we should let ourselves be marketed more often.
The only time I really feel like I’m being marketed to is by commercials, and I fast-forward through them all the time now. I don’t even look at junk mail, and it’d be great if my name stopped getting added to spam lists. But a random yellow envelope, that actually had me thinking bombs, anthrax, stalkers, oh my! got my attention enough to write a blog post.
It’d be neat to keep seeing what’s out there. Stop and observe what I’ve been ignoring. Maybe there’s good stuff out there.
What about you? When you market, what are you aiming for? Is the air of mystery enough anymore? What’s the most creative marketing you’ve seen?
I think companies are comfortable with being boring. I like that VLG took a risk and got you to explore for more. Nice post!
Hi Aaron, there is a lot of comfort in what you know. I think we all feel that tradition and familiarity means we won’t risk failure. On the other hand, even if innovation means a risk of failure, it’s something new. You could be failing with familiarity and never know it. Thanks!
Keeping an air of mystery and yet trying to build brand recognition — sounds like a blind date. I’m all for creative marketing, if I’m to be marketed, it’s nice to be entertained. That’s why clever commercials still get my attention regardless if I’m in the market to buy. But marketing that makes you think “bombs, anthrax, stalkers” that’s not so nice.
I’m currently working on a direct mail campaign for a client that doesn’t look and feel like your typical junk mail. It’s being sent to a carefully selected target audience and the client and I hope that it will be a welcoming invitation to use their services. The DM does blend mystery with branding. It will be interesting to see what the results will be.
Enjoyable post as always.
Kristin, I honestly think that I let my imagination run away sometimes. It might have been different if perhaps the envelope wasn’t a plain yellow envelope, but something a bit more branded. It could have still had the hotel-to-firm twist, but yeah, I wouldn’t have jumped to crazy conclusions. I will say, I give props to the hand-written addresses and note. We all continue to see it, if you want impact, write something by hand.
Good luck with your campaign. I hope to hear how it goes!
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I’m not going to lie- I visited the URL and tried it out for myself.
Clearly what they did was gutsy- and I like it. I wouldn’t of liked it if they hid their identity for much longer but they were able to break through the clutter and even though some people will be very wary and Google them, I don’t think it spoils the presentation.
What I’m wondering is if this has gotten them business.
.-= Dmbosstone´s last blog ..What Would Andy Warhol Do? Eating A KFC Double Down =-.
Patrick, I know, if they had held out much longer, I would have assumed that some trojan was being downloaded to my computer. Very gutsy. I’m glad that I saw something creative though, and that it sparked some good discussion.
Emily, they say there is a fine line between creative and crazy. We’ve been called both. Thank you so much for giving us your take on what was ultimately an aggressive campaign meant to drum up work in a weakened economy.
The campaign does bring in business. While we would never try something so edgy with our client roster (http://vlgadvertising.com), we do attempt to weave a little intrigue and entertainment into every direct marketing program we build.
All the credit for handwritten elements go to an army of stay-at-home moms in North Dallas that help give our campaign mailers that little lift when it comes to mail-to-web response (typically, 20%+). I could go on and on.
Again, thanks for the mention.
Michael Simmons
President
VLG
http://wefightboredom.com