No matter how attractively designed, in my book a direct mail piece that obscures the product or its benefits fails.
Case in point.
Yesterday's delivery brought me a hefty, richly printed B2B piece.
The piece arrived in a clear polywrap sleeve.
The advertiser was a major oil company.
On the front side, below my name and address, appeared an offer ("Earn 5% rebates up to $30 on fuel purchases for 60 days").
On the reverse side was a large panel with a picture of a twisted highway.
Above the picture was the headline, "Sometimes, managing your vehicles can seem, well... unmanageable."
I had to open the piece and pull a tab (marked "Pull") to slide the panel out.
My action revealed a picture of a straight highway.
Above was the headline, "Introducing real control and convenience."
Get it?
Before and after.
Before and after pictures should prompt me to visualize the product's benefits.
In this instance, they didn't.
I guess a picture isn't always worth a thousand words.
Only by opening the folder and reading the enclosures did I learn the oil company was pushing its credit card.
That's just too much work.
