Creativity in Direct Marketing
Marketing Week - SA
August 2008

ld e
e O
Y ct ng
i
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Web 1.0 1990’s
Web 2.0 2000’s

Web 3.0
...content in the context of target audience...

Welcome to direct marketing......

Welcome to DM 8.0

DM 1.0

DM 2.0

DM 3.0

DM 4.0

DM 5.0

DM 7.0

Anything that can deliver a targeted message
incite some desirable action
and generate a response......
DM 8.0

All digital is direct.
But not all direct is digital.

Test, learn, refine, roll-out.
Experiment, insight, optimise, roll-out.

\"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the
trouble is I don't know which half.\"
John Wanamaker
1838 - 1922

76% of marketers had no way to determine their return on
investment from their lead agencies.
Forrester Research, March 2007

“Advertising is the last bastion of unaccountable
spending in corporate America”
Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google

Doing what you’ve always done
will no longer get you what you’ve always got.

Applying a direct filter - today.

Components of direct
Targeting 10%
Proposition 30%
Creative
Execution 60%

Components of direct
Execution 10% • Executional Excellence
• What’s the single most important thing you
want to say to the customer?
Proposition 30% • What’s the undeniable customer need that is
satisfied by our product benefit?
• What do you want customers to do?
• Who do you want to target? Why are they
right group for this offer?
• What unifies them as a customer group – what
separates them from other potential customer
Targeting 60% groups
• When is the optimum time to reach them?
• What is the clear indicator that identifies
them as being suitable for the product?
Source: Drayton Bird – Common sense DM

And after 14 years of validation....
Targeting Proposition Creative Timing
5%
10%
20%
65%

Targeting

Knowing - and finding - your audience
• Existing
• modelling and analysis
• differential marketing strategy
• Prospecting
• sources of data
• contribution of other media

Differentiation
Value
X
Engagement

Differentiation
C D ?
Value
B
Engagement

An interesting way to develop geo-demographic insights

Don’t count the customers you reach.
Reach those who count.

Proposition

Brand ambitions are not value propositions.

Propositions
• Vitally important to encapsulate the purpose
• If all else fails it could run as the headline
• Can the essence be conveyed in one word?

Messaging
• Clear and single minded
• Easily understood
• Relevant, relevant and relevant
• The recipient knows exactly what to do
• Appropriate use of disclaimers!

Creativity

American Express “Centurion”

American Express “Centurion”

Lenovo “Get Angry”

Lenovo “Get Angry”
Lenovo “Get Angry”

Lenovo “Get Angry”

Royal Mail - Chocolate Letter

MyerOne Launch

Guide Dogs “Collar”

Virgin Travel “Atmosphere”

Royal Mail - Philatelic

CDM3. Dimensional Mail
COMMONWEALTH BANK,
‘CAKE’
PROBLEM:
In order to get a higher interest rate on their funds, many Commonwealth
Bank business customers were parking their company’s cash reserves in
high-interest accounts with other financial institutions.
Commonwealth Bank set the target of convincing 5% of these businesses that
they could keep their money with CBA and still achieve a high interest rate
(7.25% with the Business Online Saver account). However, Financial Controllers
of these businesses are notoriously dismissive of marketing communications.
SOLUTION:
We worked in conjunction with local bakers from around the country to send
these Financial Controllers something that would get their attention and help
celebrate the great interest rate we were offering – a cake!
RESULTS:
This mailing achieved a 15.62% conversion rate, which saw an incredible
$14,068,862 swept into Commonwealth Bank’s Business Online Saver accounts.
This campaign represents an amazing return on investment of 472%!
(And above all, we were able to avoid using any clichés, like ‘getting a bigger
slice of the pie’, ‘proof is in the pudding’, and ‘a piece of cake’. That’s what we
call having your cake and eating it too.)
Please Note: Due to this pack being of a perishable nature,
we were unable to supply an actual sample.
Commonwealth Bank - “Cake”

AA - Hitch-hiker

GradManager.com

GradManager.com

Things to do - today
• Be specific in who you talk to
• don’t count those you reach - reach those who count
• Talk to fewer people to get greater results
• apply differential strategies based on value to the business
• Think differently about the opportunities and the market
• doing what you’ve always done, won’t get you what you’ve
always got
• Use a range of channels for impact

When the market gets tough...
the smart go direct.
Phil Smith
phil@ideagarden.com.au