The Toppled Bollard: radical direct marketing in practice

You may well recall that following a difference of opinion with Customs and Excise, Corby’s local expert on direct mail, Billy “The Dog” McGraw, has been invited to spend some time working with those less fortunate than himself.

Billy has indeed asked me to reassure his friends that the environment in which he spends his days is indeed more “open” and relaxed than many of the streets locally.   “You certainly couldn’t call this place a prison,” he told me.

When visiting Billy last week we got onto the subject of direct mail headlines (as one does).  As I have reported before, Billy is very much of the school that believes that the headline to the sales letter determines how many sales you get.   “If you don’t grab the reader by the throat with the letter headline, there is little chance of them reading anything else – including the brochure,” says Billy.

Many of us agree – for although in the case of Billy the use of the phrase, “grab the reader by the throat” might be thought a little ill-considered – the fact remains that getting people to read the letter is the most important element in any direct mail campaign.

Billy’s view is that one way to enhance readership is to crack a joke.  It seems that Billy once sent out a mailshot with the headline:

“A man walked into a pub with a roll of tarmac under his arm and said…”

The reader then had to work through the full page in order to get to the punch line, which was, “A pint of bitter for me and one for the road.”

Personally, I think this type of Tommy Cooper humour is hilarious – and come to that so does my mum – but of course it is not for everyone.  Yet jokes like this can have a huge impact.  I once sent this particular joke by text message to a lady I was trying to impress with my post-divorce dating skills.   Unfortunately she read it while skiing off-piste and utterly refused to speak to me when she emerged from hospital.

As for the daffodils.  Well, who knows.

Tony Attwood

PS:  Just in case you did find that funny, here is another one from Mr Cooper, which The Dog also found worked quite well in a campaign.   “Two jump leads walk into a bar.  The barman says, ‘OK I’ll serve you, but don’t start anything’.”

If you are interested in advertising which is a little out of the norm, please do call 01536 399 000.   Or if you want to read a different approach try http://www.badad.co.uk/?p=88