http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2019/08/67-gone-forever-sublime-joy-of-tasting.html
Posted by Denny Hatch
Posted by Denny Hatch
GONE FOREVER: Marketers' Sublime Joy of
Tasting Blood
“One
day a man walked into a London agency and asked to see the boss. He had bought
a country house and was about to open it as a hotel. Could the agency help him
to get customers? He had $500 to spend. Not surprisingly, the head of the
agency turned him over to the office boy, who happened to be the author of this
book. I invested his money in penny postcards and mailed them to well-heeled
people living in the neighborhood. Six weeks later the hotel opened to a full
house. I had tasted blood.”
—David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising, Crown, 1983
A Big Oops…
As
editor and publisher of WHO’S MAILING
WHAT! I had the great pleasure of being in touch with marketers from all
over the world. I vividly remember the story (but alas, not the name of the
marketer or product) of a guy and his wife who bet the house plus their life savings on a product they deeply
believed in. They sent out a huge test mailing and every day they went down to the
P.O. box looking for BREs (Business Reply Envelopes).
Nothing.
Every morning they woke up with a
renewed sense of dread. After a week-and-a-half still nothing. He, his wife and three
employees were devastated.
On the eleventh they day turned the key in the lock of the little Post Office box and found a slip of paper with a terse note: “Please see
postmaster.”
They went to the counter in abject terror
and handed the note to a clerk who alerted the Postmaster. The old gentleman
came over and introduced himself. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You have some
reply mail here but we could not deliver it to you because there was no money
in your Business Reply Mail account.
The fledgling entrepreneurs had forgotten
(or did not know) the basic inviolable rule. To receive Reply Mail you must deposit
money in your USPS Business Reply account. He whipped out his credit card, and
cash was instantly in the hands of the USPS.
Whereupon the original clerk came over
with two giant canvas sacks of Reply Mail which he plopped onto the counter.
Suddenly the the little company had a real business—and the players had new lives
and new careers!
Knowing the rules in this business is essential!
Knowing the rules in this business is essential!
These folks experienced the direct marketer’s ultimate thrill—an avalanche of Business Reply Envelopes
that instantly validated his huge gamble and everything they had worked
like hell and sacrificed for.
These hundreds and hundreds of responses
were tangible, tactile missives from real people from all over the country who
believed in them! Each envelope literally contained a different sample of DNA—the
individual spit on the gummed flap that had been licked.
Like David Ogilvy they had tasted blood!
Like David Ogilvy they had tasted blood!
Joan
Manley’s Confession
In 1970, Joan Manley—who started out as an
assistant in the marketing department of Doubleday—was appointed publisher of
Time-Life Books. This was dazzling achievement for a woman in those dreary,
shamefully sexist days.
Time-Life Books was ranked among the 10 largest book
publishers in the world. In 1968, it sold
more than 16 million
books in 21 languages under its own
imprints and millions of
books through affiliates.
—The New York Times, July 15, 1970
Periodically Joan flew from New York to the Chicago fulfillment operation to get
her hands on raw orders.
"It gave me a big
belt at the time," she said to me, "and it would now. Direct
marketing distances you from your customer, so for many reasons it is desirable
to read the raw mail, as well as letters—good and bad—from readers."
Joan needed a regular transfusion of bloodblood transfusion!
Joan needed a regular transfusion of bloodblood transfusion!
Robert Coates on “What Makes a Direct Marketer”
Robert Coates is a marketer out of Oregon who specializes in the
financial services area. After years of knowing about each other, we finally
had a joint client and attended a meeting in Chicago. Coates looked at me at
one point and said, "Do you know how to tell a true direct marketer?"
"How?"
"Hand a
person a list of names and addresses in hard copy. If he or she starts reading
it—name by name—it's a clear indication of a fascination with people, their
names, their addresses, the names of their streets."
"I qualify," I
said. "Reading a list is like eating peanuts. I can't stop."
When I look at names on a list, I begin to
imagine families, what they look like and how they might dress. If a business
list, I find myself thinking, "How did these folks come up with this name
for their company?"
Having street addresses,
I can conjure up images of where these people on the list might live. For
example, a New York City residence would ipso facto be different from one in
Council Bluffs, Iowa.
I used to attend direct
marketing conferences to hear lectures by database professionals. I remember one very high-powered consultant describing how databases
work—how data are segmented and put in "buckets." The PowerPoint
presentation actually showed buckets.
Having grown up on the
shore, to me buckets are things that hold bait, chum, clams or flopping just-caught fish.
People do not belong in
buckets. People belong in offices, homes, cars, riding lawn mowers, shooting
baskets and wolfing down ribs and beer while they cheer for the home team.
What’s
Missing in Digital Marketing.
Okay, I’m a Luddite.
When I see an online
lists of names—with addresses such as aol.com, gmail.com or yahoo.com—I have to
work at remembering these electronic blips are, in
fact, real people. They are every bit as human as the names of people and
companies that make up an old-fashioned postal list—even though they are
faceless, stateless and living in some cloud.
How
This Old Luddite Hosts His Blog
I love being in touch with my readers.
If you write me asking to be put on the alert list for upcoming posts—or need answers to a question… or comment on the current blog—you will receive a personal response.
If you write me asking to be put on the alert list for upcoming posts—or need answers to a question… or comment on the current blog—you will receive a personal response.
Yeah, I could get my
computer whiz, Jay, to set up an AI system that automatically responds to
incoming correspondence and automatically ads the names my subscriber
“database.”
However, I type the name of every new reader into my database, because I want to know you and remember you.
And I send you a personalized welcome with with my Guarantee of Satisfaction for the same reason.
However, I type the name of every new reader into my database, because I want to know you and remember you.
And I send you a personalized welcome with with my Guarantee of Satisfaction for the same reason.
I do not trust
automatic systems.
I remember receiving a "personalized" email with the following salutation:
I remember receiving a "personalized" email with the following salutation:
Dear Hatch Denny
Whoever sent me that was sloppy. Untrustworthy.
Takeaways
to Consider
Just as I was putting this post to bed, here’s idiocy that
showed up in my in-box:
• My 30th floor center city Philadelphia apartment is 43
miles from Chester County.
• Two doormen are always on duty and never allow strangers to wander around.
• Two doormen are always on duty and never allow strangers to wander around.
• Obviously the jackass who emailed this never knocked on my door. Not ever!
###
Word count: 1173
At age 15, Denny Hatch—as a lowly apprentice—wrote his first news release for a Connecticut summer theater. To his astonishment it ran verbatim in The Middletown Press. He was instantly hooked on writing. After a two-year stint in the U.S. Army (1958-60), Denny had nine jobs in his first 12 years in business. He was fired from five of them and went on to save two businesses and start three others. One of his businesses—WHO’S MAILING WHAT! newsletter and archive service founded in 1984—revolutionized the science of how to measure the success of competitors’ direct mail. In the past 55 years he has been a book club director, magazine publisher, advertising copywriter/designer, editor, journalist and marketing consultant. He is the author of four published novels and seven books on business and marketing.
CONTACT
dennyhatch@yahoo.com
Note to Readers:
May I send you an alert when each new blog is posted? If so, kindly give me the okay by sending your First Name, Last Name and e-mail to dennyhatch@yahoo.com. I guarantee your personal information will not be shared with anyone at any time for any reason. I look forward to being in touch!
IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE POSTING A COMMENT… Write Me!
Google owns Blogspot.com and this Comment Section. If you do not have a Google account, contact me directly and I will happily post your comment with a note that this is per your request. Thank you and do keep in touch. dennyhatch@yahoo.com
Invitation to Marketers and Direct Marketers:
Guest Blog Posts Are Welcome.
If you have a marketing story to tell, case history, concept to propose or a memoir, give a shout. I’ll get right back to you. I am: dennyhatch@yahoo.com
You Are Invited to Join the Discussion!
At age 15, Denny Hatch—as a lowly apprentice—wrote his first news release for a Connecticut summer theater. To his astonishment it ran verbatim in The Middletown Press. He was instantly hooked on writing. After a two-year stint in the U.S. Army (1958-60), Denny had nine jobs in his first 12 years in business. He was fired from five of them and went on to save two businesses and start three others. One of his businesses—WHO’S MAILING WHAT! newsletter and archive service founded in 1984—revolutionized the science of how to measure the success of competitors’ direct mail. In the past 55 years he has been a book club director, magazine publisher, advertising copywriter/designer, editor, journalist and marketing consultant. He is the author of four published novels and seven books on business and marketing.
CONTACT
dennyhatch@yahoo.com
Note to Readers:
May I send you an alert when each new blog is posted? If so, kindly give me the okay by sending your First Name, Last Name and e-mail to dennyhatch@yahoo.com. I guarantee your personal information will not be shared with anyone at any time for any reason. I look forward to being in touch!
IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE POSTING A COMMENT… Write Me!
Google owns Blogspot.com and this Comment Section. If you do not have a Google account, contact me directly and I will happily post your comment with a note that this is per your request. Thank you and do keep in touch. dennyhatch@yahoo.com
Invitation to Marketers and Direct Marketers:
Guest Blog Posts Are Welcome.
If you have a marketing story to tell, case history, concept to propose or a memoir, give a shout. I’ll get right back to you. I am: dennyhatch@yahoo.com
You Are Invited to Join the Discussion!