Do Not Bend
Is direct mail dead? I don’t think so.
I received this envelope in the mail. Unlike most of the promotional mail I get, which is a fair share, I was intrigued by this one. The red stamp “DO NOT BEND” made me think it was something important. After all, it was only a regular legal-sized business envelope.
So the first thing I did was: I pinched the envelope all over to see if there was something inside that could not be bent. I was thinking maybe it’s a photo or gift card.
When I didn’t feel anything rigid inside I was puzzled. Why was the message telling me not to bend the envelope when there appeared to be nothing inside that could get damaged?
I’m sure you can guess what I did next. I opened the envelope quickly but carefully. I then looked over every piece of paper to see what the contents were about. It was simply a campaign to promote a business magazine at a special price.
It was very clever on the part of the company that designed this direct mail campaign. Instead of the contents ending up in the recycling bin before the envelope was even opened, I was emotionally engaged from the get go. I have a feeling this rate of return on this particular direct mail campaign was higher than average.
What do you think?