Don't Let Advertising Masquerade as Direct Marketing

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May, 2000

"If you have an in-house promotion studio or are going outside to hire talent, you want people who know the basics of direct marketing," John Ruggiero, executive director, promotion, Time Inc., said at a recent seminar. "They need to know that really powerful words in the English language are 'Free,' 'New,' 'Now,' and 'Respond today.' A lot of times, general advertising masquerades as direct response.

It doesn't work. You need to have people on both the design and art sides who know how to design and write for direct response. Good old-fashioned tactics and techniques still work very well." Some DM ideas from Ruggiero, based on recent Time Inc. successes: (1) Cushion the now-gigantic sweepstakes rules. For example, put in some other promotional copy, such as names of winners. (2) Promote choice of a common premium. "We don't like to challenge the consumer with choosing between a watch, a CD or a piece of luggage. People are choosing from among CDs or among watches. (3) Change the prize amount on sweepstakes. "There's a lot of leverage in our experience in mixing up the prize amount you show prospects," he said. "Don't show them the same dollar amount, even if it's a big one. People grow tired of it."