| When it comes to direct-response marketing, some | | | | I mean, nowadays, grade school children don't use |
| people just don't get it. | | | | book covers, so who's going to buy this product? |
| Here's what I mean: the other day I happened to | | | | To me, this is kind of like selling fruit, and then selling |
| stumble across an article called "Top 10 Marketing And | | | | someone a wrapper to hold their fruit in. There's just |
| Advertising Ideas In 2006." | | | | too much work involved and not enough return on |
| Let's take a look at a few of them, and see if they | | | | your investment. |
| actually were "top" ideas. | | | | And lastly, #8 - "Passout Marketing" - This group, out |
| Ready? | | | | of Australia, is using nightclub hand stamps for |
| OK, let's go: | | | | advertising. |
| #1 - Charmin's "Brand Space" - this refers to what | | | | These are the standard ink stamps that are placed on |
| amounts to a bunch of fancy outhouses, mostly in | | | | the back of your wrists when you leave a nightclub, to |
| Times Square (New York City). Charmin reckoned | | | | prove you've either paid admission to get into the club, |
| that over 300,000 people would visit these places and | | | | or that you're of legal drinking age, or so you can get |
| that this was great "brand space." | | | | back into the club if you leave, without having to pay |
| I've seen the actual "Brand Space" in New York City, | | | | or show your proof of age, once again. |
| and based on the size of the lines outside, it looks like | | | | Passout Marketing feels this space is too worthy to go |
| loads of people did take advantage of the service. | | | | unbranded, and so they are working with club owners |
| But whether someone actually said to themselves, | | | | and advertisers to stamp marketing messages on club |
| "Wow, this is great. I need to get some of this stuff..." is | | | | hoppers. |
| doubtful. | | | | Kind of like how there is now advertising above almost |
| #4 - The "Brajacket" - the Brajacket is an | | | | every public urinal you can find, in bigger cities. |
| advertisement disguised as a dust cover for a book. | | | | Now I'm no genius for sure, but to me... who the heck |
| Apparently when this first came out, these Brajackets | | | | wants an ad stamped on their hands that they have to |
| werere one of the hottest new trends in Japan. | | | | walk around with for a few days, until it finally wears |
| Basically, Brajackets are given away free at | | | | off? |
| newsstands and popular bookstores, and the theory is, | | | | Look, when it comes to direct-response marketing, |
| you wrap these jackets around your book to protect | | | | never forget that you measure an ad's effectiveness |
| it, like we used to do with bookcovers, when we were | | | | by how many sales it generates, not how good it looks |
| kids in grade school. | | | | and not how "clever" it is. After all, you can't pay your |
| While I think this is very "cute," I'm not sure how popular | | | | mortgage with "clever," can you? |
| or effective it is. | | | | |