Cardell. Now That’s the Way to Do It!

Chris Cardell’s latest direct mail stunt brought a smile to my face this week.

On Thursday I received a ‘hand written’ envelope. Amongst the bills and the circulars with type-written labels it was always going to be the first one I went for. Who might have sent me this personal correspondence I thought as I ripped away at the letter.

Inside was a ripped Times feature about marketing maverick Chris Cardell with a hand written post it note simply saying: ‘Richard, I saw this in the Times and thought of you. This guy is brilliant. Have a look at his website.’ It was signed: ‘J’

I spent two minutes thinking of all the people I knew who’s names began with ‘J’!! Until I looked a little closer.

It was hand written alright. But it was a hand written type face. Printed NOT written.

What Chris is acknowledging, with this approach, is that in a world where we are bombarded with selling messages – the only truly meaningful messages are the ones which acknowledge customers personally. And he wasn’t hiding behind any shiny branding.

It’s outside-of-the-box creativity of the highest order. And it’s just what is required to get a response. Some people will even blog about it 😉

The only word of warning is when you suss it (and I won’t be the only one) there is just an ever-so-small feeling of being duped. And that’s a feeling which locks horns with the credible endorsement power that the article and the chirpy ‘check this out’ post it note engineers.

Me?

I though it all a bit of harmless fun. It got my attention and there’s no malice in it. Hats off Chris.

PS .. but I’m not buying. Yet!