Last week, a coworker brought to my attention a direct mail postcard that is a great example of ineffective direct marketing. This piece, in my opinion, is terrible for marketing but great for laughs. I feel compelled to break down the copy and design elements of this postcard and share my thoughts with you. Hopefully, by understanding why this direct mailer does not work, we can all improve the design of our own direct marketing pieces and get the ROI and positive responses we seek. So, here goes…

Here's an example of a cluttered and ineffective postcard design.

First off, the design on the front of the card is cluttered, with little to no emphasis on the parts that matter—like a logo or call to action. At first glance, I see no defined story or message. There are too many visuals for me to piece together the intended marketing message. Some of the immediate questions my other coworkers had when viewing this piece were as follows:

“Why is that guy golfing on a salad?”

“What’s with the creepy look on his face and is he going to hurt that girl?”

“What is this (marketing piece) for?”

Now, upon spending more time with the piece I can conclude that this is some type of contest promotion; one where a Nintendo Wii^TM will be given away. And, the guy in the salmon-colored shirt is just standing in front of a large screen or TV. The other images on the card – such as the boxing gloves, bowling ball, tennis racket and golf club – are meant to represent the games one can play on the Wii. My point is that there’s just too much going on in the design. So much going on that I failed to quickly recognize the organization that sent this piece to us, The Society For Protective Coatings. Their logo has been pushed off to a corner and blends in with the background image.

Takeaway: Bold, simple designs work best. Allow areas of ‘empty’ space guide the viewer’s eye to key elements, such as a captivating headline and logo.

On a quick side note before I move to the back of the piece: There really is not a compelling, actionable headline present. I’m not interested in learning more about this piece or why it has been sent to me. The ‘headline’ that I do see is confusing… “Picture Yourself a Wiinner!” Well, that’s not nice. The phonetic pronunciation of the word makes me read the sentence like this: “Picture Yourself a Wiener!” Actually, I think they meant, “Picture Yourself a Winner!” All I have to say is, FAIL.

Takeaway: Be careful when trying to be funny or clever because, like in this case, it can go terribly wrong. If you must, shop your concept and final copy around to see how an objective party might interpret the idea.

Here is the backside of the postcard, overloaded with copy.

On the back side of this direct mail postcard, I immediately notice that there is way too much copy. Direct mail, for the most part, should be a fast read – like an outdoor billboard. An interesting headline, compelling call to action and one idea is all that should be represented on a marketing postcard. The marketer writing the copy should direct the reader on what to do next – to one thing that is most important.

Additionally, there is no contact information printed on the postcard such as a website address, email or phone number. They also fail to include the dates, location and time of the event that they’re promoting. Due to this, there is no sense of urgency or direction.

Takeaway: Keep copy simple and focus on ONE main idea or call to action. Be sure to include contact information on the marketing piece for readers that may want to learn more now.

Please take time to review the direct mail postcard for yourself. Let me know what you think this organization could have done differently to improve the effectiveness and ROI of this card.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this review as much I as have. Happy marketing!