#208 Blog Post   Wednesday 5 March, 2025

Posted by Denny Hatch

https://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2025/03/208-drs-wo-borders.html

Nothing Grabs Attention Like The Surprise of an Envelope in the Mail Containing a Giant Free Gift!

Last week the above 6”x9” US Mail envelopelanded in my letter box. It was squishy and plump. Folded inside was a massive15-inch-square bright nylon DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS tote bag—big and sturdyenough to carry a dozen cans of beer plus lots of additional groceries.

Everything about the mailing is warm,decent and fun. Lugging my groceries home through the streets of Philly fromWhole Foods in this attention-getting tote bag makes me feel good. I amreminding passers-by that an independent, non-government-funded organization istaking loving care of desperately needy, victimized adults and children in theworld’s most inhospitable and dangerous regions. And I'm invited to help make it happen.

        A textbook perfect direct mail fundraisingpackage!

“Your first hundred words are moreimportant than the next ten thousand words,” said the legendary salesman, Elmer“Sizzle” Wheeler. 

Here’s the lede — the first 100 words of the Doctors WithoutBorders’ magnificent two-page letter:

The first sentence of the letter is adrop-dead stopper that immediately gets inside your head:

“If you had mere moments to flee yourhome after a disaster, bringing only what fits in this tote bag, what would youchoose?”

You’re instantly interrupted andthinking about your possessions, your safety, your family, what's really important to you.

Remember Bob Hacker’s seven “Key CopyDrivers” — the seven emotional hot buttons guaranteed to make people act. Sixof the seven are in these first 100 words!

1.  Fear: that something gawd-awful couldhappen to us.

2.  Greed: n/a.

3.  Guilt: horrid events are destroying innocentpeople’s lives the world over. I should do something to help!

4.   Anger: Dictatorsand tyrants all over the world are creating mayhem, torture and deaths.

5.   Exclusivity: I’mso lucky. These horrors are wounding and killing others.

6.   Salvation: Thankgoodness. I’m safe from all this evil!

7.   Flattery: One of the firstthings you see in the letterhead above: Awarded the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. Wow! Imagine getting letter and free gift and request from this revered, worldrenowned organization!

In short: The first 100 words of thisletter cover six of the seven emotional hot buttons that make people act.

If you are a direct marketer, you’d bewise to hire this copywriter!

STOP! THINK! Could youcreate this powerful attention-getting Doctors Without Borders message using teensy-weensy emails from asad-sack wee inbox below? No way, Jose. Tactile direct mail with its heft,size, design and color you physically hold in your hands cannot beinstantly zapped into oblivion like mouse type on your computer, iPad oriPhone.

Gosh, I how miss my old outdoor mailbox crammed with brilliantly written letters, self-mailers, postcards, catalogsand bright, exciting design with spectacular offers. 

Most of all Peggy and I miss the conversations, conventions, gatherings, expos, intimate interaction and constant contact with the great direct marketers — the legends, innovators, worker bees and yes, the enthusiastic tyros — all of us thrilled to be in the fascinating, fun, world of what the legendary Stan Rapp called "Intimate advertising."

Could WHO’S EMAILING WHAT! makeit in today’s media mix?

Nah.

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