Derek Featherstone's Box of Chocolates: You never know what you're going to get

Box of Chocolates

Sunday, March 8th, 2009 - 3:08pm

Seriously Motivating Copy

My thoughts generally wander to training as the snow melts and I’m able to train outside again. I crave outdoor activity — swimming, biking, running are the top of the list. It’s no wonder, then, that as I was cleaning up my desk, I was easily distracted by a nice piece of direct print marketing from the Ottawa Race Weekend that was sent to me a few months back.

It was this:

Direct marketing piece for Ottawa Race Weekend 2009

When this piece first arrived in the mail, I looked at the time (1:59:18), but didn’t think much of it. Then I read the text below it:

Derek,

This is not just any time. It is yours. A time that represents your goals, your determination, your journey. A time that represents a destination reached in May 2008.

Now the question is: What will your time be in 2009?

Oh! That’s my time! Brilliant. You got me. Count me in.

Why? I think it is because this piece speaks directly to me — not just that it is addressed to me, and personalized with my name and time. But it speaks directly to what motivates me as an athlete. They hit this on the head with their copy: “your goals, your determination, your journey” and then the call to action — the implied invitation to register — “What will your time be in 2009?” They really know how to push the right buttons!

This simple mailout really nails it as far as I’m concerned. If you can think of any other examples off hand, I’d love to know about them. It doesn’t need to be about direct marketing copy either, it could be anything.

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3 Comments

A quick look at a seemingly very effective piece of direct marketing that was sent to me: http://bit.ly/AoeW

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

That’s pretty good stuff. Not very many things can motivate me to push the envelope – Good collateral really makes a difference. As a designer, I find myself hanging onto nice business cards much longer than the cookie cutter ones.

For all the copywriters out there (@she_is_king) Great article from @feather http://tinyurl.com/aafqmv

This comment was originally posted on Twitter