Sending Feathers, Making Friends
Creative thinking can push your direct mail to new heights.
December 2008 By Kimberly Seville
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Rough in texture and squishy, the outer envelope looked like a child’s drawing — markers on stock just shy of pulpy construction paper. A tidy, white label addressed to me flew the package; the back was equally colorful with a big, yellow sunflower and a leaf that seemed to drift on a breeze.
Inside I discovered the partially deflated Bubble Wrap® liner, the explanation for the envelope’s squishiness. And — aha! — as I felt the lump of something inside, I realized it’s a clever way to mail the enclosed lapel pin without a more expensive dimensional box.
A gift from the Native American Rights Fund, this feather lapel pin has special meaning. The letter opening explains:
“The other day I was talking with my little friend, Helen, about eagle Feathers. She asked me why they were so special, and I told her that in our Native American culture, when people have earned the right to wear an eagle feather they are honored for being strong and following their beliefs and making the world a better place for others.”
Hence the offer of a feather pin, with the hope that I wear it as a symbol of my partnership in the organization’s fight for justice. The premium is an important emblem, and it is both for me and about me, in addition to tangibly bonding me more closely with the organization. Very well done.
Even better than the feather pin …
My hands-down favorite component, however — and why this package has won a place in my “Keep Forever” file — is a magenta greeting-card envelope hand-addressed “For Ms. Kimberly M. Seville” in what is believably a child’s printing. Inside, I discovered a note from Helen, the little girl who asked about what eagle feathers mean.
Designed to look like a sheet of notebook paper, the child art from the carrier appears here again along with a tipped-on snapshot of darling 6-year-old Helen. Her note tells me about her and how friends at Native American Rights Fund help her and her family. It is signed (misspelling and all) “Your freind, [heart] Helen [heart].”
Was this additional, personalized component necessary? It’s a very testable proposition, to be sure. With the significant cost of an up-front lapel-pin package alone, the added cost of Helen’s snapshot and note inside the personalized magenta envelope might not be covered by an increase in response.
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