Successful Creative Is Full of Crap… Make That CRAP
Every successful piece of marketing creative entails a certain amount of crap, according to freelance copywriter Lauren Brenner. Make that CRAP: Curiosity, Rapport, Action, and Proof. Brenner gave an example during the “Creative Slamdown” session at the DMA:2010 conference.
Brenner recalled a product for which she had to create a direct mail package: a $97 home-study course from the Ken Roberts Co. on water and health, the centerpiece of which was a book titled Your Body’s Many Cries for Water. “How do you get people to spend close to $100 to learn how to drink something that’s in their kitchen for free?” Brenner said.
This is where the CRAP came into play. In the direct mail letter, Brenner had the author of the book, a doctor, open by discussing how, as a political prisoner in the Mideast, he helped a fellow prisoner survive a severe ulcer attack merely by drinking several glasses of water. The unusual setting of the doctor’s epiphany and the careful unspooling of the story created curiosity in readers, or “the a-ha factor,” she said. The overall tone of the letter, meanwhile, struck up a rapport with the reader. “You want people to like you, trust you, and feel that you have the same feelings for them,” Brenner said.
Testimonials from doctors, patients, and company founder Ken Roberts himself strengthened the sense of rapport while offering proof that the product worked. As for action, the mailer envelope and letter promoted an “early bird bonus piece,” a free book on dealing with back pain.
The results of the campaign definitely weren’t crap: It generated a profit of $1.82 per name mailed.
