Creative rule breaking for direct response nerds like you

I stood at the edge of the stage and, as I took a breath, watched 400 faces start to smile, all at the same time. 

Last week, I was in San Diego, presenting for my 6th? 7th? time at the Nonprofit Storytelling conference. A conference I have referred to as my favourite since my first.

My session was about "Creative rule breaking for direct mail nerds". And I wanted to share a little bit of that with you.

First, not all rules need to be broken. Some are just fine the way they are. Second, you can't break what you don't know - alternatively - you CAN break what you don't know - you just might not realize it - and that could be disastrous.

Third - pretty much everything in direct response and direct marketing has been 'known' and figured out for a long, long... like a long time. 

A few examples.

Here, we have St. Paul - THE St. Paul, hustling for monthly donors. This is a written, direct appeal to his 'donors' that was reprinted in a little book you might have heard of, called "The Bible." Brilliant.

Another one, this one from 1235 AD.

Eihel Dogen... Monk... Man... Buddist Sage... reaching out to a 'few', high fluting folks to raise some funds for his latest capital campaign. His appeal is specifically targeted, has a crystal clear offer and a clear vision of how donors can be a part of the solution. Ace.

This last example is from 1941.

It was during height of the London Blitz, the newly completed Southwood Building at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital was hit by a bomb. No one was hurt but the hospital was demolished.

Even though the war was raging, they got this appeal out right away to rebuild the hospital.

I love this outer envelope. The "Please open carefully" note. Closed face. Handwriting and first class postage. This envelope would be just as effective today. Brilliant.

The appeal letter: When you read this letter you can really imagine the devastation that people must have felt when their magnificent, new hospital was bombed so badly.

It conveys the drama of the day so vividly: ‘We have also during some of the most savage raids on London stood, a citadel of healing, ringed round by a living furnace of fire.’

BUT it is also brilliant in presenting the 

problem - our hospital was bombed but we will stay open to help the children… 
solution - help us replay some of the debt for the rebuilding..
action we need donors to take - send us a Christmas gift if your heart and wallet will allow it...
and it has urgency - War is raging but nothing is more precious right now than taking care of the next generation.

Lord Southwood didn’t know about underlining and other ‘rules’, he was just writing from his heart.

Lastly, the pack included a few lift notes that were basic photographs of the devastation and a genius, extra piece. A small matchbox that contained a small piece of rubble from the hospital. #MicDrop

This pack would absolutely SMASH it today.

Why am I sharing these with you? Because all of the "new" ideas are out there for you to learn from, study and be inspired by. And you can only be a true, direct response JEDI, when you have studied and copied the classics. 

I literally lie away at night thinking about envelopes, history, tactics and techniques…  the more we all know about all of the aspects of this craft- the MORE money we can raise for our missions and change our WORLD… I know we all want that.

(BTW - You can find all of these and SO MUCH more by spending some time surfing through the pages of sofii.org - I am a long time supporter and donor - and you should be too so the next generation can learn from some of the great exhibits there.)

I will come back to the 400 faces and smiles in my next post but I hope you enjoyed this post!

Keep on doing the amazing work you do everyday.