Wave of the Future (Spam)(further OT)

From: Ethan Dicks <ethan_dicks_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Mon Jun 25 02:35:01 2001

--- Cameron Kaiser <spectre_at_stockholm.ptloma.edu> wrote:
> > > interest. If they get alot back that cost them they loose money. Maybe
> > > she should tape the postage prepaid envelope to a brick and return it.

We used to get this sort of thing at work from our direct mail ads... remember
getting packs of "bingo cards" in the mail? We used to pay a couple of grand
for an insertion into a pack of cards with a 100,000+ distribution list. Every
time, we'd get a stack of crank responses from folks who received these at
home who were not part of our desired audience. They ranged from political
messages stamped on to religious propganda to a bitter and insulting response
from, we think, an ex-employee. The "brick" reminded me of one respondent...
I don't know when he/she got on the DMA (Direct Marketing Association) list
for bingo cards, but once they did, we got one of these back every time - they
would take a few of the cards, cut up, and tape them to the back of the
response card in a kind of almost pouch, increasing the weight to a couple
of ounces. Not exactly a brick, but it still cost us more than the usual
rude response.

Even with a noticable quantity of bad cards coming back, it was still one of
our best ways to find new customers.

Note: I am not advocating spam - I am simply describing a bygone advertising
technique and the resulting responses. We paid for the cards to go out and
to come back... nothing like the free ride spammers get today.

-ethan



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Received on Mon Jun 25 2001 - 02:35:01 BST

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