Go Logo! A Handbook to the Art of Global Branding

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Go Logo! A Handbook to the Art of Global Branding168

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o succeed as a creative, one needs talent, for certain. But more important, one

needs mentors. Learning to be good at being a commercial creative—I define

that as being able to consistently deliver messages that work in the market-

place—is more like being an apprentice cabinetmaker than like studying to be

an architect. It employs a set of learned artisanal crafts, like knowing what to look for in the

grain of the wood, how the pieces should be joined together, and the way the work should

be sanded and finished.

While writing and selling were callings, I was lucky to find myself in direct marketing, a

specialized arena of creative, in which every ad, and virtually every tactic, can be tested and

measured. By using A/B splits in ads, or sending mail with isolated variables to controlled

groups of individuals, direct marketers discover which headlines, which colors, and which

offers create a greater response—and, most important, revenue. This is a critical distinction

from advertising, where “what works” is often poorly measured or subject to lack of clarity.

The customer rules—not research, not the client, not the creative director.

Very early in my career, I was exposed to sophisticated direct-mail marketing at a then-

famous company called Halbert’s. I learned the basics as well as the advanced psychological

strategies that make people respond. I learned to love mail as a medium and, in general,

the art and science of getting someone you don’t know to respond. The endgame remains

simple: Create a transaction. Persuade, convince, or cajole an individual to buy something

through the mail. It’s not as easy as it sounds. The tools are many: type of postage, format,

mail list, offer, response channel (phone, mail, or Internet), and pricing, and the variables are

almost infinite. But the biggest variable is the quality of the copy.

Creating a Response

BARRY KESSEL, Chief Executive Officer of RTCRM in Washington, D.C.

Barry Kessel is an acknowledged leader in direct marketing, with more than

thirty-five years of experience in client and agency organizations, in creative,

strategy, and executive leadership positions. In his current role, Kessel is respon-

sible for the RCT agency network, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. and

offices in New York and Chicago. RTC helps clients such as Time Warner, AARP,

Vanguard, Microsoft, and Abbott optimize relationships with prospects and cus-

tomers to maximize lifetime revenue. He was most recently global client officer

for Wunderman and president of Wunderman, New York.

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