Most business men don't bother about results for their ad bucks. They have a benevolent faith in advertising as a benevolent force.They are persuaded that a complete big budget coverage means complete success. It's a comfortable creed! Those people who are not concerned with self-expression are, ironically enough, willing to take a chance on pre-testing their ads. The direct mail test included: 1. A cover letter explaining the purpose of the survey and the need for the recipients valued options. 2. A full color spread of five ads. Each ad was a variation of the theme of why people should have an interest in living at the Towers of Quayside. The flip side of the five ad spread was a photo display of Quayside's truly beautiful landscaping and functional amenity package. Spa, tennis courts, restaurant and boating dock space. 3. A questionnaire to determine their choice of ad, headline. copy visuals. media and important questions about\to their future plans for a second home property. 4. A five dollar bill as an attention device and to show how interested the developers were in hearing back from them. 5. And, naturally, a postage paid return envelope. Aside from developing the five ads, the real effort was in developing a suitable list of potential buyers to survey. Unless we rang the right doorbells all the creative effort would be to no avail. Based on existing home owner profiles, we drew a portrait for mailing list brokers of what the typical buyer for the Towers of Quayside should look and be like: Married Between 55 and 62 Self-employed. New money. Empty nester. Kids grown up and gone. Jocks, Into tennis, jogging, fishing or golfing. Travel-oriented. Show offs. Always on dress parade. Country club members. Two or more status cars. Rolls, Bentley, Mercedes, Jaguar, BMW and Cadillac. Low mortgage on primary home in the $350- 750,000 range. Decent credit. The compiled list yielded 6,512 possible participants to the survey and 3,752 prime Northeast and local prospects that fit all the established criteria. The bang for the buck was unheard of. And still is. We were actually able to interest people in reading not one, but all five ads that exclaimed the virtue of the Towers of Quayside. An impossibility to accomplish in traditional print media. The client now had an efficient and effective media campaign to create and awareness and readership of their pitch. The direct response test provided awareness among the core market and developed a cordial relationship that could be built upon. The total package worked because it successfully involved the reader into an event leading to thoughtful readership. And provided recipients an ego boost and a chance to act as ad consultants for a major corporation (Equitable Life Assurance was the owner of record). We also promised our new pen pals that we would inform them of how their opinion stacked up against other people like themselves. We proudly handed Quayside management the names, ranks, serial numbers and addresses of 651 respondents who could be buyers. Good show? You bet. Isn't the life-blood of a salesperson leads, leads, and more leads? Not only did we create an alternative media to expensive newsprint ? we succeeded in contacting and talking to the very people Quayside needed as potential buyers. The Quayside sales office received 812 revealing responses and referrals from the first 2,500 piece test mailing. The bang for the buck was unheard of. And still is. We were actually able to interest people in reading not one, but all five ads that exclaimed the virtue of the Towers of Quayside. An impossibility to accomplish in traditional print media. The client now had an efficient and effective media campaign to create and awareness and readership of their pitch. The direct response test provided awareness among the core market and developed a cordial relationship that could be built upon. The total package worked because it successfully involved the reader into an event leading to thoughtful readership. And provided recipients an ego boost and a chance to act as ad consultants for a major corporation (Equitable Life Assurance was the owner of record). We also promised our new pen pals that we would inform them of how their opinion stacked up against other people like themselves. We proudly handed Quayside management the names, ranks, serial numbers and addresses of 651 respondents who could be buyers. Good show? Isn?t the life-blood of a salesperson leads, leads, and more leads? That's what we thought. Rather than receive the message and the leads gratefully, the sales team wanted to kill the messenger. It was the first time Quayside management could hold the sales force accountable and answerable to the developer. The sales people were not a happy lot. Not only did we create an alternative media to expensive newsprint, we succeeded in contacting and talking to the very people Quayside needed as potential buyers. We then created an all-inclusive package for potential buyers. Prospects (in their homes up north) were picked up and limo'd to the airport, flown to Miami, greeted upon arrival by a dapper salesman or cute hostess, taken via the scenic route from Miami airport to a tastefully decorated Quayside apartment. After checking in at Quayside, they were kept busy with workouts, saunas, massages, tennis, and dining. This gave them little time or inclination to check out the competition we were all set up for the close. And close they did.
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