Dove good? Capital One evil? weigh in

The studio gets an awful lot of junk mail, but yesterday we got a real 'winner' from Capital One. Generally, this sort of mail goes directly into the round file, but this one felt squishy, like there was some sort of sample inside, so I passed it to Ben. The 'prize' inside was a small rectangle of bubble wrap.

sheesh. What a dirty trick.

The late Bill Hicks, in his onstage act, would sometimes ask if there were any marketing people in the audience and invite them to go ahead and kill themselves. I don't go there, but I get his point. I believe really good marketing for a good product is an art form. If you've never thought much about it (likely if you're reading this blog you have) check out the work of past CLIO winners.

Obviously Capital One wanted to increase the odds of someone reading their ads by first enticing them to open the envelope. Not a terrible idea. But I can think of a dozen things they could've put in the envelope that would've been funny, or useful, or both, leaving me appreciative and more willing to read the info inside.

I will never again open a Capital One envelope. I don't care if it buzzes or whistles or smells like mint. They blew it. The letter is from Pat L. Wright, Director of Small Business Solutions. I plan to contact Pat L. Wright at http://www.mycapitalonecard.com/ Whomever is responsible for this bubble wrap trick should be fired.

Now, on the other hand, this made me think about who is advertising well. The first company that comes to mind is Dove. I've mentioned Dove before. I don't know if the Dove Campaign for Beauty was started just to sell products or to change minds. (Logically, it would be both.) I don't care, because the result is that they are indeed changing minds.
Here is "Onslaught" retrieved from the Dove website:




I'm off to make art. Should I make a Dove Poppet to support their Self Esteem program? I'm open to suggestions. As always, thanks for being here.