Direct To Brand

What is Direct-to-Brand™?
The use of direct response to its fullest potential in
transactional marketing while at the same time maximizing its use it to support and/or build a brand.

This is a simple definition of direct-to-brand
marketing. To fully understand the significance of
our disciplined approach, you must first understand the
impact of direct response. Direct response, in its many
formats, is a marketing “technology” designed to take
fullest advantage of direct to customer relationships for
the benefit of your brand and your bottom line. Our
version of direct response is an evolution in traditional
brand marketing by the addition of one significant factor
– a call-to-action; a motivation for the consumer to “act
now” in direct response to your brand message.

The history of direct response began in the earliest days
of broadcasting with, among others, industry pioneer
Alvin Eicoff. The inventor of d-Con rat poison
approached him to market d-Con. Retailers wouldn’t sell
it since it was an unproven product. So Eicoff ran direct
response radio ads. In those days, 800 numbers and
even credit cards did not exist. Listeners were prompted
to write down an address and send a check. D-Con
worked so well, people started asking for it at various
stores. The stores contacted Eicoff with apologies and
asked to market the product. He then came up with a
concept called “key outlet” sales, which strives to get the
consumer to a retail outlet. Eicoff put the product in
selected stores, and went back on the radio, “Send for it
by mail, or you can buy it today at XYZ Hardware.”

And the rest, as they say, is history. When people think
of direct response, they may think first of such notable
consumer products as the Pocket Fisherman or Ginsu
knives. And in the early days, that’s essentially all it was
– a presentation directly to the consumer in which the
merchant asked the consumer to send in a check to
purchase the product – in short, a direct response. The
entire goal was to generate a single sales transaction.
Later, AT&T created 800 numbers, Bank of America
invented the charge card, and the process became even
easier. Even so, the fundamentals of pure direct
response haven’t changed.