Nobody likes to fail. But when it comes to direct-mail efforts, lessons that arise from stunning failures often can lead to stunning success

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

The Big Idea: Eureka! I had my “hook.” We’d go “outside the box.” I’d create a visual analogy in the package, using one of those skinny coffee-stirrer straws.

The Execution: On the outer envelope, the teaser was something like “Inside: Take this breathing test.” Inside was a card insert with a coffee straw glued to it. It was a lumpy package that would stand out in the mail. The letter told the dramatic story of a serious asthma attack and asked the reader to “try breathing through this straw to see how difficult it is … imagine the child gasping for air, the family in panic, our medical team coming to the rescue, etc.”