A few weeks back I was having an online conversation with a staffer with the Pollie award-winning Stoneridge Group. Both of us were dismayed at the sheer lack of creativity displayed in most of the direct mail being sent this election cycle.
Well, the direct mail which arrived in my inbox yesterday didn’t do much to allay my concerns.
Three mailers. Zero creativity.
I look back proudly on my work at The Mallard Group where Jack Hebert and I would spend more than five minutes thinking about what was going to go into a mailer. Often we used original photography or at least stock photography that was better than what could be found on Google Images. There was thought behind the choice of color, of fonts, certainly of message.
Today, it’s just kitchen sink design. Fill up a mailer with every tangential point a pollster says tests well, dirty up a photo of the opponent, hit print and ship. It’s not only ugly, it’s boring.
Speaking of ugly and boring, there is this mailer attacking State Senate candidate Jim Frishe:
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Not much better is this attack on House candidate Kathleen Peters:
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Worst of all is this attack on HD 59 candidate Joe Wicker; it simply doesn’t make any sense. There is no sourcing for any of the claims, such as “Moved to Westchase to pursue a State Senate seat…” Or that he “consulted” with gambling lobbyists:
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