Are You Addicted to Direct Response?

Dear marketing decision makers, 

I called a bunch of other average consumers. They said it was cool that I speak on their behalf. 

I’ll get right to it. We enjoy brand marketing far more than direct response. 

We like it when a brand is clever or entertaining, or when a brand makes us feel something — happy, sad, seen, understood. 

Our feelings aren’t measurable by analytics software though, so it seems like you don’t value them the same as you value our clicks and conversions.

We’re more than clicks and conversions though. Just as you’re more than a product. At least, we hope you’re more than a product. 

You like direct response ads because your spreadsheets and graphs depict us as actions and transactions. It’s easy to see how you paid $1, and we gave you $4. 

That’s a return on investment. 

We don’t hate your direct response ads. We just don’t like it when that’s all you talk about. There’s only so much “new product” and “20% off” and "free shipping" and “buy now” we can hear before we tune it out. Especially if we don't even know you.

If you can introduce yourself and speak to us without asking us for something, we can be friends for a long time. This relationship isn’t easily measured though. Over the long haul, you’ll see that we support you with our dollars. We’ll talk you up to other people. Some of us might even wear shirts with your name. 

That’s a return on relationship.