So You Think You Understand Direct?

I can't believe I missed this earlier in the week. But in perusing headlines to prepare for this week's episode of The BeanCast, I came across this story from the New York Times:

Notice the headline. Now look at the description I circled here for your viewing pleasure. See the problem? Your humble marketing podcast host does.

A two-minute commercial is NOT an infomercial. Were the Seinfeld/Gates Microsoft commercials infomercials? No. They were just long commercials. So is this. An infomercial is a completely different marketing vehicle using a completely different set of tactics and meeting a host of different objectives. And the presence of an 800 number and a call-to-action does not make the two vehicles the same.

This is so indicative of the problematic relationship between advertising and direct marketing. There is this perception that somehow because direct is not all about concept and injects sales objectives into the mix, it's somehow easier to do. And out of this is born the assumption that the medium is understood.

Here's the trouble with that.

Direct marketing, in all it's many forms, is a complicated discipline that depends entirely on measurable response to justify its existence. So while this particular misquote may seem like a small issue, it hides a bigger problem. When people misunderstand the direct marketing tools, they wind up doing less or in-effective direct marketing. And as a result, the discipline suffers as whole when marketing executives don't get the ROI they need to justify such programs.

Now I won't say that I am a hands-down-everything-must-be-direct type of guy. But I do understand that no one in their right mind would run an infomercial during prime time. And saying that infomercials are making their way into this time slot only serves to muddy how effective these vehicles can be in off-hours.

I also understand that the entire premise of the article is wrong. Even if the headline were re-written to say, "D.R. Ads Find Their Way Into Prime Time," it would become a non-story. Direct Response has been in prime time for years — since the beginning of TV. Every GEICO commercial. Most of the American Express ads. Progressive Auto Insurance. I can go on. They are ALL direct response ads.

What's more, even if you re-wrote it to say, "Really Long-Ass Commercials Make Their Way Into Prime Time," you would still have no story. Long-form commercials have always appeared during special Prime Time events.

So why am I upset? Because the real premise of the article is, "Look how desperate the networks have become...they're running direct spots during prime time." And that does a disservice to a medium that fills an important place in every ad budget.

Criticize the spot if you like. Let Garfield take a swing at it. That's what the critics are for. But this article highlights the continued need for education about what direct marketing is. And that's just plain sad.