Bob I think your of ad agencies is a little bit antiquated but before you kill me, I come from & use the hard hitting direct response techniques from the likes of Halbert, Kennedy, & yourself.

And I have your book selling your services and to prove that I do…here is the 1st paragraph of your acknowledgments.

“Im indebted to Dr. Jeffrey Lant, Howard Shenson, Bill Bishop, Tom Hopkins, Jeff Davidson, Patricia Fripp, Jerru Buchanan, Pete Silver..” I think you get the point.

-Direct Marketers/Internet Marketers talk about branding as if it is a bad thing. Your personal brand is that of a tough & direct no-nonsense approach to marketing & sales. We all have a brand whether we believe it or not but you know that. Branding is important but when combined with highly effective & genius strategies a company can truly dominate. Its not one or the other…its both!!!

-Chiat Day who did the ads for Apple (PC VS. Mac) really caused a dramatic spike in sales the week after the campaign ran because it used a direct marketing principle of… “start with the conversation the prospect is already having.” They did that and since Visa is an inferior product they were able to dominate and Mac is just a much better package and has a better brand.

-As far as the guy being on the cover…what’s the big deal? Wouldn’t you want that exposure for your company? We all would.

-Now ad agencies should provide higher results but there is sooooooooooo much as kissing that has to be done that you essentially cannot focus on the actually selling part and moving product until the end. Most companies who hire ad agencies think they know everything under the sun and place limitations on what can be done from the beginning. So would you rather not get the $25m dollar account? Of course not. We have all put up with crap from clients.

-Ad agencies have posted some great results. Deutsch made the Monster brand and catapulted them to #1 in their category. Not created awareness but made them #1. Cramer-Krasselt did the same for Careebuilder and Careerbuilder canned them last year and as a result they have been getting their asses kicked since they let go of CK because they thought they didn’t need to improve.

-Microsoft doesnt need an ad agency to fix their problems…they need a better operating system!!! But its easier to throw $60m at a problem than to actually fix the product. Sugar on top of sh*#, just makes sugary sh%#. Excuse my language but its the truth. Apple dominates because they have superior products.

-Dont get me wrong…I love direct marketing but the clients that I have talked to want both, the branding and results elements, so why not offer both. It has always amazed me that all of the direct mail guys didn’t come together to work on big projects for Fortune 500 Companies.

You, Halbert, Kennedy, Sugarman, Abraham, Vitale along with Frank Kern, Eben Pagan, Brady Fallon & Andy Jenkins, would making a KILLING if you worked with a company, so why dont you guys get together and work on projects. There isn’t enough structure i feel in the direct marketing & internet marketing and I dont think the goals are big enough. Everyone does their own thing and pass information. New sales letter new product goes out and the cycle continues.

For example…I havent seen too many direct marketers use TV ads too much (since they have guarantee ROI formats) with companies like Revshare.com I dont know about you but I have used it and made out very well and talking about a flood of leads going through a squeeze capture page and follow up, most of them have never seen that type of marketing before.

-From what I have experienced companies don’t want copywriters, what they want is a strategist who will make them more money and I dont think “copywriting” effectively conveys that. Now of course it should be apart of the mix but people dont think “copywriters are people who add gross to our top and bottom line.”

So selecting what we brand ourselves are just as important.

-To the anonymous guy. Come on. At least type in a fake name if you want to argue. You had some good points but not showing face takes away credibility.

-To everyone here! Its not one or the other….its both! If you fail to use one of either, then you will have more headaches than you can imagine. But you don’t have to listen…you can fail on your own and then figure it out.

To Bob, man I love your work. I just think guys like you, Kennedy, Halbert (R.I.P) should be MORE FAMOUS and be making much more money because of what you are able to provide.

All feedback is welcome, even if its just from you Bob.

Sincerely,
Ian J. Dunlap
Chief Executive Officer
The Genius Marketing Firm
http://profile.to/iandunlap/
678.459.2561

P.S. How can direct marketing types and agencies types learn more from each other?

I can’t stand people who want to criticize and hold their opinion over others while hiding behind an anonymous ID.

What Hmmmmm fails to recognize is your “hit” on a public figure was done with reference and context. And you put your name on it. Hmmmmm is just taking shots at you without the courage to to stand in the light of day.

And you are wrong to say that all online marketing is direct response. Some of it is. Some of it is just branding. Many marketers use banner ads and e-mail for branding and impressions. My clients use e-mail to generate leads and sales. And we measure click through rates, conversions, orders, and revenues.

PC Sales Growth Drops to Zero, Mac Growth Soars

http://www.macobserver.com/article/2006/12/20.7.shtml

In the piece, the author cites the Mac ads as a factor in the growth of sales (in 2006).

I find it curious that when I site statistics about the marketing success of Crispin’s clients, you say that can’t be attributed to their efforts for certain. How is it, then, you fault them if VW sales are down 6%? Your logic is not consistent.

And, by the way, I don’t work for Crispin. I’m just informed. If hitting on public figures by blogging is fair game, so is responded to said bloggers, like yourself. I find you have a very antiquated view of what ad agencies are doing nowadays by blanketing it all as “branding” and not measurable.