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I was very pleased to be invited to speak to Prof. Sue Parenio’s BU College of Communication’s Video Campaign class earlier this month. The discussion topic was digital marketing’s impact on direct response advertising and the conversation was lively. The presentation included examples from the golden age of DRTV like the Ginsu knife set and Mr. Microphone to the all-time classic - Life Call (still can’t get through that commercial without cracking up).

Life Call - unintentionally - inspired a widely adopted catchphrase that we still hear today. That kind of word of mouth promotion money just can’t buy. These were pre-internet DRTV campaigns, expensive 1-800 number and all.

More recent DRTV ads have increasingly begun to replace or at least supplement the trusty 1-800 number with a prominently featured url. Customers are directed to the more cost effective website to research and hopefully purchase online. This carries a few challenges of its own however. Hard to remember URL’s and the proximity from sofa to computer can be problematic. SEO or paid search campaigns can certainly help alleviate these issues but when it comes right down to it, you can’t beat a catchy tune.

FreeCreditReport.com is an excellent example of a completely integrated campaign, leveraging all that digital marketing has to offer. Excellent writing, casting and production together has created a DRTV campaign that is hard to ignore. There is of course the expected website with prominent sign-up form. There is also a site just for the FreeCreditReport band where you can watch their videos, download songs and ringtones - even buy t-shirts. If that isn’t enough to satify the credit report groupie in you, you can also take part in the FreeCreditReport.com YouTube Contest where users are encouraged to post cover versions of their songs and compete for cash prizes ($15,000 went to first place). Still not enough? Well don’t answer yet! You also get the FreeCreditReport.com Facebook Fan Page! It’s amassed 5,000 fans and includes comments like “Call me crazy, but I totally want to DO those guys!”

The punch line to all of this is that the FreeCreditReport isn’t really free at all. They suck you in with a free trial period then whack you with an automatically renewing $14.95 monthly fee until the end of time. The only TRULY FREE credit report is available through the Federal Trade Commission’s AnnualCreditReport.com. Now sure, the url doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, and the site is poorly designed - but they do have a jingle:

Lame.

So as we discussed in class, use all the tools at your disposal, embrace the entire digital spectrum, be creative and innovative and above all, avoid being lame. To Prof. Parenio’s class, I hope all your finals went well and thanks again for having me. I truly enjoyed it.

Steve Martin, VP Creative Services