Horrified by My Party!

[Editor's Note: Denny is delighted and honored to have irate direct marketing legend Peter Rosenwald step into his weekly Business Common Sense rumble.] I have been the victim of an undisciplined and uncoordinated blitz of emailed invitations, entreaties, appeals and just plain badgering from the Democrats almost every day since the election. Let me lay my party card on the table. I have been a Democrat as far back as I can remember. I worked on the JFK campaign and helped start Democrats Abroad in London when I lived there in the 1960s and 1970s. One of the proudest moments of my life came five years ago seeing Barack Obama elected President. Shooting Themselves in the FootThat confessed, as a data-driven marketing professional from the Frank Johnson, Dick Benson, Lester Wunderman school, I am horrified. I can't be the only one just a hair's breadth away from consigning all future communications from my Democrats to the SPAM bin. This pains me because so many serious issues deserve our active support. Putting the important gun control issue aside for the moment, the party seems in grave danger of shooting itself in the foot. "Wi$hing You and Your$ a Happy Ea$ter, Peter ..."Imagine Easter Saturday and Sunday, receiving 20 emails—yeah, 20 emails in two days! A sampling of the subject lines: • FW: I didn't expect this, Peter—Democratic Headquarters, Sunday 3/31/2013 • I didn't expect this!—The National Memo, Sunday 3/31/2103 • I didn't expect this, Peter!—Nancy Pelosi, Saturday 3/30/2013 [See the media player at the right for the complete list of 20 emails.] Is this just donation inflation or does one hand have no idea whatsoever of what the other one is doing? Do the Democrats not know or care that their database should immediately and correctly 1) flag donors and 2) these donors should receive appropriate communications and not mixed messages? We all know that if executed in moderation and when appropriate, creating "deadlines" and "act now" enhances response. But the deadline has to be credible. And we all know a grab bag of techniques for getting attention like these: • "We have to prepare, right now, to expose these extremists for what they are." —Democratic Governors Organization • "A few hours ago, we alerted you about Boehner's record-breaking fundraising dinner last week. Now we've gotten word that they're pouring that cash into attacking President Obama's progressive agenda." —Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. • "Don't let tomorrow's midnight fundraising deadline ...come and go without jumping in." —Obama campaign guru Jim Messina As my mother used to say, "enough is enough." How many of us have completely forgotten the tale of the little boy who cried "wolf!" so often that when the real wolf appeared, no one was listening? The big, bad Republican wolf has been prowling the country for years—there is nothing new there—and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has year-end, quarterly and all kinds of other contribution reporting deadlines that may be administratively convenient, but are otherwise of no importance. You miss one and your contribution is recorded in the next. Yet the Democratic marketers keep asking us to believe and be motivated by these breathless communications: • We need to stand strong. If we can reach 25,000 new members supporting President Obama's agenda before the year-end FEC deadline, we can send a powerful message to the right: We're not giving in to your demands. • "4 HOUR WARNING: Midnight is the final FEC fundraising deadline"Will this make the slightest difference to the Republican right wing? If they are unable to hear the message delivered by the electorate last November, why should 25,000 new members or a hundred thousand grass roots contributions sway them from their chosen path? The Old Good News/Bad News PloyAnother technique being put to overuse is the "good news/bad news" story. On March 30, Democratic Headquarters emailed: Since we heard about the Republicans' $14 million lobbyist-fueled fundraiser last week, an incredible 35,134 supporters have signed on to match them dollar-for-dollar. That was the good news. But it was followed in the next paragraph by the bad news: It's amazing, but we still need 4,866 to get there. We appreciate that you were one of the first to step up and make a contribution this year, but we could really use your support again before our critical deadline. Solid direct marketing strategy and practice teaches that the direct marketing discipline is a process, not a series of techniques. 20 Emails in Two Days Is Not a ProcessIt is promotional chaos driven by the incredibly low cost of releasing millions of electronic communication bullets in the understandable expectation that at least some will hit their targets. Therein lies the problem all of us marketers have to face. The Sad Death of ROMI (Return on Marketing Investment)When we relied on direct mail with its relatively long lead times and high costs per thousand to distribute our message, we had to be careful. Each campaign had to pay for itself, and the cost of each response had to be an acceptable percentage of the revenue directly attributable to the marketing effort. We had to know where the money was coming from and where it was going. The first stop on the way to the office was the mail room. In a minute you could get a feel of how many orders were being received from which promotional codes. You could see your promotional investment coming back. And the Winners Are ... Karl Rove et al!The politicians don't seem to be burdened by this restraint. A recent Huffington Post article headlined "Political Consultants Rake It In, $466 Million And Counting In 2012 Cycle" detailed the substantial amounts of money raised by the GOP. This is GOP loot that went mostly into the deep pockets of the consultants instead of to support the agenda for which the money was raised. It is hard to believe that things are all that different in the Democratic camp. Is anyone asking about the ROMI—the return on each marketing investment and where the money is going? Contributors have a right to know and should hold the political fundraisers accountable just as they do with charitable donations. It appears political campaigns don't have to play by the same rules as businesses. They use many of the same promotional techniques, e.g: • Never to send a communication that doesn't ask for an order. • Run sweepstakes with prizes such as a dinner with the President. • Make an offer such as " ... a football autographed by 13 Democratic governors. We're giving it away to one lucky winner, and it could be you." And after assuring the reader that "it costs nothing to enter," the message ends with a big red button saying "CONTRIBUTE". That's a bit of a mixed message. The Russian dictator Josef Stalin said there were two ways to assure loyalty. One was a shared ideology. The other was fear. Fear may work if the gulag hangs over your head. But a blizzard of mixed messages will only serve to confuse and ultimately turn off the faithful like me. I'm afraid this is happening now and I wish it would stop without my having to say, "enough, already" and sending all future communications straight to the SPAM file. Takeaways to Consider Twenty emails from 15 separate Democratic organizations in 48 hours is disgusting. Because email is essentially free, marketing decisions are made by the greedy bean counters who don't care a rap about donor comfort. I have been the victim of an undisciplined and uncoordinated blitz of emailed invitations, entreaties, appeals and just plain badgering from the Democrats almost every day since the election. Direct marketing is a process, not a series of techniques. If the process is not followed, it will certainly lead to customer dissatisfaction. Crying "wolf" is a diminishing tactic. Use it too often and you risk not being heard when a real wolf appears on the doorstep. If you are going to send a breathless communication, make sure it really takes the reader's breath away. Just because email is inexpensive compared to other media, it must not be over used. Even loyalists will turn off. If you say "It costs nothing to enter," don't then ask for an order. Needed: an email tsar to play traffic cop on promotional efforts from the 15 arms of this obscene Democratic octopus. Peter J. Rosenwald is best known as founder and CEO of both Wunderman Worldwide and Saatchi & Saatchi Direct Worldwide. He has been a marketing and strategic planning consultant to a wide variety of consumer and B-to-B companies throughout his career. Among them: Metromail, Disney Consumer Products, Citibank, Hachette, Time-Life Books, Epsilon and the Franklin Mint., Most recently he has served as Vice President, Direct Marketing at Grupo Abril, one of the largest communications companies in Latin America. Rosenwald is the author of "Accountable Marketing" and the "Allowable Cost Per Order (ACPO)" computer software. He is a contributor to several business and trade magazines in the U.S., and Europe. In Brazil he has written extensively for Exame, the country's leading business publication. Reach him at rosenwal@uol.com.br.

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Horrified by My Party!

Peter J. Rosenwald

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