Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

I received an irresistible email this morning. It came from Ted Dale. Did I know Ted? I didn't think I did, but it had an interesting subject line, so I decided to open the email and give Ted a chance.

"Subject: When the darkness comes your watch will still show you the right time."

I read that and thought, "Ok fine, I'll see what it is Ted wants". I knew there was a 99.9% chance he was just gonna try to sell me a watch, but he went about his selling with an attention-grabbing lead, and I took the bait. So the email opens up and to my surprise, no pictures of knock-off discounted Rolex watches. There was just one line of copy followed by a link.

"Lose all your weakness with a Submariner SS watch. Come on and click"

I don't even want a Submariner SS watch, but what I did next surprised even myself... I clicked that link. I clicked it with no remorse. I didn't even feel like a sucker for clicking it.

Why was this email so effective? A creative pitch.

"When the darkness comes..." plays on everyone's anxiety about the insecurity of the economy. Then once you took the bait the email didn't use the stereotypical approach to selling watches, rather there was just one more interesting line about losing all your weakness. I assume this would appeal to the target demographic of Submariner SS watch buyers (men who are insecure about their masculinity). So there I was, responding to a SPAM email by clicking on the link. Where did it take me? Well, evidently the SPAM campaign has been so effective that the host has noticed the traffic and taken the site down. This was their note:

"SPAM Violation! This site has been banned for SPAM violations. If you have any questions please contact technical support."

So, thankfully I didn't end up with a new Submariner SS knock-off watch. But I did learn a powerful lesson.

A creative pitch can truly help sell the unsellable.