Post by Steven Dale
Mike sends along the following scan a direct mail advertisement from Denver’s Regional Transportation Authority. You can see the full narrative after the jump:
Apparently the comic was sent to people throughout the Denver region with a couple of one way vouchers and a survey.
Is it attention-grabbing and untraditional? Most definitely. Is it effective advertising? I’m not so sure.
I have a hard time believing that such an ad could persuade people to take public transit who don’t already. (Camp notwithstanding, I also have some issues with the gender issues and stereotypes the comic suggests.)
On the flip side, I love the tag at the end – watch for more exciting adventures coming soon in your email!
Because the ad is just so bizarre, I kind of want to know what those “exciting adventures” are. In fact, I really want to know. You probably do too. It creates anticipation. You read that and you immediately want to know when you’re going to see those new adventures – you want to know just how far RTD is going to take this.
The fact that I’ll have to experience those exciting adventures by email is, frankly, a bit of a let-down. Compared to a direct-mail comic book, continuing my adventure by email seems chintzy. I understand it, however, from a cost-perspective and am willing to forgive it.
Imagine, however, if those two free one way vouchers led to a legitimate exciting adventure. Imagine if those vouchers were specific to a route on a specific day and at a specific time. And imagine if those vouchers promised an exciting adventure if you dared use those vouchers.
Admit it: You’d want to see what adventures awaited, wouldn’t you?
I would.
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