Peer Review: Output - alt.direct.channel

Moving past the prosaic days of print catalogs, direct marketers have begun to show creativity with web sites and brand advertising. Witness CDW's TV commercials, PC Connection's sweepstakes and Insight's college football bowl game. The newly flamboyant companies still focus on product sales and exemplary customer service, but they also put more emphasis on branding--or at least on being aggressive.
CDW's branding campaign likely will rollout by Q4, targeting buyers at small and medium-sized businesses. In a humorous spot previously created for ZDTV, a CDW service rep comes to the rescue of a customer. The company wants to shake its old mail-order image as a faceless if friendly order taker and replace it with the reality that CDW offers dedicated, well-trained account managers. The catalogs won't go away, however. CDW will continue catalog marketing, even as it looks into options in national TV, print and business publications, says vp of marketing Joe Kremer.
Insight, too, started brand advertising when it shifted from a mostly consumer mix to one with 90 percent business customers. The first brand campaign, launched a year ago, is refined quarterly in a quest to target IS professionals. "The main focus is the Insight logo and personality," says vp of marketing Chuck Jarrell.
The ads, positioned in the front and not the direct marketing sections of magazines, all feature photos of sales people or support staff. In September Insight will stop running ads in PC Magazine and Computer Shopper but continue in PC World and other trades.
Insight is planning new campaign material for fall, including a TV ad to run during the Insight.com Bowl. The company creates all advertising in-house with the exception of last year's TV spot, which was developed by The Motta Co. in Phoenix.
By contrast, PC Connection uses its catalog as its primary marketing vehicle. The company also runs two-page ads (created in-house) in PC Magazine and PC World each month, but has seen a steady decline in the response rate from those ads, says Robert Wilkins, svp of product management and merchandising. As the best place for the latest product information, magazines are being replaced by the Internet.
So, PC Connection has advertised on Yahoo, Excite and ZDNet, but Wilkins isn't optimistic about that form of advertising either. "We think the industry is in for a big fall," he says. Banner ads "don't pull results in." What to do, then? "We focus on having an excellent customer relationship and really advertise and focus on those services," he says. "I don't think it works to go out there and say, 'Here we are, come order from us.'" --NW