Direct-mail response

The pattern

This still is filed under Direct-mail response.

Define

A physical letter or pack whose only job is a measurable reply: an order, a donation, a call.

Mechanism

Response engineering. Outer, letter, lift, reply device. Every surface earns its keep or it is cut.

Verdict

We can mail, track, and fulfill, and the unit economics survive the stamp.

Why it works

An old man leans out of the frame and points straight at the reader, singling him out before the headline promises one of the wonders of the twentieth century. The copy names a private worry in plain terms, lost vigour and failing reproductive function from age, illness or excess, and promises Nobel pills restore it. It then gives two routes: the pills at every well-known Egyptian pharmacy, or a free explanatory booklet posted at the agent's expense, a first step the embarrassed reader can take by letter without facing a pharmacist.

The big idea

Nobel pills, sold as a wonder of the twentieth century, restore the vigour lost to age, illness or excess, with a free booklet for the man too shy to ask.

The offer

Nobel pills at all well-known Egyptian pharmacies, and a free explanatory booklet sent postage paid to anyone who asks the agent, PO Box 1877, Cairo. Sudan depot: PO Box 33, Khartoum.

Lines from the ad

عجائب القرن العشرين

Wonders of the twentieth century

حبوب نوبل

Nobel pills

وترسل الكراسة التفسيرية مجاناً وخالصة اجرة البريد لكل من يطلبها

The explanatory booklet is sent free and postage paid to anyone who asks for it

Steal this when

Use it when the buyer is embarrassed to ask in person, and a free, private information piece by post can sit beside the shop route.

The emotion

Written to Hope. It makes the Avoid mistake.

Sold as one of the 'wonders of the twentieth century', Nobel pills promise to restore vigour and reproductive function lost to age, illness or excess, with no proof offered for the cure.