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Behind the Scenes: 11-Year Direct Mail Control for NFPA

IT’S LIKE A BASEBALL PLAYER FINALLY BEING VOTED INTO THE HALL OF FAME.

Recently, I learned my 11-year control for the National Fire Protection Association was awarded a DMA MAXI award and considered by the judges, one of the "great achievements in direct marketing."

A little background.

Remember those old impact printers that would clatter and clammer and use green and white sprocket paper?

Well, I got the brilliant idea to marry them with two-part NCR forms, thinking my package would look really official and likely appeal to geeky engineers -- the NFPA target audience.

Did my client say, forget it, Josh, there’s no way we’re spending that kind of money?

No. They said, sure, we’ll buy up every used impact printer on the East Coast.

Each year, for the last 11 years, the marketing staff would put on ear muffs and curse my name as the printers would shake and shimmy and noisily spew out thousands of letters and forms to build new member acquisition.

When a machine would break, they would scour the Internet for used parts.

The rest, as they say, is direct mail history.