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What many clients don't believe is that there are alternative ways of creating impact with a piece of direct marketing without spending lots of money.

If a high impact creative is used in the right place at the right time then it can be both incredibly effective and cost effective. One campaign we did was on a thin budget but after looking at the client's brief we sent out a piece of art paper and instructions for the recipient to doodle on it, and then commissioned art based on the doodles and sent them back to the artist in frames. This effectively communicated the message about their bespoke services with a targeted and personal approach. And because of the media used, the message had longevity, because most recipients were so impressed they hung the work on their wall.

So the “whys” may vary, but what actually makes a good high impact creative? Like any DM, targeting is critical; having a clear purpose, having a clearly defined proposition and, cliched but true, the final visual comes down to thinking outside the box.

The creative has to be purposeful but conceived through lateral thinking. View it as the recipient, thinking of the reaction you are you looking for and work backwards from that -- high impact is a type of direct marketing which is more emotional and less rational. However, as the earlier example illustrates, high impact does not just have to be about getting a measurable response but also to change brand or product perception but you can't achieve both at the same time.

Gimmicky creative is terrible if it's just done for the purpose of being different and is then ineffective. High impact requires a degree of freedom within the brand and because of the break down of these boundaries it can often be too ridiculous -- there has to be a message behind it. Most importantly the creative has to be consistent with the brand and there are some things that brands shouldn't do. Some more traditional clients such as financial and investment companies think they shouldn't go down the route of high impact direct marketing, and many brand managers in this sector are nervous about this particular marketing challenge as they don't have a history with it. The fact they haven't tried high impact may go in their favour when received by the consumer.

The decision to go high impact has to be based on what the client is trying to achieve and the likely cost. Contrary to popular belief, it does not have to be limited to low volume campaigns. Admittedly, the greater the volume, the higher the risk, but if you can justify the approach for a small volume, then it should equally justified for larger target groups.

So what are the golden rules of high impact DM?