In order for a piece to be effective, DM needs to be directed, not just direct; physically engaging with a message that is relevant to the audience. I have years of experience using different, creative form-factors and an in-depth knowledge of print production that has helped me create pieces that are both cost-effective and striking.
The biggest challenge with direct mail pieces is preventing it from instantly getting pitched. One of the ways to prevent this is by having a form factor that invites some sort of interaction. The most common is the ambiguous letter, but this usually just results in resentment when the customer finds out that it isn't a bill or a check and just another piece of junk mail. This particular bit of DM avoids that with a this unique puzzle-like form factor. The fact that it folds down to a standard postcard size significantly reduced mailing cost, which offset the greater production costs. The other benefit is the significantly increased surface area for messaging. The visuals were a combination of environmental images from Microsoft's stock library and a model shoot that I directed. Given the large print run, the custom shoot didn't add significantly to the cost, but gave the piece a narrative feel with the costume/pose changes that is difficult to achieve using stock model photography.
The client got on board with this admittedly silly theme. Three color printing helped reduce printing costs on this limited-run piece while still being on brand and visually striking (his was before full color digital printing was an option). The biggest benefit was that we got to keep the Godzilla toy after the shoot was done.
