#13 The 800-year History of Direct Marketing

 http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2018/07/13-800-year-history-of-direct-marketing.html

 

Issue #13 — Monday, July 2, 2018

Posted by Denny Hatch

The First Direct Marketing Campaign 800 Years Ago

  

CHARTRES, France, June 15, 1194 — Lightning struck and kindled a massive fire. Chartres Cathedral burned to the ground. The only elements intact were the façade, west towers and the crypt.

        

For the community of Chartres this was a catastrophe. The very symbol of the city was in ruins. Worse, lost for all time was one of Christianity’s holiest relics—the robe believed to have been worn by Mary when she gave birth to Jesus Christ.

The Bishop of Chartres, Regnault de Mouçon, wanted to start rebuilding immediately. But the townspeople, devastated by the huge loss, had no stomach for such an undertaking.

 

Bishop Regnault de Mouçon (d. 1217), Chartres Cathedral
 

Mary’s robe was not only holy, but also had the mystical aura of being the city’s amulet—or good luck charm. It kept everybody safe. To the residents of Chartres, rebuilding was a non-starter.

        

A couple of days after the fire, Bishop de Mouçon was at the smoking ruins delivering a passionate plea for rebuilding to a small collection of villagers. Suddenly a procession of monks, nuns and priests appeared, slowly marching up through the smoke from the crypt bearing the reliquary with Mary’s robe intact. It was saved!

        

To Regnault de Mouçon and the God-fearing folk of Chartres this was a sign from the Almighty the cathedral must be rebuilt. The bishop launched a furious letter-writing campaign to French nobility and rich people all over Europe. 

In addition, Regnault cut a deal with Richard the Lion Hearted (with whom France was at war) enabling him to send fund raising mailings into England.

The  winding Labyrinth in Chartres' nave 
with its atmosphere of myth and mystery 

The rich noble families of France and England responded with cash and gifts. So did the many guilds of workers, the equivalent of unions back then—shoemakers, wheelwrights, bankers, vintners, coopers, furriers, bankers, etc.

        

Chartres was rebuilt bigger and better than before. As an eternal “thank you,” the donors’ portraits and coats of arms were included in the magnificent 2600 square meters (172 bays) of stained glass windows of the new Chartres, where you can see them today.

 

Chartres' Glorious, Eternal Thank-you to:
(left) Vintners' Guild, (right) Furriers & Drapers

 

This was the very first instance of direct mail marketing.

Takeaways to Consider

• Direct Mail/direct marketing is a discipline going back more than 800 years.

• No other advertising medium can claim 800+ years of testing what works and what does not.

• Direct mail is “intimate advertising.” 

—Stan Rapp, Rapp & Collins

• Direct mail is theater in print.” 

— George Duncan, freelancer

• "Always say "Thank You! It's the polite thing to do."  —Roger Craver, Legendary fundraiser

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Word count: 447

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At age 15, Denny Hatch—as a lowly apprentice—wrote his first news release for a Connecticut summer theater. To his astonishment it ran verbatim in The Middletown Press. He was instantly hooked on writing. After a two-year stint in the U.S. Army (1958-60), Denny had nine jobs in his first 12 years in business. He was fired from five of them and went on to save two businesses and start three others. One of his businesses—WHO’S MAILING WHAT! newsletter and archive service founded in 1984—revolutionized the science of how to measure the success of competitors’ direct mail. In the past 55 years he has been a book club director, magazine publisher, advertising copywriter/designer, editor, journalist and marketing consultant. He is the author of four published novels and seven books on business and marketing.

CONTACT 
Denny Hatch
The St. James
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Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-644-9526 (Rings on my desk) 
dennyhatch@yahoo.com

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