From Comperemedia’s Andrew Davidson:
“I recently wrote about how my household received three, extra-large (8×6), offers for Capital One’s Venture card in one day. To me this was a sign of renewed confidence from Capital One and an example of the optimism that is spreading throughout the card industry as competition increases. Since then my household has received three more offers for the Venture card and two for Venture One (the no annual fee version of the card) making it a total of eight Venture offers in just under two months.
All of these offers are extremely creative (some may be test campaigns) with each employing a different approach to capture my attention in an increasingly cluttered mailbox.
Big and Bold: First it was the 8×6 envelopes. For more on these please see my March 17th blog entitled, “Capital One’s 8×6 Envelopes Demand Attention (Alec Baldwin Does Too)” – notable was the fact that while timed perfectly to coincide with the launch a nationwide TV campaign, using Alec Baldwin, there was no integration of the TV campaign in the offer.
Integrated: Next came the first step towards integration. A navy blue envelope with the request to, “Take an exclusive look at our most powerful rewards card.” The offer letter didn’t mention the Alec Baldwin TV campaign but a separate, postcard-style, color insert showed the actor posing the question: “Why settle for less?”
Bold and Integrated: Then came two large, identical, blue and white envelopes exclaiming: “IT’S A NO BRAINER” in bold, capitalized, font. This was a more seamlessly integrated approach – the photograph of Alec Baldwin was on the letter itself and the style was more jocular, in line with the style of the TV advertising. The letter began with, “If you could keep the same job and double your paycheck, wouldn’t you at least consider it? Of course you would! That’s why the Capital One Venture card is right for you. It gives you double miles for every dollar you spend.”
The Personal Touch: The Venture One card offers 1.25 miles per $1 spent (instead of 2 on Venture) and has no annual fee. In an unusually personal touch, for a credit card offer, the Capital One executive’s name and address was shown on the front of the outer envelope as if it came directly from his office. It included the following as a p.s: “Thank you for your consideration. Even if you don’t take us up on our offer today, I hope you’ll keep Capital One in mind for your future financial needs.”
Just open me! In a final plea, the most recent offer we received exclaimed “OPEN ME: You’ll be glad you did. (But your current card won’t be).” The offer included a faux version of the Venture One card and echoed the tone of the “personal touch” offer, outlined above, by acknowledging that we are likely to own multiple cards and requesting that we keep Capital One in mind for the future.
Bold, creative and integrated with a strong product offering and a multi-media campaign. I wouldn’t be surprised if the response rate for some of these offers was well above average; however, the cost of acquisition must be high given the volumes as well as the quality of each piece. The rewards segment is extremely competitive and Capital One is intent on breaking through and making an impact.”
