The Medium and the Message: What I Learned From Junk Mail

I regularly get direct mail from insurance companies and other insurance-related organizations that want me to sell their stuff. Usually it's a "hot" new Medicare product. (Think about that - do normal people ever think of anything related to Medicare as being "hot"?) Often it's some kind of life insurance thing that's going to make me rich.

The fun card (logo hidden to protect the guilty)

A few weeks ago I got one that was pretty cool. It was a card that, when opened, started playing a fun little New Orleans-style ditty. (I'm assuming you've seen greeting cards that play songs... it was like that). The kids really enjoyed it, and still do once in a while. That was a bit more expensive than a normal piece of direct mail marketing that they obviously thought would be worthwhile to stand out from the other junk.

Here's the thing. The other day I was telling Keri about it, but couldn't recall anything about it other than the music. I couldn't remember what insurance company had sent it or what product they were advertising.

I find it to be an interesting object lesson that it's possible for the medium to overwhelm the message.

That's something to keep in mind anytime you're trying to communicate something you think is important - whether it's your company's marketing message, your cause of choice, or your church's presentation of the Gospel. The medium matters, and creative presentation can be fantastic. But we need to be sure that the medium doesn't overwhelm the message. Because then the people we're trying to reach will completely miss the point.