Matter boxes, as I understand them, are a cross between the grabber and the premium ... a box of items designed for a specific target segment.

It's mildly interesting for potential, in execution it strikes me as pointless trash.

In contrast was the mailer I received from Gillette -- a Mach 3 razor. Not a coupon, a razor. Excellent marketing in the old style, and good use of the bulky package or grabber.

The American Booksellers Association, approached Edward L. Bernays -- the Claude Hopkins of PR. Instead of a modern blitz of pure spin about reading, Bernays targeted an unlikely source.

Bernays' campaign targeted architects and home builders to add built-in bookshelves -- that doing so was a classy touch, in demand, and would therefore increase the sellability of the house. He realized empty bookshelves would target the demand side of the equation.

Combining Matter with Gillette would be the missing touch which would transform the mailing.

Many locales have housewarming packages, delivered to people who've moved. A little like giftbaskets, these are also a little like 'reverse grabbers,' where the items can be an ethical bribe to read a mailer or try a product or service. Like Bernays, this package realizes you've just probably severed the customer relationship with numerous providers and are in the market to set up new ones.

Grabbers and premiums (like those keychains and imprintable pens and mugs) are a bit of a pet peeve. Nobody is really doing much to explore the potential of the medium. Perhaps the Matter box people will as they mature.

Looks like a box of crap to me.

"Matter works with each company to create items you'll enjoy getting, which might be something that explains what the company does, its ideas or its values, or simply something to try out."

WAHOOOOOO!

Kyle,

I think you're being way too polite.

And you went and forced me to pull out my corporate speak translator.

It's a little rusty, but here goes...

Here's what they said:

"Matter is a box full of interesting stuff.

Matter is a new and unique idea in communications that brings companies and people together around real, physical stuff–things you can hold in your hands, keep in your drawer, or give to your friends. It's a new way for companies to introduce themselves by giving you something you might like.

Matter is being tested early in 2008 and the first real Matter box will be created later in the year. If you're interested in receiving the very first Matter box, you can get it here."

Here's what my translator spits out:

1. We're sending your prospects and clients a bunch of stuff.
2. The bunch of stuff has nothing to do with you or your company. But it is free stuff. Everyone likes free stuff.
3. Actually, someone else paid us to include their stuff in the box of stuff we send to YOUR people.
4. If you don't like the stuff, you can give it away or stuff it in a drawer.
5. Our clients have no other ideas about how to impress their customers, so we sold them on sending a box of stuff. Other people's stuff.
6. But we really have no clients... yet. We're just testing the boxes of stuff right now. So you can't actually get any stuff (other people's stuff) sent to anyone for quite some time.

And I guess this is Opt-Out 2.0:

"If you've received a Matter box and don't want to receive anymore, send us an email to contact@matterbox.co.uk"

Apologies, allow me to taunt some more.

The two corp speak geniuses behind this are Artomatic and Royal Mail.

This is all on one page, I've never seen so much so say little:

"For years, Artomatic has championed the value of tangible objects in a virtual world and believes that complex brands, concepts and ideas are much better understood in our hands than on screens."

"Artomatic applied creativity to print production and created a distinctive visual language that lived in the manufacturing and pioneered the use of unusual materials that’s commonplace today. It’s evolved into a strategic consultancy that helps companies use real things to tell their stories better."

"Royal Mail is the UK’s original and leading postal carrier, responsible for the universal mail collection and delivery service in the UK. It delivers 84 million items every working day."

"With privileged access to every UK household, Royal Mail is an important body in UK advertising, yet it has no immediate relationship with the consumer audience."

"Matter is an opportunity for Royal Mail to take a more active and responsible role in fostering a new relationship between advertisers and consumers by creating a creatively led channel; a role that could see it pioneering the idea of advertising you’ll actually like to receive."

Fancy a crack at translating that?

Although you must give them credit for coming up with the idea of taking the good old "sample bag", putting it in a box, and mailing it to people.

Pure genius.

Thank you for stating the obvious. Thanks for participating ...but no prizes awarded at this time.

There's a reason the topic subject line has a question mark.

You could have copy and pasted my line on pointless trash and saved the time of writing. ...Although perhaps not the enjoyment of beating the dead horse which spans everything from grabbers to premiums. Also known to insiders as "Flash and Trash."

What I'm looking for is alternative thinking. Gillette is an alternative. Literally giving away the shaver to sell more blades. Bernays ideas are an alternative. Can you imagine any PR flak of the modern era thinking like that?!

What, to your minds, should Method boxes be doing?

I guess I'm still stuck on the fact that this is just a sample bag in a box.

Yeah Gillette is an alternative. It's a specific marketing campaign -- I'm guessing targeted to specific prospects. Whereas "Matter" is taking a shotgun approach and sending a box of random stuff to a bunch of random people.

To ask what alternatives we can come up with seems to give too much credit to the "Matter" people. The obvious answer would be "a proven lumpy mail campaign to targeted prospects, rather than image advertising parading as direct mail."

As Subtle alluded, by having multiple "grabbers" you essentially have no grabbers. It's a box of crap.

My girlfriend works in the fashion industry. We go to a lot of parties and get a lot of "goodie bags".

Knowing a bag is on offer, she'll make sure she gets one -- Even if it means some kind of inconvenience (er, like carrying around a damn goodie bag all night.)

9/10 items in these bags don't get a second look (I can't tell you how much makeup, cd's, perfume etc we have laying around the house from these things.) They were not specifically requested so they have no value, despite the fact they sell for stupid $$$ in the stores, and are all targeted to the "fashion" industry.

It's only pure luck that something she really wants is in there.

These "matter" things are the same. The items were not specifically requested (to fill a certain need/want/desire of ours) so they have little value to us. It's only random things that catch our attention. Hardly the stuff of a solid marketing campaign.

I just signed up to matter. All they have is my address and approx age (10 year range), yet they're going to send me a bunch of stuff at a relatively significant cost.

What are the odds that it's going to appeal to an ice hockey playing, copywriting Aussie who loves making music?

So what to my mind should these "Matter" people be doing? How about starting with the basics of marketing and working from there. Get real info on your prospects -- find out exactly who there are, what they want, and what they fear -- and fill their needs, wants and desires.

[sigh]

Okay, let's say we run a test. And we find out a set of barbecue accessories works as a premium to doctors and others don't. What gives? Could be professionals are guilty about the time they spend at the office versus family.

...Copy angle: Time saving. Applicable to other professionals ...yes.

PR people send out similar junk to reviewers and journalists. For example a company was sending out stupid plush toy "mascots" announcing some stupid thing fascinating to the company alone.

Alternative: What actually pulls and generates interest ...to Bill ...to Bob ...to Becky sue journalist? A progressive grabber. How this works: Let's say you're a corporation and want your donation to charity covered, or you need an upcoming event covered in order to get good participation. (You can bet a flop will get press).

You have certificates printed "X% of the proceeds from the event will be donated in the name of [...or Do I have to Spell Everything Out]."

Guess who does this. The initials are G.H. and your first two guesses don't count.

Hey guys , just found a great service for grabbers you might appreciate. It's called lumpy mail, even have the tearsheet and Post-it mailing Mr.Subtle is talking about.





Stian

"Nissan. Daren Kay at TMW brought his team together to create this item to prompt people to think harder about the Nissan brand. It’s brave in that it’s about the Nissan brand and not any specific model. A set of crayons that are really soap tell a story about how Nissan?s not what you expect."