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I started my direct mail career as a package insert broker. Names Unlimited, a very large firm, picked me because I was the low account executive on the total pole at the company. I loved inserts; I've never seen so many unsavory characters crowded into one marketing vehicle in my life.

The time frame here is near the very beginning of package insert use in our industry, and you couldn't make a living without encountering at least one rip-off attempt per week by an ethically challenged inserter who had found out before anyone else that this medium could make a lot of money for him. It was like the Wild, Wild West. After five years, I discovered that Clint Eastwood films were an adequate emotional substitute and decided to specialize in the mailing-list end of the business.

Now the field has changed. Uptight corporate types abound; that's what happens when a really good marketing idea matures. But the dynamics, the processes of the field, are the same. So I would like to consider package inserts from two standpoints: the marketing elements of the medium, and the most outstanding difficulties to be encountered if one wishes to insert into carriers' packages.

If you are marketing to high-impulse response, inserts are for you.

Consider the environment for package insert response. The prospect receives the desired merchandise in a container (box, carton, etc.) of some sort; he opens the container with anticipation and curiosity. He wants to get to the merchandise, but between the buyer and the goal are, in no particular sequence: popcorn, tissue paper, a bill of lading, and…a set of fliers. Package inserts.

Typically, the prospect will leaf through the inserts quickly. At this point the central marketing problem arises: Can the inserter temporarily divert the buyer's attention from his anticipation of examining the merchandise he's purchased, and to the piece that's been inserted? And, can he compete successfully for the buyer's attention with the other inserts in the package?

It is here that major differences between the copy approach to package inserts and solo mail emerge. An insert piece must have a very strong headline, a stronger incentive to respond, and it must attract the prospect by boldly showing both.

It's estimated that, in solo mail, prospects assign about five to seven seconds to an initial consideration of each piece as they leaf through their mail (naturally, those pieces that grab them will get further consideration); divide that five- to seven-second period in half for package inserts.

So the headline in a package insert is not primarily the object that energizes the reader to peruse the smaller body copy (as it is in solo mail); it is the overwhelming impetus to the sell. Unless the prospect can be convinced by the headline, chances are the advertiser has lost him. Similarly, if a premium is offered, its appeal will be muted and get lost unless it's an integral part of the headline!

A look at the actual kinds of inserts that are competing successfully will reinforce these observations.

Of the 250 some-odd current package insert programs, about 35% are for books or magazines. The great majority of them are continuity book club programs, whose chief marketing staples, as we all know, are spectacular up-front premiums.

Package inserts were made for continuity offers: a small, lightweight folder highlighting the latest and greatest book, all in color; a headline highlighting the premium; and a coupon.

Of the 65% of inserters selling merchandise or services, what stands out most are the continuities. There are six designer check or stationery offers, all counting on repeat business because it's in the nature of these deals to get repeat business. By the same token, there are currently six insurance company inserters and a host of music clubs.

One other thing needs to be noted about package inserts. Because of the limited number of insert programs available — there are about 1,000 of them, compared with 27,000 to 30,000 mailing lists — the target audience must be considerably wider than in solo mail.

Niche marketing ends at package inserts; there are too few niche programs to support a campaign. The successful insert merchandiser, if he wishes to conduct a campaign involving more than a few insert programs, must have a product with a broad enough appeal to accommodate a good many of the offers available.

You don't have to be an obsessive-compulsive to manage a good insert program, but it voudn't hoit.

Indeed, package insert management is one of the most demanding jobs in direct mail marketing. There are many reasons for this:

• In standard list rental, each segment of a list ordered leads to one invoice. In package inserts, you could have many invoices for each order. This occurs when a time-defined package insert order is taken — for example, an annual order, or an order for all packages in a particular month. So the bookkeeping is a bear; and the administration of this bear is borne (forgive the pun) by the broker.

• The inserter ships in several cartons — for large continuation orders, many, many of them. That sounds relatively simple, but who's going to check whether all the cartons have arrived? If a carton gets lost, response results get skewed, and after all the shrieks of agony have died down, someone has to work his way backward to find out what really happened. Who would that be? Most often, the broker.

• The order of insertion of the material in the cartons must be noted in advance. Cartons must be numbered (1 of 8, 2 of 8, etc.). The reason for this is that (1) the inserts in each carton may have different key codes, and (2) insert orders often include an A/B split — different pricing, or a different message — and the inserter must calculate, in advance, the time at which he can receive data on each key. This calculation is based on the carrier's estimate of how many packages he'll be sending month to month. When that fails, who will be blamed for this development? You bet.

• Which brings me to the most difficult task of all: getting an accurate estimate from the carrier on how many packages will be going out each month, and checking that the estimate is correct.

The stakes are very high: If the broker sees that insertions are below the estimate, he can alert the inserter to ship additional inserts to cover the order and maximize his volume and response. If the broker realizes that the carrier is placing fewer inserts than he originally signed on for, he could advise the inserter to shift inserts from the carrier's site to another program. That's one of the reasons it's in the inserter's interest to have smaller-quantity keys shipped to the carrier.

The other reason is that it's impossible to read the results of a key when the inserts corresponding to that key are distributed over a matter of months. Therefore, it's important to keep track of the program from month to month.

Who gets the responsibility for managing all this? One guess. And if the broker wants to earn his commission, that's the way it should be.

Given all that, it's easy to see why proper management of package insert programs is essential to their success. Even with good management, disasters sometimes occur.

One of my most vivid memories as a package insert broker is getting a call from a major insert carrier to tell me he'd never received 246,000 inserts from Columbia House. It took six weeks to find that the fuselage of the American Airlines plane carrying the inserts had opened accidentally over a farm in Iowa, and that two dozen cows had ordered some terrific disco albums.

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Bob Castle (bcst@bcassoc.us) is a New York-based marketing consultant.

Of the approximately 250 current package insert programs, about 35% are for books and magazines. The majority are continuity book club efforts, whose chief marketing staples are lavish up-front premiums.

Among the 65% of inserters selling merchandise or services, again continuities stand out. A sampling: designer check and stationery offers, insurance company programs and music club promotions.