There are lots of different ways to woo a client.

When you look through the annuals of How or Step Inside Design magazine, the badass stuff people do astounds me. Huge campaigns that fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle – this card goes into this box which then leads you to this place on the internet.

It’s great. Most of it’s witty, far from being “on the nose” and can sometimes be obtuse. But that’s part of the fun. The excitement of it all.

Red McCombs Media, for the first marketing campaign under the new Vice President of Sales, took a different approach, however. One that’s far more in your face, and to the point.

Seduction through…chocolate and stress lips

Blatantly, we would tell our clients that we were going to “Seduce” their business. We offered services they needed, and well, they had money the company wanted.

We weren’t that blunt, thankfully, but it wasn’t obtuse in the slightest. We’d tell them we were actively courting them and then send them a few things.

It started with M&Ms, but ones labeled RMM rather than just M&M. We sent them cards with a sexy woman’s lips on them, eating a chocolate and door hangers that said “Leave Me Alone! I’m Being Seduced by Red McCombs Media!”

Eventually, they were sent a card stating, “Red Got Ya’ A Little Something!” Each card had a URL printed on the front, and an individual code. Users went to the website, entered the code, and were given the option of receiving one of five free gifts that RMM would then send to them.

How the site worked…

Diagram 1: Red Loves Ya’ Homepage – Not all of the collateral had this look and feel, as I didn’t have a hand in designing a lot of it. Outside vendors were brought in at the beginning for many of the printed pieces. However, to go with the card (Diagram 4), I wanted a site that was feminine, but wouldn’t be considered too girly.

Diag 1: Red Loves Ya’ Homepage

Diag 2: Red Loves Ya’ Product Page

Diag 3: Red Loves Ya’ Oops! Page

Diag 4: Red Got You a L’il Sumthin!

Red is our corporate color and our name, so clearly, that was a given. Plus, red is an extremely sexy color, and so utilizing a simple gradient, I created a lusty, inviting background. Since I love filigree, and knew that it would add a little class to the pieces and it was reminiscent of the invitation.

Primarily, I needed to avoid hard edges. So I added a soft treatment to the filigree, to the font, to all of the elements to continue the silky nature of the campaign. Though this was a website, I didn’t want to have the standard, default “ENTER STUFF HERE” box, so using CSS and background tiles, an interesting “write on the line” paradigm was used instead.

All of the copy I had written for this piece was obviously cheeky and very familiar. There was no desire to come across as salacious, but subtle inuendo never hurts. So the usual Send Button instead was given the label “Submit to Red.”

For the products page, I carried over the soft, glowing filigree, helping the photos pop-out, and removing some of the “shopping cart” connotation the page could have had otherwise. Some products allowed for monograms – sometimes one initial, sometimes up to three. When a user selected the product they wanted, a little box would appear, allowing them the chance to personalize the piece if applicable.

I continued the cheeky tone into the all of the pages, including the “Oops!” page (Diagram 3), which the user would get if they entered in a wrong access code or a code that had already been redeemed.

Ultimately, the site was successful, with a majority of our prospective clients going to the site and redeeming their prize.