Frontline Perspectives

’Tis the season for gingerbread and marzipan, but here at MarketSense we bake up new creations all year ’round. As our holiday gift to you, we’d like to share our recipe for persuasion, complete with secret ingredients.

1 cup of clarity

1 tablespoon of benefits

1 teaspoon of specificity

1 dash of urgency

A pinch of YOU — because it’s all about the “you,” the client

Combine, stir and let sit for at least 24 hours. Stir again, take a taste and add more of the above as needed. Repeat until you achieve desired consistency. Bake in any shape — direct mail, collateral, advertising — until even a toothpick won’t poke any holes in the idea. Cool, share and enjoy.

Many of us at MarketSense love to bake. At lunchtime on Wednesdays, our HOLEY KNIT! knitting group gathers around a plate of cookies or cake to add a few rows to the scarves and hats we’re making as gifts for friends, family and charity. Last year, we organized a holiday cookie exchange among our group, but this year we’re doing something a little different to benefit others.

Production Artist Margret Rossi came up with the great idea to host a bake sale so everyone at The Mx Group can try our holiday treats. All proceeds will go to Heifer International, which empowers millions of people to rise above poverty through gifts of livestock. We hope to raise enough money to give an impoverished family a “knitting basket” of llamas and sheep. The family will make yarn from the animals’ wool and sell it in their local marketplace to earn an income.

It’s clearly a worthy cause with great benefits for someone with a specific, urgent need. If you’d like to join us in making a donation, please visit heifer.org — and maybe organize your own bake sale to persuade others to give, too.

See what we’ve backed up for our clients >