It’s common practice among copywriters to maintain a “swipe file” of ads to provide inspiration and ideas for their own work. In 1984, renowned copywriter Denny Hatch simplified this practice when he started the newsletter WHO’S MAILING WHAT! based on his personal library of over 200,000 direct mail packages. The newsletter gave subscribers valuable insights into which direct mail packages were working and which weren’t. You could also order copies of any of the mailing packages in the library.
In 1992, WHO’S MAILING WHAT! was purchased by North American Media Group (publishers of special interest magazines, including Gardening How-To). Not only does the newsletter continue as Inside Direct Mail, and the direct mail archive still exist, but an email archive has been added. Over 500,000 emails are available in 180 different categories, including Gardening and Catalogs-Flowers/Plants & Gardening. The archive is updated monthly.
Subscriptions to the Email Campaign Archive, which give you access to the entire searchable library, are $497 per year. I haven’t tried it myself yet, but it sounds like all it would take is one or two good ideas gleaned from the library for the subscription to pay for itself.
