• by Christine Bittar , September 23, 2005

Think it's only frantic job hunters who, to use an old cliché, throw everything out there in the hopes that something will stick? If it seems like marketers are using this tactic a lot more, maybe it's because they actually are.

The increasing number of firms offering less-costly out-of-home media options might be part of the reason. New York-based Ambient Planet's promotional push for TLC's makeover show "What Not to Wear" is an example. In advance of an eight-city mall tour promoting the show, the agency distributed door hangers in such locales as Boston and New York.

The campaign's ability to target and its low cost made it desirable, says Linda Bueno, sales manager at Ambient Planet. The hanger drops blanketed TLC's affluent target by zip code to reach households with annual incomes of $65,000 and up, she says. The cost? A maximum of 40 cents a unit for 20,000 or fewer, with significant bulk discounts. Responses can reach up to 15 percent, according to Bueno. Still, in this particular case, without a coupon or other call to action, success can't be measured quantitatively