One-to-One Marketing: Direct choice - CNBC direct mailer

CNBC was promoting its financial programming - big time. Great! International broadcaster of realtime, up-to-the-minute financial goodies, to an info-hungry audience. Spending big bucks below-the-line.

I opened the box ... and how did its agency spend the client's big budget?

A wannabe game of Monopoly called, variously, CNBC Stock Exchange, CNBC Global Stock Exchange, and CNBC Stock Challenge.

Now, media types may not be famed for their interest in high finance, and may well regard it all as a bit of a game, but Monopoly? What a cliche.

Look around. Your average art director would think of it - and does so with monotonous regularity.

I mean, what a shame! Here was a rare chance to really make a strong statement about the brand, to create something that truly reflects the cutting-edge, rapid-fire, high-tech, in-your-face-in-technicolour, information-is-king, crucial and super-cool contemporary nature of CNBC and the information universe it dominates ... blah, blah, blah. And we get given a game your granny could play. Come on, guys. Don't stop at the first idea that comes into your head, no matter how unbin-able you can make it.