We're all shilling for the man. Define DM versus advertising for your dad. He sees little difference between the pharmacy flyers cluttering his porch on Sunday morning and the expensive beer campaigns cluttering that afternoon's football game. Actually, try explaining the difference to yourself. We believe the real difference is the timing of the sale.
Advertising is the date.
DM's the invitation to spend the night. Another reason DM creative needs to be as good advertising is consistency. Trendy buzzwords like integration and convergence dress up what's ultimately about sounding like yourself throughout your corporate communications. Think of ads as dating, DM as an intimate proposal. In both cases it's you who's making the sale.