Susan received a letter after the November mid-terms from Peter Hutchinson, independent candidate for Minnesota governor. The election is long over and Peter lost the governor’s race by a very large margin. (I think he got about 7 percent of the vote.)

I’m surprised his campaign, or the Independence Party, has any postage money left at this point. But what really surprised me was that Susan opened the letter, read it and made a point to show it to me. The first sentence read: We want to take a few minutes to personally thank you for your remarkable commitment to Minnesota and to our campaign. The words personally thank you for were underlined with the same pen that signed the letter: Peter. The letter reminded Susan of the letters her grandfather used to send her. Typed on undersized stationary, casually folded into a little envelope and signed with a pen.

It’s hard to know why this letter got opened and read. Maybe it’s because it created an emotional reaction linked with the warm memories Susan has for her grandfather. Maybe it’s because it came after the election, when it wasn’t expected, or perhaps it’s the mark of a human hand that made the connection. To get noticed and to communicate effectively you don’t need slick graphics or over-the-top creativity. You need to make a sincere connection.

-Jeff