Design Within Reach Offers Discount and Free Shipping
Design Within Reach (DWR) mailed its March 2009 book featuring a 15% off discount as well as free shipping by a certain date. DWR specializes in distinctive modern design furnishings and accessories. The cover of the catalog is plain white, with the word ?free? printed across in lowercase. The cataloger often uses stark images on its covers though most often they are photographs of merchandise. At the bottom, the Design Within Reach logo is presented with a caption that reads ?Save 15% + Free Shipping.? The mailer rarely offers incentives never mind two incentives with no minimum order. In preparation for the spring, outdoor furniture is heavily promoted in the beginning of the catalog, featuring pages of pool and deck furniture, gardening tools, and lawn games. Products include the Tuuci Manta Shade Platform Umbrella ($1,450), Boulevard Tables ($330 - $350), and the Fold-It Cart ($320). The remainder of the catalog presents iconic designs such as the Eva Zeisel Coffee Table ($1,500), the Arco Floor Lamp ($2,696), and Murano Chandelier ($3,200) along with short biographies of the designers who created them. Orders can be placed by phone, fax, or online.

Helen Keller International Mails Magnifier Freemium
Helen Keller International (HKI) mailed a striking glossy black fold out envelope that asks recipients to ?Imagine Living In Darkness?? Four flaps on the back open to reveal the continuation of the cover creative ??when there is so much beauty in the world? above a photograph of a field of bright flowers. Contents of the promotion include a pocket magnifier freemium secured within a clear pouch, personalized address labels, and a four page letter. The letter begins ?In the next minute, 12 people will go blind.? It then goes on to outline two of the group?s initiatives ? Eye Health and Nutrition programs ? through which tools, training, medicine, and food supplements are provided to countries around the world. The letter also examines some of the ailments that HKI works to treat, like trachoma and vitamin A deficiency. Checkmark bullets explain how the different amounts on the $25/$65/$144/other ask ladder can help people both locally and abroad ($144 allows a Bangladeshi community of 16 families to grow their own homestead gardens). On the back of the reply card, the organization is identified as ?One of America?s Most Trusted Charities.? A pie chart resembling the earth shows that 82% of donations go to prevention of blindness and malnutrition.

Garden Design Tries Soft Offer
Garden Design magazine from the Bonnier Corporation recently mailed two colorful promotions with nearly identical content in different sized packages, varying from the publication?s usual white #10 voucher packages. The 6? x 9? envelope introduces Garden Design as the magazine that enables readers ?to think like a landscape architect, visualize like a garden designer, and select plants like a horticulturist.? Above the copy ?Exclusive Invitation/RSVP,? a window reveals a ?2 Years Free! free gift!? involvement sticker. A text box further explains the offer as ?three years for the price of one.? An invitational letter from the magazine?s Executive Editor touts the free issue and buy-one-year-get-two-free offer while also detailing the content of the publication. A lift note explains that the recipient has received this promotion because he or she fits the profile for such a publication: ?Smart. Sophisticated. Design savvy. Creative. Artistic.? A foldout insert features a variety of photographs of distinctive landscapes to illustrate Garden Design as the ?unquestioned authoritative voice of exterior design.? A second insert highlights the travel bag premium on payment given to subscribers. The second effort includes all the same elements in a green #10 package with the exception of the ?Why You?? lift note. Both packages present the soft offer as $21 for three years (21 issues, one free).

The direct mail promotions appearing in Mail Stream are tracked and written up by ParadyszMatera, a media brokerage services company, through its MarketRelevance(tm) Promotion Library. Click here to visit their site: ParadyszMatera.com.