Redesigned TV Guide Mails New Promotions
To create awareness of its change to a full-size magazine, the former digest-sized TV Guide mailed two new promotions. A 10-1/2" x 8" magalog is positioned as a “Free Preview Edition” that looks similar to the actual magazine, from its “Can't Miss Episode! CSI” cover to its sample editorial. Articles include the cover story, dubbed “Criminally Sexy Investigators” and an article about reality stars off-camera entitled “15 Minutes Later…” The magalog carries a soft offer of $25.72 for 26 issues including eight free. It is billed in four installments and stated as 99¢ per issue. TV Guide also mailed a 6" x 9" glossy yellow package with multi-colored copy reading, “The Biggest Television Event of the Season isn't on TV” (the teaser referring to TV Guide’s increased size). This traditional launch-style package describes the redesign in an enclosed letter, and shows it in a fold-out brochure. The front of the folded brochure reads, “That Was Then…” with photos from the smaller book’s storied past -- from the 1950s up to “Sex and the City.” The unfolded brochure reads, “This Is Now…” and shows the same new “CSI” cover in full size. This promotion uses a lower-priced soft offer of $19.76 for 26 issues, including eight free. It is also billed in four installments, and stated at a lower 76¢ per issue. In addition, a designer tote bag is given as a premium on payment. Responders use a “Yes!” involvement sticker to accept their free issues of a “new, BIG, full-size TV Guide!”

The Gorilla Foundation Offers Calendar Freemium
The latest package from The Gorilla Foundation includes a wall calendar freemium that features photographs of gorillas that participate in learning sign language, one of the organization's many projects intended to help create a better future for great apes. The gorillas are pictured alone or with kittens and staff members, accompanied by passages about them and the progress made by the Foundation. To help potential donors identify with these "gentle beings," Foundation president Penny Patterson shares stories from her work with Koko and Michael, two gorillas that participate in the Foundation's interspecies communication project. Patterson specifically highlights the mental reasoning intrinsic to gorillas, likening their emotions to those of humans. Similar to promotions from The Jane Goodall Institute and other wildlife fundraisers, the organization also speaks out against the African bushmeat trade, the hunting of wild game including gorillas and chimpanzees. Patterson writes that only through education will the gorilla species be saved. This education comes in the form of books like "Koko's Kitten" and other materials disseminated by the Foundation. The ask ladder is set at $15/$25/$50/$100/other. A $20 donation will provide Koko with a bushel of greens for two days and a $50 donation will produce a case of educational books that will help to end the bushmeat trade. Donors who join as A.P.E. (Automatic Pledge Enrollment) participants at $10 or more per month will receive a signed copy of "Koko's Kitten."

Gold Violin Offers Products for Seniors
The latest book from Gold Violin shows the cataloger shifting away from its origins as a gift catalog and into the general merchandise market. With the subtitle, "Helpful Products for Independent Living," the catalog targets seniors with products designed to help them maintain an active and self-sufficient lifestyle. In line with this mission, the featured product on the cover is a coil illuminated pocket magnifier ($55 - $65), which is available in 3x, 5x and 7x strengths. A faux sticker on the front cover promotes the book as "Our biggest, best catalog EVER!" and inside, 64 pages feature items like walking sticks ($39.95), big-button talking phones ($149.95) and wireless TV earphones ($149). An eight-page spread offers products such as talking calculators, thermometers and wristwatches and large-print playing cards from Lighthouse International, a nonprofit that helps people overcome the challenges of vision impairment. All items come with a 30-day "unconditional guarantee." The catalog also features a promotional tie in with the membership organization AARP. Shoppers are directed to the back inside cover for a list of member privileges which include discounts, congressional lobbying and information on personal finance. For a limited time, customers of Gold Violin can join for $12.50 for one year, with a travel alarm clock offered as a premium.

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