Gardener's Supply Company
The purveyor of tools and accessories for the garden and home, Gardener's Supply Company, recently mailed the latest
installment of its annual holiday gift catalog entitled "37 Great Gifts." This is also the first mini-catalog effort tracked from this mailer. Unlike the full-sized gift efforts received in past years, the diminutive 6" x 4-3/4", 24-page book spotlights a small collection of items from Gardener's Supply Company's vast selection, such as Christmas wreaths and ornaments, birdfeeders and gardening tools. The gift ideas are moderately priced, with most ranging from $15 to $35 (all under $90). To order, customers must call a toll-free telephone number or visit Gardener's Supply's Web site.
Columbia House
Conventional marketing wisdom might suggest that membership-based companies focus their efforts on retaining existing members, using house mailings to expand the relationship between the club
and consumer through member-only offers. On the surface, a recent house mailing from Columbia House Music Club seems to fly in the face of this idea, urging established club participants to cancel their membership. The goal of this sly-as-a-fox promotion strategy, however, is not to break off relations with existing customers, but instead, to reinvent and reignite the exchange. After canceling the current membership, Columbia House's members are allowed to reenroll at the club's introductory terms, a generous offer of 12 free CDs or 15 CDs for $6.95, plus unspecified shipping and handling with either option. Upon accepting these renegotiated terms, members are then obligated to purchase an additional 5 CDs at regular club prices.
The Sensible Sound
Audio electronics reviewer The Sensible Sound employs an unconventional tiered offer in a recent mailing. Rather than offering multiple subscriptions of varying terms, The Sensible Sound's 4" x 9-1/2" self-mailer promotes a constant 1-year offer for new
subscriptions with the option to add varying numbers of back issues. The primary cash offer, a one-year subscription to the magazine without any back issues included, is set at $19. Subscriptions that add the three, seven or 16 most recent back issues to the original one-year offer are priced at $29, $38 and $52 respectively. The final option given, entitled "The Audio Education of a Lifetime," includes all available back issues of The Sensible Sound (roughly 39) for $83. Ordinarily, when back issues of a publication are marketed in a promotion (e.g. Parabola Magazine or Andrew Harper's Hideaway Report), they are positioned as a separate offer from the primary subscription-generating effort.
Seen in the Mail items are identified and researched by MarketRelevance.com, an online direct mail and email promotion tracking resource offered by ParadyszMatera. CM staff conduct the interviews.
