Victoria's Secret
The Victoria's Secret Christmas 2002 offering is enough to leave even jolly ol' St. Nick hot under the collar. The annual Christmas catalog was mailed to consumers in late October and features scantily clad models sporting the latest in lingerie. In addition, the 172-page catalog offers a wide array of merchandise including jewelry, shoes, make-up, and even some bedding. While the catalog offers numerous gift ideas for women, it also includes at least one item for men: the "Very Sexy For Him" cologne spray, body wash and after-shave. Product prices vary from $15 for a change purse to $249 for a hooded suede coat. Of course, for consumers with more expensive tastes, there is "The Fantasy Bra." This 320-carat brassiere features a 60-carat pear-cut Mouawad Mondera diamond and includes a pair of matching 168-carat panties. At $10,000,000, it is something of a bargain compared to last year's $12,500,000 "Heavenly Star" bra. Sadly, holiday discounts are not available for the luxurious "Fantasy Bra;" however, on all other merchandise, buyers are entitled to save $15, $30, $75, or $100 off $100, $150, $250, or $500+ purchases, a standard Victoria's Secret discount incentive.
Futurisk
A recent mailing from Futurisk, a financial risk management company, finds clever inspiration in the popular "Worst Case Scenario Handbook" series, and uses it to promote insurance solutions so that businesses might "Never again blame bad weather for bad sales!" While the "Worst Case Scenario" books typically describe rather absurd situations for which the answers are only remotely useful, Futurisk's 5-3/4" x 7-1/2" self-mailer, entitled "Business Survival Guide," offers practical, actionable solutions in four categories (rain protection, snowfall protection, hot or cold temperature protection). In addition, "Futurisk Options" are offered, which are insurance policies provided on a daily, monthly or seasonal basis. Prospects are encouraged to call the toll-free number or to visit the company's Web site for a free quote. Although it is rare for traffic building promotions such as this to include any pricing information, the self-mailer does provide a hint on the cost of premiums: "... as low as 5% of the requested protection or $50 per $1,000 of protection." Of course, the mailing goes on to emphasize that the expense of Futurisk weather insurance is potentially outweighed by "what bad weather will cost your company."
Drugstore.com
Taking a page from online partner Amazon.com, Drugstore.com emailed customers recently with "An important announcement...." As the result of consumer suggestions, Drugstore.com has unveiled three new savings programs to reward customer loyalty. The email comes in the form of a thank-you note and sets up an empathetic tone with recipients by acknowledging their harried schedules ("...your days are busy and your to-do list seems to get longer...") and the ways in which Drugstore.com tries to help. The first and most immediately gratifying element is "everyday free shipping," free standard shipping on nonprescription orders of $49 or more. "drugstore.com dollars" is the second loyalty program. Every nonprescription item purchased during a calendar quarter will yield an automatic 5% credit, which will apply to a customer's first nonprescription order in the following calendar quarter. The program is unique in the limited time frame in which to accumulate loyalty points and the automatic execution of the discount on subsequent orders. Finally, "your diamond deal" is another Amazon.com inspired innovation (vis-à-vis Amazon's "Gold Box" offers). Four discount offers on specific merchandise are presented with the opportunity to choose one. Like the Amazon program, the offers are customized according to the customer's previous order history.
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.
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