#1 - At my job (an advertising/marketing/design firm), I work on email marketing trends and best practices (among other things). I received an email from Crate & Barrel (I now actually read many of the emails I get from large retailers to see what their strategies are). I was so impressed with the opt-in copy that I wanted to click through and opt-in again. I even posted it at work so everyone else could see how clever it was. You couldn't read the fine print if I put a screen shot of the email, but the opt-in message says,
"Did someone forward you this message? Skip the grapevine. Opt in
to receive Crate and Barrel email. Click here to hear it first."
This may not sound all that amazing to you, but, believe me -- this is the most creative opt-in message I have ever seen, and I've been paying attention.
#2 - Last week for work I had to go to a client's office to sit in on some interviews. Everyone that came in had these neat-o notebooks (I take a lot of notes, and I'm really into cool paper, stationery, and notebooks/journals). So today I did some digging and found the maker of these "Black n' Reds." After exploring the website, I was utterly impressed. Not only are the notebooks they make really cool, but they actually only make and only sell notebooks. It was refreshing to see a company that is so focused. These days it's practically impossible to find a company that isn't trying to be everything to everyone. This brand knows its niche!
#3 - Tonight I had the TV on (Duffy is traveling for work and it's just too quiet without him - plus, game 6 is on!) while I was taking care of some stuff on the internet (talk about textbook media consumption). I saw a commercial for Jenny Craig on tv (the one with Queen Latifa in a boxing gym). Right when the commercial ended, I clicked thru my email and the new page had a Jenny Craig banner ad featuring Queen Latifa. I don't know if this has ever happened to anyone before in the history of the world, but to me, it was amazing! A media planner's dream come true. When planning advertising campaigns the ideal is to reach the same audience in many different media to create a memorable message. Call me a skeptic, but I never thought it could ever work as well as it did tonight. (I'm still a skeptic - I don't think it will ever happen again)
After #3 and the ensuing thoughts, I had to pause and ask myself, "Am I really an advertising nerd?"
Yes, yes you are.
