From: BananaRepublic.com
Subject Line: Our favorite espadrille has arrived
Date: Thursday, February 16, 2006

From: J.Crew
Subject Line: Editor's pick: the Fulham shoe
Date: Thursday, February 16, 2006

Both J.Crew and Banana Republic presented single-shoe-family messages yesterday, which makes for a great side-by-side comparison.

Banana Republic has been going a little overboard with multi-messages, submessages and "Free Shipping" promos lately, so it's refreshing to see them doing something simple; something closer to J.Crew's usual MO, actually. While the executions are somewhat different, these messages are comprised of remarkably similar components: a "collection" hero image, a basic romance copy block, and a direct call-to-action. So which wins my click-through? While I personally find espadrilles remarkably ugly, the Banana Republic message convinces us with smart copy that "If you only allow yourself one shoe this season, make it this espadrille," positioning it as a "must-have" rather than a nice-to-have "editor's pick" like the J.Crew Fulham shoe. So I guess we'd purchase the Fulham only if we were buying two pairs of shoes this season.

On an unrelated note: the espadrille hero image is several pixels thinner than the copy block above it and the menu bar below it, making an otherwise clean email look sloppy. Count those pixels, kids!