From: Janie and Jack
Subject Line: Fresh Casual Collections Deliver
Date: Tuesday, April 11, 2006

From: babygap.com
Subject Line: New Outfits for Sunny Days
Date: Tuesday, April 11, 2006

From: Gymboree
Subject Line: New Island Styles and Don't Forget Rise & Shine!
Date: Thursday, April 13, 2006

In contrast to the campaigns I discussed on April 11, all three of these messages include fun, subtle graphical treatments that don't obscure the product offerings.

Comparatively speaking, I love the refinement and simplicity of the Janie and Jack message. Gap and Gymboree offer up a few more options with three submessages each. Which is more effective: Gap's new vertical or Gymboree's more traditional horizontal submessage placement? I like the immediacy of seeing Gap's submessages directly to the right of the main message, no scrolling required, but do they add too much visual clutter, and do they almost feel like Google sidebar ads? Is this the start of an industry-wide no-scrolling-required submessage placement trend?