From: Ann Taylor
Subject Line: Your Summer Checklist, plus a Special Online Offer
Date: Tuesday, June 20, 2006

From: J.Crew
Subject Line: J.Crew at the beach
Date: Thursday, June 22, 2006

Here, Ann Taylor and J.Crew push summer wardrobes. While I'm charmed by Ann Taylor's aspirational environmental photography and checklist graphical treatment, J.Crew's silhouetted product imagery is more effective in conveying the idea of immediate convenience, virtually packing our beach bag with coordinating pieces. However, I was disappointed by J.Crew on click-through; I'd hoped to see all of these products listed on one multi-buy landing page, but instead was taken to the women's shop category, forced to search around for myself. While J.Crew took the time to carefully lay out our summer wardrobe in this EDM campaign, they did not go so far as to actually group the featured products in one location on their website, breaking the implied promise of a packed bag.


From: Lands' End
Subject Line: Off to Summer Camp
Date: Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Lands' End Summer Camp campaign is brilliant in it's relevance and usefulness. Here, rather than just pushing summer product, they offer a detailed Camp Packing Checklist. Lands' End provides something of value to the customer free of charge, while at the same time becoming a partner in the packing process, no doubt influencing customers to purchase all that extra underwear from them.