From: Forth & Towne
Subject Line: Important News about Forth & Towne - Please Read
Date: Monday, March 19, 2007
From: holdeverything
Subject Line: save 20% on your first west elm purchase
Date: Wednesday, July 16, 2006
Some of you may have already heard that Gap Inc. is already shutting down it's fairly-new Forth & Towne brand. Their email notification brings up a good question: how do you handle bad news, like a store (or brand) closing, via email?
First things first: it is important to break the news to customers. You don't want them making pointless trips to your retail locations, only to find them shuttered. But how you break the news is everything. Here, Forth & Towne erred on the side of being a little too, well, sad. This email just feels depressing. It's important, even with negative news, to keep upbeat and highlight a customer's opportunities. For instance, Forth & Towne could have focused more on sale opportunities at local stores, or could have plugged some of their other brands in an attempt to convert shoppers to Banana Republic or Piperlime, like HoldEverything did with west elm in this example from last year. I realize Forth & Towne will probably cover these things over the course of the next couple of months, but at least touching on them in this initial message would have helped soften the blow.
I am all for innovation, but this is ridiculous. To start, Neiman Marcus appears to be exceedingly proud of the "unfolding magic" which is possibly the crappiest video ever made. Come on! What the heck is that!?
And then there's Crate & Barrel. They're so excited about their first TV commercial that they sent an ad about an ad. Wow! A TV ad? Amazing!
Finally, we've got Bergdorf Goodman selling CDs. Maybe I just don't grasp their greater "live-in-our-brand-bubble" vision, but how does a Bergdorf Goodman CD collection make any sense? And who buys CDs anymore anyway?
From: Neiman Marcus
Subject Line: The Christmas Book is here!
Date: Tuesday, October 3, 2006
From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Preview our new TV ad
Date: Thursday, October 5, 2006
From: Bergdorf Goodman
Subject Line: Volume: Preview & own the music of Bergdorf Goodman
Date: Friday, October 27, 2006
From: Hollister
Subject Line: Take a Trip with Hollister - Downtown to Surftown
Date: Thursday, July 20 2006
Regardless of my feelings about Hollister and parent brand Abercrombie & Fitch - namely that they use sex inappropropriately to market to children - I have to applaud their brilliant branding efforts. I do not frequent their website much less their stores, but even through my limited contact with the brand - via email - I have developed a very strong sense of the Hollister "imaginaire." Hollister is not just a clothing retailer. It's a place, a texture, a way of life, a state of mind - an imaginary west coast refuge of laid-back beauty. It's in the words, the font faces, the imagery. It's an incredibly well-constructed illusion that promises teen paradise is as close as slipping on a "Mountain Road Beach Henley".
As the subject line reads: "Take a Trip with Hollister - Downtown to Surftown". Click here to see a technically impressive execution of this seductive imaginary world.
From: Hollister
Subject Line: Just Cool. Hollister Back to School 2006
Date: Thursday, June 29, 2006
Gee, they didn't teach threesomes in the sand back when I was in school.
From: Starbucks.com
Subject Line: Coming soon – a must-see movie from Starbucks Entertainment
Date: Wednesday, April 26, 2006
From: Diesel
Subject Line: Calling all unsigned musicians!
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2006
From: Starbucks.com
Subject Line: Catch the new Dan Zanes CD at Starbucks
Date: Wednesday, May 31, 2006
You can't go a single day without seeing a Wall Street Journal article about new media channels, TV online, and advertainment, etc. Since media is "so hot right now," I guess we shouldn't be surprised to see coffee and clothing retailers expanding their brands into movies and music. I actually saw "Akeelah and the Bee" (I also drink about four cups of coffee a day) - it was cute - but somehow seeing the "Starbucks Entertainment" logo at the film's start just felt wrong. We'll see...
From: Old Navy
Subject Line: Summer in the City - Dresses for Baby Start at $16.50
Date: Monday, April 24, 2006
It's one thing to watch Sex and the City with your baby, but it's quite another to start modeling your infant on Carrie and Charlotte. What's next, baby stilettos? An apple martini in the bottle?
From: Nike Women
Subject Line: Make a Splash with the Nike Swim Collection
Date: Monday, April 10, 2006
Who is this email addressing? It comes from "Nike Women", but the racy Sports Illustrated closeups were clearly photographed for men. And what is this email selling? I don't see any swimwear. I only see Maria Sharapova, who happens to be a tennis player, not a swimmer. The "playful polka dots" and "quick-drying fabric" referred to in the body copy aren't even visible in the blacked-out imagery.
This email is addressing no one about nothing. So much for women's athletics. Thanks Nike!
From: FreePeople.com
Subject Line: Go with the flow in Free People dresses
Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2006
From: Barneys New York
Subject Line: Fresh Cannabis
Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2006
There's a Pot Party in my inbox! Today Barney's surprised me with a crazy "WE LOVE CANNABIS" message! Seems a little off-brand for Barney's, despite their attempt to cloak the idea in an elegant, minimalist black box. And maybe it's only because I read it in tandem with the Barney's message, but Free People's dress campaign looks more like it's recommending we let body odor and Marijuana smoke "flow around and through" us. But heck, at least it's on-brand. 4:20, dude!
From: Bliss Beaut-e-mail
Subject Line: winning news from bliss
Date: Friday, February 10, 2006
While I love Bliss products, I sometimes don't love their brand tone. "I-can-have-it-all" sassiness can look too much like "I-can-have-it-all" bitchiness, as is the case with this smirky gal "who's been two-timing." To send something like this so close to Valentine's Day comes off as, well, bitchy.
From: RedEnvelope
Subject Line: Save up to 50% at our Winter Sale.
Date: Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Both the psychological angle and the creative execution of this email are just plain weird. Are we performing an Anti-Santa ritual with those candles? All the same, I'd be curious to know how it performed. A lot of us return to our email on December 27th feeling tired, bloated and disappointed. Perhaps this campaign was a profitable exploitation of the post-holiday blues.
From: Abercrombie & Fitc
Subject Line: Abercrombie & Fitch: Christmas 2005 Casual Luxury
Date: Thrusday, October 27, 2005
This is a HOLIDAY SEASON intro message for an APPAREL company for TEENs and PRE-TEENs. Isn't this boy cold with no shirt on at Christmastime? Isn't it illegal to send porn to kids? This is more of a brand question than an EDM question, but it should be addressed.
From: BananaRepublic.com
Subject Line: Announcing the Queens Center Banana Republic store grand opening...
Date: Monday, November 1, 2004
What are they selling? Clothing or call girls?
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