We all know that Christmas is a consumerist
orgy loosely cloaked in some Christian tradition to keep us all from feeling
too guilty, it is frequently a time when we require some excuses for the
excesses of our behaviour.
On the big day itself, I’ve become
increasingly aware of the quantity of marketing messages I consume. I suspect
this is because they’re the only e-mails I’m getting and consequently they’re
more obvious. For the last few years I’ve made a note of those companies and a
vague promise that I would unsubscribe from their messages. This year I am
following through on that vow.
The roll call of
commercial entities that were certain I was desperate to hear from them on
Christmas Day was:
Bamboo Clothing
Banana Republic (2)
Body Shop
Coffee Tasting Club
Dr Martens (2)
Ebay
Etsy
First Choice
Honest Brew
iBooks
Instaprint
Jessops
London Review of
Books
Marella Cruises
Ribble Cycles
Richer Sounds
Secret Escapes
Size
Sweatshop
Teletext
holidays
Thomas Cook
TUI
All of them now find they have one fewer
customer to sell to. If any have asked why I’m unsubscribing I will send a link
to this blog.
As someone who is loosely involved in
marketing and writes ‘sales’ e-mails to clients, I often suspect that I’m
missing the holy equation of how frequently you should communicate with your
customer base. One thing I’m certain of, however, is that it’s not twice on
Christmas Day like Dr Martens and Banana Republic.
And what wondrous message did these
missives impart? The vital, and wholly unexpected, news of their January sale.
Who’d have known that such an event was imminent? Thank the Lord that they
reminded me, praise be.
Trying to disguise it as a Christmas
greeting was disingenuous too. Merry Christmas from your friends at….. doesn’t
entirely wash as I know my friends know me better and are similarly otherwise
engaged.
I recognise that brands work hard to make
an impact. Presumably this approach works for them or they wouldn’t do it. I
think they should be a bit more inventive, there’s no skill to scheduling a
mass mailout and it doesn’t make the recipient feel special or wanted. It just
makes us feel like another consumer. There should be at least one day’s respite
per year. Give it a rest.
photos from Unsplash - Stoater & Tim Mossholder
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