Friday 24 December 2010

Bleeding Edge Marketing

 The case you are about to read is true.  The names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

Dear Bill,

XXX Insurance Company is pleased to provide you with this desk calendar for your home or office.  You'll notice it resembles three people linked together, like our logo.

[skip the paragraph that explains what the three people in the logo represent and the one telling me how wonderful their insurance is, ending with this sentence:]

And should the unexpected happen, rest assured that XXX will handle your claim quickly and efficiently.

To our valued customers, we hope you enjoy this small token of our appreciation . . .

I'm sorry, I just can't go on.  I got this dizzy, disoriented feeling like I had been whizzed back to the 1950's, before the days when absolutely every machine that has a computer chip in it boasts a calendar, back when a desk calendar might actually have been useful.  Small token, indeed!

It amazes me that people still produce ugly little desk calendars and that others take the time to build marketing campaigns around them.  These are not exactly salad days for the insurance industry.  They can't afford to waste a single mass mailing. 

Face it, the days of the desk calendar have long since disappeared.  Deal with it and move on.

2 comments:

Phyllis Stoffel said...

Technology is a part of moving on and coping up with the society's changes. It is not only in marketing that one needs to move on. Take accounting for example. The human mind was intelligent enough to handle digits manually and then latter with the help of computers. Now, it introduces software such as accounting crm software
and distribution accounting software, which will eventually provide a big help in such work.

Anonymous said...

Dude, every article looks so professional ..world class write up!! have added to my Google reader and please keep updating!


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