A few days ago, we got two interesting pieces in the mail.

The first, from a new local high-end children’s wear business, announced the store’s grand opening. I have to give the owners of this business a lot of credit for opening a special occasion kids’ clothing store in this economy. The oversized postcard has (what appears to be) a stock photo of a girl wearing a nice, but not “exquisite” (as used in the store’s tag line) skirt and top. The girl is barefoot so I am assuming that the store does not sell shoes. The postcard announces the grand opening date, but makes no mention of any special events on the day or the weekend of the grand opening. As mentioned, in this economy, this store is going to need to stand out from all of the other places people can shop for dressy kids’ clothes. The owners need to get people into the store. The first few weeks are essential. The postcard does have a coupon for $25 off the purchase of $100 or more, but excludes christening and communion clothing. Below the coupon, there is an announcement: “We have a broad selection of communion dresses.” To me, this is contradictory. You entice me to come to the store for a $25 discount, but it can’t be used on the store’s broad selection of communion clothing, in communion shopping season. Oops….

The second piece is one we receive often, from a local real estate office. I normally do not open these since we are not interested in selling our house right now. But, for this blog, I opened it. I quickly perused it and found a typo, one that would make me question how carefully this real estate agent reviews contracts, let’s say. Well, maybe I am being harsh, but the agent’s “small token of appreciation” is a 2008 magnetic calendar. (The agent actually sent a 2009 calendar, but the damage was done, he did not carefully check his update to his letter.) I will not be calling or recommending him any time soon.

Today is President’s Day, so no mail delivery….Stay tuned….

Today I received a mailing with seven, yes, seven different components. I guess that this mailer had a huge budget!

WSJwine sent me this massive package containing a four-color process letter, a priority order form (both were personalized), a four-panel, (at least) six-color process brochure, 5 1/2" x 7 1/2" business reply envelope, a color insert, a two-color voucher, another letter addressed to Wall Street Journal subscribers and another (at least) six-color process, three-panel brochure. The outer envelope, too, is at least six-color!

To me, this piece looks like a committee of many created a convoluted message. Or maybe it is a repackaged piece. I am thinking that WSJwine had an inventory of these pieces left and then decided to send them to WSJ subscribers, with the idea, if we have them why not use them? The letter to Wall Street Journal subscribers (one of the seven components) enclosed in this package indicates that most Wall Street Journal subscribers received this piece. WSJwine had to select subscribers in the states in which this promotion is allowed and it appears that this may have been all of the database selects they did. After all, WSJwine certainly wasted this promotion on me. I do not drink wine and have no interest in (except to critique) this offer! WSJwine might have had a more targeted mailing had they focused on WSJ subscribers who do buy wine. (There are probably overlays for this.)

WSJwine is a continuity club for wine. This type of package is not one seen today in the age of e-mail, texting, etc. It feels very outdated. (I also wonder how this mailer knows if the person placing the order is truly over 21. I would think that this would be hard to verify. The price of this continuity club is probably out of the range of most under 21, though.) With so many components to this piece, it takes a long time to figure out what I am being asked to buy. The message is not succinct and is repeated multiple times.

WSJwine: Thanks for providing fodder for my blog!

The picks of the mailbag for today's installment are from a major entertainment park and a major personal computing company.

What is it about my last name: Krug? I often get solicitations from companies with my last name spelled in a variety of ways, from Kruz to Crug to Krap to King to Krud, and the list goes on. When a major marketer mangles my name, I wonder how sophisticated their databases are. How are they verifying addresses? Who is managing their merge/purge? This major entertainment park (ok, Disney) addressed this recent promotion to the Kruz family. They did get one demographic right. This promotion was for parents of kids aged 3 to 9, so that fits.

The second direct mail promotion selected for this installment was from computer maker, HP. I was dizzy just looking at the piece. On the front cover alone, there were more than four typefaces used! There were more than 15 products promoted on the piece, too. This may be an effective way to get previous customers (since I purchased something from HP before) to re-think their current computing needs, yet, there was so much detail. The legal description of the promotion took up half a panel of the four-panel piece!

I just heard the mail truck, so I am off to check out what came today!