

Who will you French kiss this New Years? - wyclif
http://davidhauser.com/post/2520448118/who-will-you-french-kiss-this-new-years

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artmageddon
Reposting the article since it seems to be suffering server problems:

"Who will you French kiss this New Years?

Everyone knows that the week after Christmas (and before the new year) is
pretty slow; at Grasshopper alone, I think at least half of our office is on
vacation. Certainly a good time for a break, but if you’re like the folks at
Moosejaw, it’s also a great time to experiment with some fun (and slightly
bizarre) marketing. Case in point is the online retailer’s promotional email
sent out today, cleverly titled, “New Year’s Eve Frenching Service.”

Frenching service?! Right away I’m interested, since this is not the typical
“10% off today only!” email. Why would a retailer who sells The North Face and
skiing gear send this out? Curiosity piqued, I open the email and find this:

So, what is this? This is a stellar example of the kind of creative marketing
that everyone is looking for, and can’t figure out. Even though the email had
nothing to do with the products they sell, here’s why it worked:

1\. Amazing copywriting that grabs you. Groupon’s got over 100 writers. Why?
Because they understand that they key to hooking people is with great, lively
copy. Moosejaw’s email succeeds because the writing is hilarious, engaging,
and completely irreverent. Most brands fail at emails like this because they
play it safe with stiff, formal copy. Don’t. If you want to get noticed,
include copy that grabs a reader’s attention.

2\. Timely messaging. This fun “promotion” would only work at New Year’s or
Valentine’s Day so the timing was perfect. Even better that this is a
historically “slow” week for email, so I might actually read an email from an
online retailer versus sending it to the trash.

3\. Brand personality. Anyone can send an email with a deal, but this email is
actually in line with the Moosejaw brand (which, if you know anything about
their brand, is a little quirky, definitely different, yet still polished).
When you get a box from Moosejaw, it is most likely reused (not recycled), the
wrong size, and has lots of stickers on it. These people understand how to
make their individuality work for them, and they attract customers who
appreciate that level of quirkiness.

4\. Trust in team members. I doubt this came from some marketing genius at
Moosejaw, but instead, a team member that had a fun idea and was allowed to
run with it. In a typical company you could never send an email like that to
your valuable mailing list, but at Moosejaw, you can do it. Guess what? It
works—after all, here I am writing this blog post about Moosejaw.com.

This is creative email marketing done right. Nice job, Moosejaw."

IMO they get creativity points, but it only takes one bad advertising campaign
to do serious damage to your brand - think of Acclaim Entertainment's "Name
Your Baby Turok" promotion that was run a long time ago:
[http://www.industrygamers.com/galleries/opinion-video-
game-a...](http://www.industrygamers.com/galleries/opinion-video-game-ads-
gone-wrong/8/)

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dh
Thanks for reposting, Tumblr still has problems.

I agree you need to be careful when you do creative marketing and there is a
line that can be crossed and will hurt you and your brand. Great example from
Acclaim Entertainment.

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wglb
Somehow the use of "Moosejaw" and "French Kissing" in the same picture just
isn't doing it for me.

But great idea, good luck with it.

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drinian
All of Moosejaw's marketing is like this -- their boxes ship to you with a
stamp saying something like "Sealed with a kiss by JOE," and they hand out
Moosejaw bumper stickers that say something like "Camping * Kayaking * Hiking
* French Kissing" at the bottom.

Their print catalogs tend to be thick and full of Russian models in beautiful
scenery.

It's tough to differentiate yourself in the hiking equipment market; REI seems
like the only company with an extensive array of house-label products, and
everything else you can buy at at least two or three other stores online.
Moosejaw's done a good job of making themselves memorable with this attitude.

Doesn't hurt that it's often possible to find 20% off coupons and the like,
either.

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beoba
Change it to 'Who will you deep throat' and I'll sign up.

PS: works here...

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dh
The blog is on Tumblr, guess they still have more problems

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VMG
Doesn't work at the moment - What is it?

