In mid-November, I received a solo mail letter from Geico offering a "Free housewarming gift". There were a few problems with this. I had already been in my home for six months. Creatively, it is exactly the same as the letter I received in August which arrived after three months at my new address. The only differences between the two solo mail packages were the line breaking in the third paragraph and that the first one included a code above my name in the address field. It appeared to be odd to reference the fact that I received moved in a mailing that arrived three months after I settled in at a new address, so it is even more odd for the exact same mailer to arrive another three months later. If the message is off mark the first time, wouldn't it be even more off the mark the second time?
I was ready to give this a Fail for Timing when I noticed in the mail six-month renewal notice from my current auto insurer. Auto insurance policies typically have six-month terms. Could Geico have intentionally timed the mailing to coincide with my policy renewal? If so, Geico should reference the competitor's bill rather than resend the same out-of-date message. That would be a Fail for Creative.
Regardless, I love those gecko return address stickers.
Lesson: If you are timing your direct communication based on an event, reference that event. If you missed the event by months, don't even mention it.
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