Celeb Boutique: Look before you tweet

Twitter is a popular way to connect with customers. Trends can be followed and shared with customers, sometimes automatically. This post on consumerist.com is an example of being too aggressive. An offshore social media agency for celebboutique.com had misinterpreted a trend -- no doubt because they were not following U.S. news media.

Lessons:

1) Don't rely on a company located physically and culturally far from your target audience to develop and execute your marketing communications. 

2) Don't leave your marketing communications on autopilot. You own it, not your agency.

7-Eleven: Inconvenient Timing, Quick Recovery

National Slurpee Day is tomorrow, July 11. 7-Eleven sent an email to their loyal Slurpee enthusiasts reminding them to get their free Slurpee "today". However, it was sent two days early. Perhaps some eager junior person hit the Send button too quickly, or 7/11 11:00 am was incorrectly programmed as 7/9 9:00 am. Regardless, this is an easy Fail for Timing.

 

 

Three and a half hours later, 7-Eleven emailed a correction. While it is a late recovery from a Fail, at least the email keeps the mood positive. I look forward to my free half-Coke half-Cherry Slurpee tomorrow!

Chase: Double the Mail, Double the Fail

Two, two packages in one

I recently received not one but two solicitations for the Chase United MileagePlusExplorer card. The pieces were addressed exactly the same to me. The lack of removing duplicate names is a classic Fail for List.

Is this a side effect of the Continental / United merger?

The inside flap of the self-mailer shows my mileage balance -- a prudent and creative method of demonstrating the potential of the credit card by showing how many miles I can get for acquiring the credit card. However, in this case, the difference between the two mailers also suggests why I received two of them. One reflects my miles balance on my legacy Continental OnePass account while the other reflects my balance on a legacy United MileagePlus account. 

The man holding the credit card on the mailer I received appears to be African-American while the man holding the credit card on the landing page, billboards, and TV ads look like a young Jeff Goldblum. Why the difference? Did Chase attempt to appeal to a presumed heritage based on the fact that my last name is Davis? If so, that would be a Fail for List & Creative because I don’t fit the racial profile.

Chase Bank appeals to an incorrect racial profile -- twice.

Lessons: 

1. Dedupe your solicitation mailing list by name and address. 
2. Carefully consider when and how to use race-based visuals.