Selling health insurance to dead people is not a very profitable business, since they don’t need it. Yet because of bad information in marketing databases, plenty of dead people receive marketing mail… including Medicare supplemental insurance solicitations when they’re about to turn 65. Why do dead people keep getting mail, and is it possible to stop it before it sets off fresh grief? [More]
direct marketing
Walmart Launching 3500 Store-Specific Facebook Pages To Promo Local Deals
By 10.12.11
The one major criticism I’ve always leveled at Walmart is that the chain is just too small. If they were really doing things right, all our cities would be enclosed and connected in one long continuous Walmart where all our desires can be met at everyday low prices. To edge closer to that utopia, Walmart is launching several new Facebook pages. 3,500 of them. Each is pegged to a specific local store and will serve up deals just for that store. [More]
Great Moments In Targeted Advertising
By 5.31.11
Theoretically, the coupons that print out for you at the grocery checkout are carefully targeted to you based on your buying habits over time, or on the products in your cart on that particular day. Which is why one reader of Passive-Aggressive Notes was just a bit insulted when she purchased a single pint of Ben & Jerry’s and some chocolate chips (for a baking project, she swears) and the machine spat out this Slim-Fast coupon. [More]
Best Buy's Black Magic Tracks My Stealth Purchase
By 6.25.10
Reader bethSmash is freaked out that Best Buy sent her a follow-up email even though she didn’t give the clerk her her address or even flash her loyalty program card when she bought a wireless router. She assumes the corporation connects her credit card number to her email address, which she must have given Best Buy when she signed up for the program, through some sort of privacy invasion trickery. [More]
Lowe's Is Totally Hitting On Me And Other Customers
By 3.2.10
Steve was taken aback when Lowe’s asked him and other customers for their phone numbers as they were checking out. [More]
Men's Retailer Begs For Customers
By 10.2.09
Here’s a new take on direct mail that we’ll call the “painfully honest but kind of sad” approach. George Anderson at RetailWire writes that a local men’s retailer sent him the following plea via snail mail.
Aetna Fires You From Your Job Without Your Company's Permission
By 1.24.09
Richard O’Connor, the Vice President of Marketing for Aetna, might want to rethink how his department handles its customer retention program in this economy, particularly when it comes to telling people that they’re still valued even though they’ve been let go. Chris received just such a letter today, and now the VP of his company’s HR department is trying to figure out why Aetna fired Chris.
Feazel Roofing Responds To Misleading Junk Mail Accusations
By 6.18.08
Last week, we wrote about a roofing company that had sent out a “Defective Roof Notice” to potential customers. The blogger who received the junk mail thought it was deceptive, and so did we. To make matters worse, he wrote a complaint to the company and was ignored—but a few weeks later a fake “customer review” appeared on his site that was traced back to Feazel. Now the owner of Feazel Roofing has responded and apologized for the junk mail:
2.3 Million Customer Records Stolen, Sold To Direct Marketers
By 7.3.07
Fidelity National Information Services, a financial processing company, announced today that one of its employees had stolen 2.3 million customer records containing credit card, bank account and other personal information, and sold that information to an unidentified “data broker” who then sold the information to various direct marketing companies.
Maybe Worse Than WaMu Snookery
By 10.4.06
After showing “WaMu Snookers With Scary Letter” to consumer expert Edgar Dworsky, he told us something potentially more frightening than just the letter being a well-disguised solicitation.
WaMu Snookers With Scary Letter
By 10.4.06
For a direct marketer, nothing is infra dig as long as it gets a sale.
Direct Marketing Justifies Its Existence
By 8.29.06
Tucked into an otherwise mundane WP column about Junk Mail Awareness Week (October 1st, mark your calendars!) are some fabulous quotes from the Direct Marketing Association on how junk mail saves America. (Thanks to Ian!)
The Pantsuits of Yesteryear
By 3.31.06
Enjoy this fetching new James Lileks vivisection of a vintage 70’s Fredricks of Hollywood catalogue. With plunging satire and swooping prose, it’s sure to guide your eye where it wants to ramble: on the hard-bodied landscapes of retro libertines.
