The creative team here at Infogroup/Yesmail continues to earn recognition for 'out of the box' email design. Literally, out of the box. Our HP campaign was recently recognized by Chad White for visually surprising recipients with a playful design that... More

The creative team here at Infogroup/Yesmail continues to earn recognition for 'out of the box' email design. Literally, out of the box. Our HP campaign was recently recognized by Chad White for visually surprising recipients with a playful design that has Shrek's arm breaking outside of the grid. As he points out, this isn't a common tactic used today, but when it is used it certainly does grab your attention. Our HP Monsters Vs. Aliens message was also designed to break the grid and received awards from Creative Media and OMMA. A shout-out to our award-winning creative team here at Infogroup/Yesmail - nice work!

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Yesmail is proud to announce the birth of a sparkling new website: cokeusa.com!  This website was developed by Yesmail and our partner R2integrated.Coke USA provides The Coca-Cola Company with an excellent opportunity to communicate directly with key decision makers... More

Yesmail is proud to announce the birth of a sparkling new website: cokeusa.com!  This website was developed by Yesmail and our partner R2integrated.

Coke USA provides The Coca-Cola Company with an excellent opportunity to communicate directly with key decision makers at home in a refreshing new way. The website speaks to an audience thirsty for an online experience with content that resonates with practicality, pertinence, and accessibility: not mere marketing and promotion. In this way, Coca-Cola can strike a unique relationship with consumers, increasing loyalty through the gift of inspiration, entertainment, and education.

By combining Yesmail's fresh content strategy that serves up relevant, useful, engaging, and inspiring articles and tips with R2integrated's beautiful, intuitive, and fluidly functional build, we created an experience specifically designed to connect with decision makers: a site that speaks directly to a consumer with a friendly style and respect for their busy lives.  

Check out the new website and let us know what you think! Less

Our parent company, infoGROUP, in Omaha, Nebraska recently started a campaign aimed at generating stimulus for local small businesses.  Created by infoGroup's Executive VP, Stormy Dean, the Storm Dawg Marketing blog offers suggestions to small business owners, as well as... More

Our parent company, infoGROUP, in Omaha, Nebraska recently started a campaign aimed at generating stimulus for local small businesses.  Created by infoGroup's Executive VP, Stormy Dean, the Storm Dawg Marketing blog offers suggestions to small business owners, as well as an opportunity to receive some custom advice.  Business owners submit their stories to the blog, then once a month Dean selects one business to receive a tailored marketing plan and a starting budget.  The company's progress is documented on the blog for others to read and learn from.

In Dean's own words, "This is a great example of where capitalism meets doing good in the world." By helping small businesses, "hopefully they can create new jobs and along the way we can learn something."

Ralston's Trinity United Methodist, one of the first clients, needed to get the word out about their new community center and benefited from a fund raiser that infoGROUP helped to host.  Church members found it to be a great learning experience.  They hope others who visit the blog will benefit just as much from reading about both the positive and negative outcomes of the event. "It's exactly what we were looking for," said Trinity United's Pastor Nancy Kaye-Skinner.

This is social media in action, at its best - helping and teaching others during a tough economic period, while preparing for a promising future.  For more information on Stormy Dean's small business stimulus plan, visit www.stormdawg.com.

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Aeropostale launched a new site today, but unfortunately failed to the test the message in Outlook 2007. A good reminder (again) to always test the display of the email campaigns you are sending.  See below:... More

Aeropostale launched a new site today, but unfortunately failed to the test the message in Outlook 2007. A good reminder (again) to always test the display of the email campaigns you are sending. 

See below:

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No not a reference to a Kelly Clarkson song, but instead a really strong campaign from Timberland encouraging those that have not purchased and/or visited the site in a while to 'come back'. A great example of a marketer segmenting... More

No not a reference to a Kelly Clarkson song, but instead a really strong campaign from Timberland encouraging those that have not purchased and/or visited the site in a while to 'come back'. A great example of a marketer segmenting their audience and building assumingly automated programs targeted at users based on their respective activity level. These types of campaigns as we've seen with our clients can be instrumental in driving overall customer retention and incremental sales.

Do you have a 'win-back' program? You should!

Check out the email below:


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I love the Neiman Marcus email today creating a very meaningful sense of urgency to act now - e.g. 'buy now!'.The email promotes a 50% off and Free Shipping two-hour promotion that started today at 11:30AM CST and ended at... More

I love the Neiman Marcus email today creating a very meaningful sense of urgency to act now - e.g. 'buy now!'.

The email promotes a 50% off and Free Shipping two-hour promotion that started today at 11:30AM CST and ended at 1:29PM CST. Equally impressive was the send time for the campaign, a little more than an hour prior to the event occurring - plenty of time to be ready to take advantage of the offer.

While the campaign itself is impressive, the campaign should further reinforce and remind marketers of the opportunity to utilize email to drive a sense of urgency with their subscribers. Historically, campaigns that are positioned as 1-day or limited time have a much higher response. For an active audience a limited hour promotion likely will perform even better and can be used as a way to generate incremental sales.

Here's the creative:




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This morning CNET had an article on how Spam now accounts for 90.4% of all email sent. The report from Symantec is clearly reputable and I'm sure based on very scientific data. That being said, I was surprised by how... More

This morning CNET had an article on how Spam now accounts for 90.4% of all email sent. The report from Symantec is clearly reputable and I'm sure based on very scientific data. That being said, I was surprised by how 'un-surprised' and really un-phased I was by the percentage. Perhaps it is because I like most individuals have become numb to the daily exercise of upon login selecting the 'spam' that I see and deleting it. I've actually felt that my own percentage of spam has decreased over the past few months. Perhaps that is due to our corporate spam filters or simply due to my ability to delete the messages faster - thus paying less attention to them.

The overall point being that as individuals continue to become numb to spam -- real spam -- the spam that you know you did not subscribe to and that is unintelligible in its design and offer -- we as marketers need to heighten our own efforts to ensure that our email campaigns do not suffer the same fate; that of numbness to respond.

What are you doing to ensure your subscribers do not become numb?
- Have you re-designed the creative for your campaigns?
- Have you adjusted your overall strategy (targeting, content, subject lines, delivery times)?

Or are you in a rut of send on x day - same day, same time, same content, same subscribers, same generic offer, etc...

Beware the rut of numbness! If you need help getting out of the trap, let me know.

To see the full article from CNET, see below:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10249172-83.html  Less

Sometimes we hit the 'send' button before we intend to do so. One would assume that was the feeling generated at the Academy Awards today when they sent the email below with the subject line:"TEST HTML Email for Membership Mailing"To... More

Sometimes we hit the 'send' button before we intend to do so. One would assume that was the feeling generated at the Academy Awards today when they sent the email below with the subject line:

"TEST HTML Email for Membership Mailing"

To be quickly followed by a "Correction" email - sent very quickly, as in 24 minutes after the original send...

Below are both emails for posterity:

First email - note the broken images and incorrect subject line - don't forget to TEST!

Second email - "The Correction"

Of course there was a third email which featured the appropriate subject line and images that functioned; however, we'll leave that one out.




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CircuitCity.com sent a "re-launch" email today announcing the re-launch of their website under new ownership. The email campaign does a nice job of accomplishing several items facing a company coming out of bankruptcy under new ownership; including:Branding: Consistent use of... More

CircuitCity.com sent a "re-launch" email today announcing the re-launch of their website under new ownership. The email campaign does a nice job of accomplishing several items facing a company coming out of bankruptcy under new ownership; including:

• Branding: Consistent use of the Circuit City brand and a nice introduction of the new brand - Systemax. I also like the treatment of the "Re-launch Announcement" - it is descriptive and clear.
  

• Letter of Introduction: Nicely embedded letter explaining to the subscribers why they are receiving the message, what happened, and what to expect moving forward.
  

• Subscription Info: Clear language depicting why the new brand is mailing the subscriber and what they can do if they'd like to be taken off of the list.
  

• Promotions: As a part of the announcement, they included a few promotions encouraging the subscriber to give the new company a chance.
  
  

Overall - a great a message and great learning for other brands to follow if they are in a similar situation.

Below is the message:


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I really love the Kodak Gallery email creative. Kodak Gallery is promoting their 'Mini Photo Book' and the design does an amazing job of highlighting the photo book in use. Additionally the four call-out boxes do a great job of... More

I really love the Kodak Gallery email creative.

Kodak Gallery is promoting their 'Mini Photo Book' and the design does an amazing job of highlighting the photo book in use. Additionally the four call-out boxes do a great job of jumping off the page and highlighting the critical value points tied to the book.

In respect to the creative itself, note that you too can utilize these best practices:

• Call-out boxes/bullets that break the linear structure of the design
• Sharpness of images contrasted against fuzzy images - the contrast is key
• Clear, consistent action buttons (e.g. "Start Your Book" & "Order Prints")

Great, great design!

See for yourself:


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The Susan G. Komen for the Cure has a great email today promoting their fundraising application within Facebook. It is essentially a nice way for users to extend their fundraising efforts through their network of friends. As many marketers start... More

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure has a great email today promoting their fundraising application within Facebook. It is essentially a nice way for users to extend their fundraising efforts through their network of friends.

As many marketers start to adopt additional integration points with the leading social media sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc), they will also start to utilize email as a way of driving channel adoption. From adoption, marketers will turn to utilizing email for promotion usage and analyzing performance to fine-tune and improve their program through segmentation, personalization, and sophistication.

Today many marketers are simply focused on presence and adoption; however, it will serve them well to be thinking broader in terms of ultimately how to monetize these social media applications. This example by Susan G. Komen for the Cure is a testament to a marketer thinking several steps ahead.

See for yourself:



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I love the email from Kodak that comes out monthly. The email campaign selects a customer submitted picture as the "Kodak Moment of the Month". In this example, a photo from Kodak customer Ellen S. Whittle shows a high school... More

I love the email from Kodak that comes out monthly. The email campaign selects a customer submitted picture as the "Kodak Moment of the Month". In this example, a photo from Kodak customer Ellen S. Whittle shows a high school JV football game tackle in the rain. The picture captures the essence of high school football and has an amazing splash of water from the field.

Many marketers have been using customer reviews - another form of customer generated content on their web site and more recently in emails. Not too many marketers though have created a way for customers to submit content that can be re-purposed and used for their marketing needs.

Kudos to Kodak for taking it a step further! And be on the look-out for next month's "moment" featuring a 'spectacular travel photo'.

Here's the campaign:


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Another good reminder to test your email campaigns prior to sending them out... As an example, Old Navy recently sent an email that had two prominently displayed broken images near the top. I would highly recommend a "QA Checklist" for... More

Another good reminder to test your email campaigns prior to sending them out... As an example, Old Navy recently sent an email that had two prominently displayed broken images near the top.

I would highly recommend a "QA Checklist" for any email marketer to ensure the email campaigns they are sending have the highest quality.

A quick starting point:

• Ensure all links are clickable and arrive at the intended destination
• Ensure all images render
• Ensure overall message format appears appropriate in different email clients and browsers
• Ensure overall rendering speed for the message is good for high-bandwidth and low-bandwidth subscribers
• Ensure appropriate footer including CAN-Spam language is included

Below is a screen shot of the broken images:


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Love the creative from Finish Line!What makes the creative jump out is the use of a hand-written font and the leg drawings. Further, the shoe laces appearing tied together creates a nice visual separation that draws the eye. Love it!... More

Love the creative from Finish Line!

What makes the creative jump out is the use of a hand-written font and the leg drawings. Further, the shoe laces appearing tied together creates a nice visual separation that draws the eye.

Love it!


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Many marketers have a standard 'welcome' message that is sent shortly after a subscriber signs-up. adidas has a nice twist on the classic welcome that I wanted to share with everyone.Two great twists:Utilizing 'Personalities' - from the images of today's... More

Many marketers have a standard 'welcome' message that is sent shortly after a subscriber signs-up. adidas has a nice twist on the classic welcome that I wanted to share with everyone.

Two great twists:

1. Utilizing 'Personalities' - from the images of today's leading athletes to the call-out in the text to "Follow football star Reggie Bush, to NBA All-Star Dwight Howard", adidas has it down with leveraging the star personalities at their disposal to create a stronger connection with their subscribers.
2. The "Insider" Club - a great call-out to join 'adidas Insiders'. The special community allows subscribers to:

"Share your ideas and thoughts with key people at adidas and see it play a direct role in new adidas products and marketing."
"Get a sneak peek into what adidas is going to do next."
"Get to know other like-minded members and network with them."
"Have an impact on the future of adidas."

When you click-through on the link you are prompted to take a quick survey which indicates whether you are qualified to be an 'Insider'. Unfortunately I was not, however, I love the concept.






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Wikipedia has a great recap of the history of sex in advertising. As an example, check out this image from a 1921 National Geographic magazine... a scantily clad woman pitching tire valve caps.Sex in advertising has certainly evolved, but many... More

Wikipedia has a great recap of the history of sex in advertising. As an example, check out this image from a 1921 National Geographic magazine... a scantily clad woman pitching tire valve caps.


Sex in advertising has certainly evolved, but many things still ring true.

For example, in today's Boston Proper email campaign the following items are asserted:

"Sexy Summer Catalog"
"Wear it like no one else"
"Summer heat" - next to the image below
"Lose yourself in the exotic"

It is safe to say that while things change, they often times also stay the same.

Below is the email:

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I love the email campaign from the Tyler Place today that shares their decision to join the Facebook and Twitter revolution. The Tyler Place, a family vacation spot in Vermont that is incidentally an amazing time, shuns TV, electronics, mass... More

I love the email campaign from the Tyler Place today that shares their decision to join the Facebook and Twitter revolution. The Tyler Place, a family vacation spot in Vermont that is incidentally an amazing time, shuns TV, electronics, mass media, etc, but is fully embracing the world of Facebook and Twitter. Despite the skepticism of "Ted" one of the original owners...

And why not? If you are an amazing summer retreat, what better than to have a Facebook page where previous visitors can interact, share stories, share pictures, etc. I can also envision the Tweet regarding a sing-along by the campfire or climbing the rock wall...

Here's a real tweet from them:
"The osprey is back on her towering nest in Fairfield Swamp. Phoebes are trying to nest under the eaves. Swallows have returned. Spring!"

Last week Yesmail hosted a webinar on social media integration in your email program that was attended by over 150 of our clients - a turnout that was further affirming of the interest and desire to understand and embrace the social world we live in.

If a small business like the Tyler Place can take the leap - so can you!

And of course, if you need any help - give us a call.

In the meantime, check out the Tyler Place's great email:


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I really like today's Kodak email campaign highlighting their Mother's Day specials.A few subtle items that might not jump out at everyone, but really make this email effective:Offer Tag: By including a text offer tag at the very top of... More

I really like today's Kodak email campaign highlighting their Mother's Day specials.

A few subtle items that might not jump out at everyone, but really make this email effective:

Offer Tag: By including a text offer tag at the very top of the email Kodak is ensuring that everyone viewing the email on a non-HTML rendering mobile device first views the offer. Smart.

Viral 'Share This' Icon: By including 'Share This' functionality, Kodak is encouraging their subscribers to share the offer and actual email content via the social media community of their choice (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc).

Imagery: Great re-use of the 'mother' in the main image, the image in the picture frame, the image in the pocket video camera, and on the landing page you click-through to.

Overall a great email. See for yourself:


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It is hard to pass up Ben & Jerry's 'Free Cone Day' - this year held Tuesday, April 21st at a Ben & Jerry's near you. That being said the email creative below leaves a lot to be desired...A few... More

It is hard to pass up Ben & Jerry's 'Free Cone Day' - this year held Tuesday, April 21st at a Ben & Jerry's near you. That being said the email creative below leaves a lot to be desired...

A few small suggestions:

• Branding: The lack of Ben & Jerry's logo is appalling.
• Imagery: You would think a nice photo of an 'ice cream cone' for 'Free Cone Day' would have been very appealing.
• Template: Ben & Jerry's could easily invest in a nice re-usable creative template that would address branding, imagery, font sizes, etc vs. the current floating boxes of text.

What do you think?



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I'm super excited about our announcement today launching our partnership with ShareThis. This is the first of many capabilities focused on the power of social media that Yesmail will be providing our clients.We'll have much more to 'share' soon, but... More

I'm super excited about our announcement today launching our partnership with ShareThis. This is the first of many capabilities focused on the power of social media that Yesmail will be providing our clients.

We'll have much more to 'share' soon, but for now check out the press release. Less

Kudos to the Yesmail Creative Services team for being a finalist in another set of awards, the 2009 ad:tech Awards.Yesmail is a finalist not once, but twice in the Interactive Campaigns - Best Performance Marketing Campaign category!INTERACTIVE CAMPAIGNS -- BEST... More

Kudos to the Yesmail Creative Services team for being a finalist in another set of awards, the 2009 ad:tech Awards.

Yesmail is a finalist not once, but twice in the Interactive Campaigns - Best Performance Marketing Campaign category!

INTERACTIVE CAMPAIGNS -- BEST PERFORMANCE MARKETING CAMPAIGN
eBay: eBay Partner Network Quality Campaign
Yesmail: HP Mini 1000: The Perfect Mobile Companion
Performics: Online Traffic Makes Instore Buyers
Yesmail: HP Voodoo Monthly Newsletter
Direct Agents Interactive: Accuquote Affiliate Program

Winners announced the week of 4/13 and our fingers are crossed!

I'm usually not one to gloat, but I find it especially rewarding that Yesmail is the *only* Email Service Provider who made the finalist round.

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If a picture is worth a thousand words, which incidentally comes from an old Chinese Proverb "A Picture's Meaning Can Express Ten Thousand Words", how many words is 14 pictures of the same product worth? 14,000?Regardless, Neiman Marcus did a... More

If a picture is worth a thousand words, which incidentally comes from an old Chinese Proverb "A Picture's Meaning Can Express Ten Thousand Words", how many words is 14 pictures of the same product worth? 14,000?

Regardless, Neiman Marcus did a great job with their email campaign today highlighting their $2,500 Women's Vince Shopping Spree.

I love the black and white vs. color contrast in the images.

See for yourself:


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I really liked Lowe's email campaign yesterday. It is nicely designed for the Spring and has several great elements including:Simple, clear, direct subject lineNice header treatment with text for those with images disabledGreat background color and the vine treatment makes... More

I really liked Lowe's email campaign yesterday. It is nicely designed for the Spring and has several great elements including:

• Simple, clear, direct subject line
• Nice header treatment with text for those with images disabled
• Great background color and the vine treatment makes the email feel less flat
• Clearly defined sections with easy to read text and clear action buttons
• Nice social media call out to Facebook
• Nice call to action to subscribe to other communications
• Simple footer providing easy to configure settings for future campaigns

Overall, a really, really nice job.

Take a look yourself:


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CompUSA sends out a daily email every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The marketing strategy as far as I can tell is pretty simple... blast something every weekday and hope that something sticks.Last week I received my 5 emails... More

CompUSA sends out a daily email every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The marketing strategy as far as I can tell is pretty simple... blast something every weekday and hope that something sticks.

Last week I received my 5 emails that had the following subject lines and deals:

Monday 3/30: One Day Left: Acer 22" LCD $149...OCZ 4gb DDR2 $14...First Ever 50" HDTV under $500

Tuesday 3/31: Exclusive HP Deals: Netbook from $299...Laptops from $379...LCDs from $79...PCs from $449

Wednesday 4/1: All-in-One PC $449...Seagate 1tb HD $89...Garmin GPS $99...more deals

Thursday 4/2: Madness: Toshiba 52" 1080p HDTV $999...Samsung Blu-ray Player $149...Acer Netbook $239 & More

Friday 4/3: DEALS: Acer 23" HDMI LCD $199...Sony 52" 1080p $1389...640gb Ext HD $49...17" Blu-ray XP Laptop $899

Each of these emails contain new promotions and are generally not tied to any previous offer. Further the subject lines generally do not match the content.

Take the Friday 4/3 campaign with the subject line listed above.

You tell me, does the creative below match the subject line?

I think not.

All this being said, having an everyday mailing strategy can work if you follow a few simple guidelines:

• Allow subscribers to opt-in to this level of frequency
• Maintain a consistent branding strategy (e.g. "The CompUSA Daily Deal")
• Utilize a consistent creative look and feel

If CompUSA followed these guidelines the performance of these campaigns would change dramatically.
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I love the fact that Warner Bros. sent a timely email to their email subscribers the day after ER aired its last episode. The email includes great promotions for individual or all box sets from seasons 1-11. Additionally, they have... More

I love the fact that Warner Bros. sent a timely email to their email subscribers the day after ER aired its last episode. The email includes great promotions for individual or all box sets from seasons 1-11. Additionally, they have a great option for those users simply wanting to download a single episode.

This email more than anything is a great example of a well-timed offer and promotion to a major, well-publicized event - the last airing of ER.

Take a moment and think about your program and how you can introduce the concept of a well-timed email campaign. These campaigns often times drive much higher response and conversion rates.

Great job Warner Bros.

Here's a copy of the creative:


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I wanted to share with everyone a recent email creative design award winner from the Yesmail Creative Services team. Our creative team is by far the most experienced in the space at designing email creative, as proven by the team's... More

I wanted to share with everyone a recent email creative design award winner from the Yesmail Creative Services team. Our creative team is by far the most experienced in the space at designing email creative, as proven by the team's tenure and long list of creative awards.

The award is for the "Best Computer: Retailer Email message" and can be viewed here.

To view the creative go here.

Kudos to the team for another outstanding accomplishment! Less

Another example of a solid marketer failing to test the Preview Pane... Marketers: It is not hard to test - take an extra few minutes and see what your email looks like in different email clients and browsers. This example... More

Another example of a solid marketer failing to test the Preview Pane... Marketers: It is not hard to test - take an extra few minutes and see what your email looks like in different email clients and browsers. This example could have easily been fixed with the proper oversight and skill set.

Take a look at the email below in the Preview Pane:


And when opened:


I think it is safe to say that they would have preferred a version without this issue.     Less

A really great example today from Bahama Breeze Island Grille, a great restaurant for Caribbean cuisine, of a company utilizing email and Facebook together to drive a deeper level of overall subscriber engagement.The email below is a wonderful follow-up from... More

A really great example today from Bahama Breeze Island Grille, a great restaurant for Caribbean cuisine, of a company utilizing email and Facebook together to drive a deeper level of overall subscriber engagement.

The email below is a wonderful follow-up from a recent local event where pictures from the event can now be viewed via Facebook - thus encouraging the subscribers to follow Bahama Breeze as a Fan.

Love it.




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I noticed today that Nintendo has a simple link for those wanting a French version of their email within their English email campaign. The fact that they included a link to a hosted language version was not necessarily surprising, what... More

I noticed today that Nintendo has a simple link for those wanting a French version of their email within their English email campaign. The fact that they included a link to a hosted language version was not necessarily surprising, what was more surprising was that it was for a French version vs. a Spanish version, which seems more commonplace.

The English version is below (look for the French link in the upper right corner):



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Hertz has a nice campaign running encouraging those that are a Hertz #1 Club Gold member to complete their account information and include their email address; effectively providing an opt-in.A few interesting messages in the message:They provide a link to... More

Hertz has a nice campaign running encouraging those that are a Hertz #1 Club Gold member to complete their account information and include their email address; effectively providing an opt-in.

A few interesting messages in the message:

• They provide a link to a 'sample' message
• They promise to only send this message once: "As we respect your privacy, we want to assure you that we won't send any future e-mails on this topic."

What are your thoughts on this approach? Are you sending 1-time opt-in messages to your account members that are not currently subscribed?

A view of the creative:


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