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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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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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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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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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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HP Home and Home Office sent a GREAT email today with a truly 'out-of-the-box' creative design. The email jointly features a 'monster sale' (50% off and free shipping) and Dreamworks Monsters vs. Aliens movie. The design features an appropriately 'monster'... More

HP Home and Home Office sent a GREAT email today with a truly 'out-of-the-box' creative design.

The email jointly features a 'monster sale' (50% off and free shipping) and Dreamworks Monsters vs. Aliens movie. The design features an appropriately 'monster' character highlighting the monster sale.

Great design.




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Another example of a leading marketer who sends a lot of email failing to test the visual appearance of their message... It seems like every day I see 1-3 of these types of examples. Lately I've been wondering why there... More

Another example of a leading marketer who sends a lot of email failing to test the visual appearance of their message... It seems like every day I see 1-3 of these types of examples. Lately I've been wondering why there is such an uptick.

Is it because marketers are lean and cutting corners?
Is it because marketers have forgotten the simple best practices related to testing?
Is it because marketers don't realize they need to view their email in different email clients and browsers?

Regardless, the experience left with the end consumer is one of shock and awe... If I received a direct mail piece with this type of creative error, I would assume heads would roll. I know they would in any organization I've worked for.

Here's the creative...


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I love today's Timberland creative and the use of handwriting and 'red marker' to take an otherwise stale image and make it come alive. This type of creative treatment - taking a flat image and treating it in a way... More

I love today's Timberland creative and the use of handwriting and 'red marker' to take an otherwise stale image and make it come alive. This type of creative treatment - taking a flat image and treating it in a way that it can pop off the page and at some level feel three-dimensional is a simple, great way to help drive incremental activity on the message.

My favorite part of the design?

The blue marker with the arrow pointing off the page - as if to say - "go now, click, buy" - all of course in a subtle, not bang you over the head way.

Way to go Timberland!

Take a look at the creative:


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Ah the need to test... Another example of a solid brand, in this case People Magazine, sending out an email with a glaring mistake. The mistake? Missing images...The basics of email testing:Always test that links and images resolveAlways test that... More

Ah the need to test...

Another example of a solid brand, in this case People Magazine, sending out an email with a glaring mistake.

The mistake? Missing images...

The basics of email testing:

• Always test that links and images resolve
• Always test that links actually go the destination you want vs. any destination
• Always test the appearance and functionality of the message in different email clients and browsers
• Always test variations of the message if personalization or dynamic targeting is involved

There is a lot more to email testing; however, many marketers skip the basics listed above.

Unfortunately when you cut corners you end up with results like the one below...



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Sometimes I receive emails from marketers and I have an overwhelming desire to call them up and offer our creative services for free because what I'm looking at is such a missed opportunity. I actually followed through on this impulse... More

Sometimes I receive emails from marketers and I have an overwhelming desire to call them up and offer our creative services for free because what I'm looking at is such a missed opportunity. I actually followed through on this impulse recently with a fellow 'expert' in the space who writes a weekly email newsletter that is well published and horribly designed. Unfortunately he couldn't take me up on the offer due to internal politics, but I'll save that story for another time...

Today's email from Enterprise Rental Car is an example of that overwhelming desire...

Take a look at the creative:


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Such a shame that a great promotion and partnership message could be so horribly treated...Yesterday Tide TotalCare and The Limited partnered to offer a nice promotion: $30 off your $100 purchase or $20 off your $60 purchase for the next... More

Such a shame that a great promotion and partnership message could be so horribly treated...

Yesterday Tide TotalCare and The Limited partnered to offer a nice promotion: $30 off your $100 purchase or $20 off your $60 purchase for the next two weeks and receive a free sample of Tide TotalCare. The offer is valid online or in-store. To redeem the offer you have to make a purchase at The Limited.

Given that the email was sent to Tide's subscriber list, I'm sure the partner negotiations between the two groups were significant. It is a shame that more companies don't consider partnership opportunities via email; however, the T&C's tend to get in the way of making it easy.

So we have a great promotion and a great partnership - no easy feat.

Yet, despite these items the email completely bombs due to the horrible 1990 designed creative...

Am I wrong? Take a look and let me know your thoughts on it.


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Seems like all of our clients are being cited for their excellent creative work these days...The Scrappy Email Marketer had this nice post on Macy's today:http://thescrappyemailmarketer.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/the-evolution-of-macys-email/%20My favorite quote:"Way to go Macys....you caught my eye and win the Scrappy Email of... More

Seems like all of our clients are being cited for their excellent creative work these days...

The Scrappy Email Marketer had this nice post on Macy's today:

http://thescrappyemailmarketer.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/the-evolution-of-macys-email/%20

My favorite quote:

"Way to go Macys....you caught my eye and win the Scrappy Email of the week for a refreshing change.  Have a beer on me this weekend."

Love it.

BTW: I've re-invested in Twitter and am exploring new ways to more integrate email and Twitter together. If you are not already, follow me on Twitter.

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The Retail Email Blog recently cited a creative design we did for HP Shopping in December as the "Most Eye-Catching Design".Check it out:http://www.retailemailblog.com/2009/01/design-hall-of-fame-2008-inductees.html Also nice to see that our friends at Norm Thompson were cited as an Honorable Mention in... More

The Retail Email Blog recently cited a creative design we did for HP Shopping in December as the "Most Eye-Catching Design".

Check it out:

http://www.retailemailblog.com/2009/01/design-hall-of-fame-2008-inductees.html

Also nice to see that our friends at Norm Thompson were cited as an Honorable Mention in this category... Less