I saw my first Christmas lights tonight… and a few emails too.
Driving through the Berkeley hills this evening I spotted an oddly colored tree – only after slowing down [safely of course] did I realize what the color was – Christmas lights. While 2 days after Halloween feels early for Christmas decorations and probably is for most people this shouldn’t be a huge shock – target has been selling lights for weeks and Costco has had gift baskets and other holiday items up for what feels like a month, maybe more. Of course things aren’t limited to offline world; I’ve begun receiving holiday emails from all sorts of companies. Here’s a quick look at what’s come in…
Driving through the Berkeley hills this evening I spotted an oddly colored tree – only after slowing down [safely of course] did I realize what the color was – Christmas lights. While 2 days after Halloween feels early for Christmas decorations and probably is for most people this shouldn’t be a huge shock – target has been selling lights for weeks and Costco has had gift baskets and other holiday items up for what feels like a month, maybe more. Of course things aren’t limited to offline world; I’ve begun receiving holiday emails from all sorts of companies. Here’s a quick look at what’s come in:
Target.com – Holiday Free Shipping Kickoff…
Macys.com – Psst… want more money for holiday shopping?
EddieBauer.com – Free Shipping, no minimum purchase + over 300 Original Gifts
BathandBodyWorks.com – Holiday Traditions are Back! | Great Gift Values – Get a Head Start!
So far the trend looks pretty much the same from site to site; discounts that introduce the holidays and messages that scream “hey, we sell gifts, we’re ready for you!” Creatively there’s holiday colors and no hiding the seasonality of the email but little of the flare or imagery we’re likely to see in a month.
And for the email formatting/ deliverability experts it’s interesting to note that most of these emails still include embedded search fields which don’t work in outlook 2007 [which I used for these captures].
Check back for more email and creative examples into the holiday season. If you haven’t finished your holiday marketing plan [yikes!!!] be sure to checkout the other articles in this section for tips and creative samples from past years.
