Recently in St. Patrick's Day Category

From: The Children's Place
Subject Line: Up to 50% Off -- Open & Try Your Luck
Date: Thursday, Mar 17, 2011

From: The Children's Place
Subject Line: Have You Tried Your Luck Yet?
Date: Saturday, March 19, 2011

I am beginning to think that I must be the only one who finds Mystery Deal emails and perplexing (you can read my previous blog posts about them here and here). Admitedly, I haven't been privy to any data on how well they perform in general, so I'll just assume that since I have seen them repeatedly, they must be somewhat successful. Also, The Children's Place is not the first to use the whole Irish Luck theme for a Mystery Deal/St. Patrick's Day email. Fellow Responsys blogger Chad White wrote about Chadwick's doing so here.

Allow me to just say first that I ♥ The Children's Place. Their sales are some of the best around, the product is darn cute and the the quality:value ratio can't be beat. With that said, I can't help but feel let down by this set of St. Patrick's Day emails. The first email Subject Line is "Up to 50% Off -- Open & Try Your Luck". Ironically, despite the (potential of) 50% Off being a great offer, I actually missed the first email when I scanned my in-box on 3/17. It was the second email sent 2 days later with the "Have You Tried Your Luck Yet?" SL that caught my attention, because it seemed odd to me that a retailer would continue to market the St. Patty's Day angle after the fact. But going back to the first SL, I was feeling relatively unlucky that my deal was merely 15% off when it could have been up to 50%. So much for luck o' the Irish!

At least all I had to do to discover my deal disappointment was to click the email... I would have been more annoyed had I taken  the time and loaded up my shopping cart (as I have seen in past mystery deal emails). In the end, the big mystery to me is how do they distribute the deals? Totally randomly? By previous purchases? (Doubtful, as I consider myself a big spender). Did anyone else get this email who cares to share their deal and/or thoughts? Do tell!

From: Puma
Subject Line: 25% Off - Lucky You!
Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Sports-style brand Puma made a bold statement with its recent St. Patty's Day email. Often tame with its holiday creative--this heart-adorned Valentine's Day message comes to mind--Puma opted to forgo the predictable shamrock graphics in favor of something far more striking.

The creative features an image of a dozing leprechaun and his anonymous, stocking-clad guest, sprawled over one another in the remains of the evening's merriment, with the headline "You Don't Have to be Irish to Get Lucky." In the center of all this is a single sneaker, dangling on the woman's foot. I suppose this technically makes it an on-body product shot, and therefore one of the more provocative of its kind in recent memory.

Now, some may argue that this in poor taste (or even just stupid). There's probably a case to be made there. It's got the same kind of tongue-in-cheek, not-so-subversive fratty humor that you see everywhere from faux-thrift store t-shirts to men's body wash ads which, even if you find them funny, can be tiresome in their ubiquity.

Whether the creative appeals to you or not, however, it's undeniable that Puma takes a smart risk by shifting toward this type of edgier messaging. The brand speaks in a more relevant way to a coveted demographic, namely dudes with disposable income in their twenties and early thirties.

Puma has also created content that's interesting enough (or at least startling enough) to be shared and commented on by the same demographic. In our office, it was forwarded around and definitely became the topic of conversation--not because of the discount, but because of the imagery. This kind of conversation can both increase brand awareness and act as a vehicle to spread the sale message.

Additionally, Puma manages to differentiate itself in the inbox from similar brands and similar sale messaging. A significant fact to note is that this message was sent two weeks before St. Patty's Day, when the only evidence of the holiday seemed to be the Guiness display at the grocery store. By sending earlier, Puma got a jump on other retailers competing for attention around a similar type of message.

Ultimately, this type of messaging wont work for all brands and certainly wont resonate with all subscribers. You have to give credit to Puma for recognizing and speaking to a part of its audience, even with the inherent risk involved in moving away from safer options. No matter what your brand, it never hurts to examine new ways to make your messaging stand out and appeal to your followers. Who knows? You might just get lucky in a way you never expected.

From: Neiman Marcus
Subject Line: It's your lucky day: There's still time to SAVE!
Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2009

From: ModCloth.com
Subject Line: We've got a pot of GOLD at the end of the rainbow!
Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2009

From: fredflare.com
Subject Line: you're in luck... 30% OFF EVERYTHING!!
Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2009

From: Horchow
Subject Line: ONLY HOURS LEFT: 10% OFF ENTIRE SITE + FREE SHIPPING...
Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2009

From: Lands' End
Subject Line: Lucky day - and last day! A St. Patrick's surprise
Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2009

From: Anthropologie
Subject Line: Bottoms Up: Short Styles
Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Maybe it's just me... but I can't remember seeing Emails going for the St. Patrick's Day angle in years past. Is it a sign of the economy that we'll take anything we can get? Horchow and flredflare.com actually both sent me 2 emails today with almost the exact same design - just different Subject Lines. Neiman's email actually came last week - maybe with the idea that the break in time won't seem overly cheesy (not that there's anything wrong with cheese). And for the record, Anthropologie's email actually is very subtle: it doesn't directly mention St. Patrick's day, luck, or Shamrocks... just "Bottoms Up..." in the Subject Line and features a very cute pair of green shorts. I might be tempted to buy them if my legs weren't so Irish white!! :)