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It's psychological
Jun. 9th, 2006 11:30 amMy bank has gone mad. Or, rather, the marketing department has gone mad. They have sent me a cerise-coloured communication "produced from 75% recycled fibre using a totally chlorine free process". This has phrases like "ta very much" and "we love you" surrounded by hippie-like flowers. Oh, and, how could I forget, a packet of sunflower seeds.
Yes, never mind immediate interest on cash deposits, Smile Bank sends you sunflower seeds.
Now, give the bank's marketing department a bit more credit than you would give most marketing departments. It does say fairly on in the communication (font is Arial 10 point, I reckon, for you real studiers of marketing techniques) that "You're probably wondering why a bank's sending yo a packet of seeds".
Apparently it's because "we wanted to show that we appreciate you".
Well, put up the interest rate you pay me by a quarter of a percent.
Oh, and there's a competition. Take a snap of your sunflower and mail it to smile (electronically, of course, no paper here) and "the best photos will be posted on smile.co.uk later in the year".
Well, where's the fucking overlay in that?
++++++++
No, I'm being too harsh. Compared to most marketing stuff that I receive (and, like you all, I receive a LOT) this is quite good. I read it, I might even plant the seeds. And it did, yes, make me Smile.
But I still think that they've gone mad.
+++++++++
It was quite humorous suddenly finding myself at the same table as Hellmuth last night -- doing his PR for the low-stakes tables, I guess. Beat him up in two hands, while he suffered torrents of bollocks from twats watching from the rail ("What's the minimum buy-in?" wailed one player with, I assume, a bankroll more suited to 1c-2c) and, shortly after Hellmuth left, I saw the game collapse. Three of us were left (with one other guy playing at the other two tables I was at). So, these other six people were only sitting at the table because Hellmuth was there. Utterly baffling. Myself and the other multi-tabler had an enjoyable rant about "tourists", before giving up the table as a bad job.
Yes, never mind immediate interest on cash deposits, Smile Bank sends you sunflower seeds.
Now, give the bank's marketing department a bit more credit than you would give most marketing departments. It does say fairly on in the communication (font is Arial 10 point, I reckon, for you real studiers of marketing techniques) that "You're probably wondering why a bank's sending yo a packet of seeds".
Apparently it's because "we wanted to show that we appreciate you".
Well, put up the interest rate you pay me by a quarter of a percent.
Oh, and there's a competition. Take a snap of your sunflower and mail it to smile (electronically, of course, no paper here) and "the best photos will be posted on smile.co.uk later in the year".
Well, where's the fucking overlay in that?
++++++++
No, I'm being too harsh. Compared to most marketing stuff that I receive (and, like you all, I receive a LOT) this is quite good. I read it, I might even plant the seeds. And it did, yes, make me Smile.
But I still think that they've gone mad.
+++++++++
It was quite humorous suddenly finding myself at the same table as Hellmuth last night -- doing his PR for the low-stakes tables, I guess. Beat him up in two hands, while he suffered torrents of bollocks from twats watching from the rail ("What's the minimum buy-in?" wailed one player with, I assume, a bankroll more suited to 1c-2c) and, shortly after Hellmuth left, I saw the game collapse. Three of us were left (with one other guy playing at the other two tables I was at). So, these other six people were only sitting at the table because Hellmuth was there. Utterly baffling. Myself and the other multi-tabler had an enjoyable rant about "tourists", before giving up the table as a bad job.
