A Customer Loyalty History Lesson

TWA used to have absolutely delightful certificates to commemorate flights, like this one from 1953:

They used to give these fanciful certificates to passengers as souvenirs — and as a loyalty buy in.  But unlike attempts at ‘keeping’ customers interested with temporary gimmicks, TWA had them take an oath:
Now, Therefore, Know Ye, that this Celestial Dominion [...]

Ignore Rude Emails “Offering Links Swaps”

How many times a week do you get the following email:
I’ve visited your website ( url ) and I was wondering
if it would be possible to get a link to my (my partner’s) website on it?
I’ll place a link back to you in X of my (topic or topics, usually unrelated) websites, your link will [...]

Dear Chad, Alltel Customer Service Sucks

A few months ago we switched to Alltel. I love my LG Touch phone, but the other day I had a problem with text messages (a long story) and needed to call for help. You’d think this would be simple, but it wasn’t.
First I had to get another phone so that I could poke, prod, [...]

Because My Husband Is Mr. WalMart…

OK, maybe so he’s not-so-much Mr. WalMart… But he is Derek — The Derek — of Derek’s Big Website of Wal-Mart Purchase Receipts. (Yeah, I married Internet Royalty — Old Guard Internet Royalty, not a dot.com bust-er, or a guy with some money to buy a presence.) Anyway, because of hubby’s history, I [...]

Clap(ton) On, Clap(ton) Off

When I saw Eric Clapton hawking the new Fender Limited Edition of T-Mobile’s myTouch 3G I had a thought — well, actually, I had two thoughts. The first one was, “Oh my gawd, when did Clapton get so old?” But that one just sent me on the how-old-am-I? spiral of denial, augmented by [...]

Big Bottom Girls Are About To Make The Fashion World Go ‘Round

In 3,500 stores, Walmart will be doubling the space given to Hanesbrands’ plus-sized apparel line Just My Size — an extended line of Just My Size women’s clothes, including dress pants, sweaters and other merchandise beyond the underwear and jeans.
Hanesbrands research found that 60 percent of women shopping at Walmart fit plus sizes, said John [...]

Stamps Of Approval

Don’t ask me how I found this post by Paul Overton of DudeCraft (it’s not that I wouldn’t tell you, I just haven’t a clue), but once I did, I had to share the story his lessons in postage stamps. See, he didn’t want to spend the extra money on putting postage on the [...]

Direct Marketing Crank Response, 1917

An amazing entry I found in The Journal of American History, Volume XI, January-February-March, No. 1, (copyright, 1917, The National Historical Society) which speaks as much to direct marketing responses as it does to attitudes about media. The National Historical Society, seeking to increase membership and circulation of the journal, had been “prosecuting a [...]

Topless Women Circle Skirt

This vintage circle skirt with a Hawaiian tropics pattern featuring topless women amuses me.

This also serves are a reminder for you to check out Here’s Looking Like You, Kid’s circle skirt history lessons — especially the expose on why the poodle skirt was the first “too young for you” fashion. Here’s my favorite quote:
The poodle [...]

Change Starts With Your Underwear

That’s what PACT, a new underwear company that launched yesterday says.
According to their website marketing & press releases, at the core of PACT are “deep partnerships” with nonprofit organizations that work to create social and environmental change; each underwear collection is aligned with a nonprofit, with 10% of each sale given to support the matching [...]

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