The Big Fat Marketing Blog

Given that Halloween costumes these days are way more sexy than scary, it was only a matter of time before lingerie merchants got in on the action.

The Boston Herald (via the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio) reports that Victoria’s Secret will offer a few Halloween costume items this fall. The cataloger/retailer’s racier rival Frederick’s of Hollywood has been selling costumers for some time; the company says Halloween season is already its third largest season, behind Valentine’s Day and Christmas. more

In a recent study on new movers, marketing services provider Epsilon notes that excluding the actual costs of the relocation itself—the vans, the boxes, presumably the muscle rub that’s needed after carrying said boxes—people who move house spend an average of nearly $1,200 on home furnishings and related products in the 15 months immediately following the move. What’s more, 28% of that total is spent in the first three months.

So if you sell furniture, kitchenware, gardening supplies, appliances, and the like, you probably want to make sure you’re communicating early and often with those movers.

Why, then, isn’t anyone communicating with me?

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Tell group members to knock it off. It’s as simple as that. Here’s how Rob Charlebois of the Ecommerce and Online Marketing Experts group did it.

As you can see by the feedback, ECOM group members were apologetic of their actions, and also ticked off at marketers for spamming the group with their irrelevant messages. more

Let’s chew on this for a moment: Several marketing service providers spit the bit at last month’s Fancy Food Show.

Vertical industry-focused shows should offer easy pickings for marketing vendors. If an unscientific sample of exhibitors can be trusted, they have the passion for their wares, but lack sophistication in bringing them to customers.

For instance, few interviewed at the Food Show were set up to work with drop shippers – third-party retailers (online, catalog and otherwise) who collect and forward orders to the actual marketer. A good supply-chain consultant could have walked out of the Javits Center with his pockets stuffed with leads in addition to samples of exotic cheeses.

There were, in fact, a few marketing supply companies on the exhibit floor. But it took paging through the show’s directory to prove this: A cursory glance through the aisles revealed little of their presence.

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Customer ratings and reviews are all but a must-have on e-commerce sites. Numerous companies have seen sales rise after adding user ratings to their sites, and studies show that they help bolster consumer trust in a brand as well as promote further engagement.

So far, though, few marketers have figured out how to effectively integrate user-generated content such as reviews into their marketing e-mails. Which is why these recent messages from home furnishings cataloger Wisteria and cosmetics retailer Sephora caught our eye.

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I’m all for cheering on a good cause marketing campaign, but it needs to feel genuine, believable, not just a half-baked attempt to attach the brand to the latest feel good cause so consumers think the company really cares.

I came across a print ad in National Geographic magazine for Nature Valley that asks customers to help raise up to $400,000 this summer to help fund a number of National Park Conservation Association projects, including restoring coral reefs in Biscayne National Park in Florida, freeing Pronghorn migration in Yellowstone National Park and sustaining national plant life in the Grand Canyon.

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