Comments on: Tone of voice matters (show some respect)

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:45:38 +0000

It’s interesting that this has prompted such a strong negative reaction; it struck me as being quite poorly executed, but overall very consistent with the Virgin brand.

Of course, whether or not that’s a good thing depends entirely on your opinion of the Virgin brand.

I agree with Robin that it’s a bit long-winded, and that the HALF PRICE shouting gets rather irritating. But most of all I’m just surprised that something so bland managed to inspire such an impassioned response (”this particularly appalling piece of email marketing”).

Regards,
Stephen

By: Passing Stranger

Passing Stranger — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:57:09 +0000

Alex Mitchell pointed me at this - it reminded her, and reminds me, of the frankly stalky letter I just received from Boden clothes catalogue:

Hello Dr Stranger,

This is a tricky letter to write. You see, sometime ago we sent you one of our catalogues. Perhaps you don’t remember. If not, let me recap, I have ginger hair, we make clothes, they’re really quite nice.

Perhaps you do, but can’t quite bring yourself to give us a go. Or maybe you thought we sold cafetieres and chucked it away.

Whatever the reason, it strikes me that an extra nudge may be called for. I was wondering if a free Tenner might help move things along?

[...]

What do you have to lose?

Johnnie Boden

Weird and ingratiating as a stranger on a bus demanding to know why you won’t give them your phone number. Boden bought my details from another company, and I’m not pleased with either of them.

By: Robin Houghton

Robin Houghton — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 07:52:37 +0000

I agree it’s irritating, but mostly because it’s so long, and ironically all those repetitions of HALF PRICE give it a very traditional feel even though the copywriter is no doubt aiming for the opposite.

By: Justin Kownacki

Justin Kownacki — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:26:29 +0000

Ironically, you’ve just given these folks more exposure *through your frustration with them* than they would have received had you simply signed up for their service.

Who says social media marketing doesn’t work?

By: Alex Mitchell

Alex Mitchell — Mon, 12 May 2008 10:13:00 +0000

I feel slightly unwell reading that, and it’s not even addressed to me! Apparently Virgin’s copywriting is quite poor across a range of their services, a friend of mine reports that their credit card statements stop just shy of “yo, duuuude!” as a salutation.

“consumers today are media literate and this level of ‘openness’ could potentially work well”

That’s exactly what makes this so poor, I think; are you seriously suppose to believe that you’ve hurt and upset the founder? There’s a degree to which I think people might weary of brands being sickeningly cute, but I don’t think that brands being sulky and defensive is the answer to that.