A realistic marketing Xmas conversation
“I loathe digital corporate cards at Christmas.”
“Scrooge!”
“How so?”
“Well, they’re an easy way for companies to say Happy Christmas to customers. And being negative about anything to do with Christmas makes you Scrooge.”
“An easy way – and that’s good is it? Shows care, gratitude and kindness to clients, does it?”
“Well it is good if companies give a donation to charity instead and use that as an excuse to save money. Don’t mean excuse; reason. I mean reason.”
“So, to sum up where you stand on this: a company saves time and money by not sending individual and personalised Christmas cards but instead sends the same impersonal digital production to everyone it knows and says it makes a donation to charity as a public and unverifiable claim of benevolence. And by pointing out this obvious nonsense somehow makes me out to be a modern-day Scrooge? Truly in your psyche there is confusion.”
“OK, so let’s say that the only reason a company sends out digital Xmas cards to its master mailing list of staff, suppliers, customers and prospects is for sales and marketing purposes – is that better?”
“It’s more honest, for sure. But I don’t believe anyone with more than a brace of brain cells buys into that faux corporate Christmas cheer mendacity. All companies want is more of your time/money next year. A simple note saying thank you for your help/custom as appropriate is all that is required. Don’t let corporations steal Christmas for commercial purposes. And as a final point – do you, or does anyone you know, open, read and appreciate a corporate Xmas card? Neither do I.”
“OK – you win.”
“That wasn’t a fight – Happy Christmas.”