Bloghound

This time of year we all receive many
Holiday Cards. But the best card for marketing people EVER, has to be
from advertising agency Phil Johnson & Associates, written like a marketing plan. Here’s what it says:

Objectives

• Evaluate existing holiday greetings
• Determine which greetings work best to:
• Change perceptions of the holidays
• Convey sense of community and love
• Reduce cynicism
• Help you be the best holiday greeter you can be

Holiday trends

• People are busier than ever
• Fewer “Happy” or “Merry” people out there
• William Hung has just released a Holiday CD

Current holiday greetings

Season’s Greetings

• Generic
• Universally accepted for its ambiguity and utter vagueness
• Leaves the door wide open for the Greetee to assume the Greeter is denomination-sensitive

Warm Wishes

• Soft and sappy
• A great opener and closer for holiday toasts
• Brings out the “hugger” in people

Peace

• Efficient, to the point
• Perfect in situations where you’d like to keep the conversation to a minimum

Happy Holidays

• Has legs
• Most
  commonly used between November and New Year’s but could potentially be
  used for Groundhog Day, Arbor Day, and an other “holiday”
• Great in a pinch

Focus group quotes

• Feedback from holiday greeting focus group participants (not a representative sample)
• “These cookies are free, right?”
• “I bought my wife an iron. Is that bad?”
• “What’s wrong with ‘Hey you?’”

Conclusions

Each holiday greeting is relevant and unique and the market could benefit from you using it.

Agency recommendations

• Use them all
• Try not to forget what’s really important this holiday
• Grab as much health and happiness as you can
• Drinking too much “eggnog” and trying to sing Auld Lang Syne spells trouble.

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