If anyone wonders why so many people hate direct marketers, look no further than companies like BigBrandPromotions.com.
This sorry excuse for a marketer began slaughtering with spam an e-mail address last week that I set up in my son’s name several years ago to opt into questionable marketing programs.
Thing is, I didn’t opt it into anything from BigBrandPromotions. The only thing I opted that e-mail address into during the past year were all the political candidates’ lists and somehow I doubt John McCain, Barak Obama or any of the others sold it.
However, BigBrandPromotions.com’s e-mails would apparently beg to differ.
“You received this message by consenting to receive e-mail from BigBrandPromotions on 2/16/09 at 12:00:00 AM,” the top of the message said.
Wow, I opted in at exactly midnight to the second on Monday Feb. 16. It’s amazing what one can do while passed out drunk, no? Wake up. Vow to stop drinking. Give the wife a shove to get her to stop snoring. Fumble around for the lamp chain. Get out of bed. Stub toe on bed post. Whisper “sh!t!” Take a leak. Realize the sock drawer is not a toilet. Whisper “sh!t!” again. Shut the sock drawer. Stumble into the living room. Turn on the computer and start looking for lame-ass e-mail marketing programs to opt into at exactly midnight. Not a second sooner. Not a second later. Yeah. That’s what happened.
Since BigBrandPromotions.com began sending messages to [MySon’sName]@Yahoo.com on Feb. 17, the company has sent two to three e-mails a day to the address pitching products and services such as home-delivered Fiji water, coupons from CoolSavings, Dish Network satellite TV and Clorox.
Two to three pitches a day, every single day.
Un. Friggin. Believable.
It’s amazing BigBrandPromotions.com’s messages get delivered at all. This company has apparently taken affiliate marketing to an obscene level and it’s hurting some well-known brands in the process.
I couldn’t find a Web site for BigBrandPromotions. Its e-mails claim the firm is based in Kitchener, Ontario. I couldn’t find a listing for it in the Canadian online Yellow Pages, either.
What a surprise.
Next time you’re at a cocktail party and someone attacks you when you tell them you’re an e-mail marketer, remember to thank BigBrandPromotions.com.
