Harvest Time Is Holiday Time for Harry and David

For premium fruit cataloger Harry and David, late July and early August are spent gearing up not only for the harvest bounty, but also for the very beginning of an extended holiday season. As with prior late summer books, this year’s “Harvest Festival” catalogs feature the imperative “Keep this catalog throughout the holidays.”

The call to action is visually punched up by its prominent placement within a red oval, and on one version, the additional enticement of deferred payment until February-a generous six months. (The free ride is limited to new applicants for the Harry and David credit card.)

Another time-honored strategy during the gift-giving seasons is the featuring of prepared foods on the cover, like this year’s pound cake with glazed pears, rather than dew-laden fresh fruits.

In another nod to tradition, the fruit purveyor recently added the tagline “Delicious since 1934” under its name, replacing the once-modern www.harryanddavid.com. Online shoppers will still find the Web address elsewhere throughout the book.

Paul Freibott is associate research director at ParadsyzMatera, a direct marketing company that analyzes direct mail and email through its online tracking tool MarketRelevance located at http://www.MarketRelevance.com/newsletter.cfm