Letters From the Litter Box
AS I UNDERSTAND IT, privacy is the theme of this issue of DIRECT. I thought it would be nice to write something that would tie in with that topic – and then circumstances demanded that I write this column instead.
The circumstances, my friends, involve a virtual flood (well, three) of prime examples of marketing to, and about, cats.
It should be noted here that I’m not offering these feline-related tidbits to the masses because I have a pro-cat bias (although I do). These stories are classics, and would be just as interesting if another cuddly creature – like say a bunny or a dingo – were substituted for the tabby.
– I was more than a little disturbed recently to read about a Web site called MeowMail.com. The site offers a service I dearly hope there wasn’t a public outcry for: e-mail for cats.
Now, I love my cats. And yes, I talk to them and they “talk” back. Granted, sometimes I’m not sure if my two cats even speak the same language, but we have grand conversations, thank you. But I see no need why they, with me as their proxy, need to communicate electronically with other cats they don’t know.
I went to the site, what has to be the epitome of cat-to-cat marketing (or as they term it – yup, you guessed it – C2C). Cats not only can get e-mail accounts, they can post messages on a forum that’s surprisingly just as boring as many human bulletin boards, have their humans shop for them (yes, the soundtrack to “Cats” is available) and get a subscription to a daily e-newsletter, the Morning Hairball.
Out of curiosity, I applied for an e-mail account for Lilith and Natasha to see what kind of information MeowMail was collecting (just the basics, it turns out). Then – possessed by Morris knows what – I sent my husband an e-mail from the account, written from our cats. I’m so ashamed. When Al Gore invented the Internet, he must have had some higher use in mind for it than this.
– As I flipped through a recent Lands’ End catalog one evening, I gleefully marked off page after page of items I considered ordering. Then I got to page 90 and found “Life Without Norton,” an essay by Peter Gethers, author of the new book “The Cat Who’ll Live Forever.” This was the latest in a series of travelogues Gethers has written about his adventures with his gray Scottish fold, Norton.
A longtime fan of Gethers’ writing, I started to read and was immediately saddened to learn that Norton – as one could guess from the title – had died.
Gethers’ story – detailing Norton’s late-in-life illnesses, their last trip together and the night he passed away – was so moving even the staunchest feline-phobe would feel a twinge. By the end of the piece I was teary-eyed and in no mood to buy clothes. I put the catalog aside and never did get around to placing an order.
The concept of adding editorial content to a catalog is a solid one – to give the reader added value and create an emotional connection to the brand. But care should be taken as to what kind of emotions that content will stir – that is, if you want that reader to become a buyer.
– The Boston Globe recently added “Get Fuzzy” to its comic strip lineup. The comic (online at www.comics.com) debuted in September 1999 and features the adventures of Rob Wilco and his anthropomorphic pets Satchel, a good-natured dog and Bucky, a temperamental cat. Rob works for an advertising agency, although I’ve never seen a strip that actually showed him working.
“I originally wanted Rob to work in an ad agency so that I could poke fun at some ads, but it pretty much focuses on the animals,” cartoonist Darby Conley told me in an e-mail. “People get angry when they’re not in the day’s cartoon, and they obviously don’t go to work with Rob.”
Conley says a news story about a baby getting a pre-approved credit card application was the inspiration for a late-summer story line featuring Bucky receiving his own credit card. After a rampant spending spree by the cat, Rob calls the credit card company to have the card revoked. The phone rep’s initial reaction is to happily tell him not to worry, that Bucky’s credit is good – ignoring Rob’s plea that Bucky is a cat, for goodness’ sake, and shouldn’t even have a card.
I’ll just assume your reps are better trained than that, right?
What’s that? No, no, no! For the last time, Lilith does not want a subscription to Newsweek. She’s a cat! She can’t read! Of course…if you have an audio version, she might be interested.
