Hey, online marketers, that magical day in December is almost upon us. Are you ready to grab your share of the lucre from…Dec. 12? According to marketing metrics firm Atlas, the 12th will be 2005’s biggest day for online sales.
The 12th is a Monday, a day when holiday shoppers, after spending their weekend comparison shopping in retail outlets, go online and make their purchases. By the 19th, consumers have become so nervous about receiving their merchandise by Christmas that they abandon the Web and head back to brick-and-mortar stores.
For those whose glasses of eggnog are half empty, the 19th, with its falloff in sales, is the key date. Those with half-full cups realize the day to be circled is the 12th. If we can link that date to a sales-inspiring event, we’ll all have reason to raise a toast. Admittedly, the 12th offers thin gruel for commemorations, but direct marketing folks are nothing if not resourceful.
For instance, on Dec. 12, 1901, Guglielmo Marconi proved a radio transmission could be sent further than 200 miles. He did so by sending the Morse code for the letter S from Poldhu, England to Newfoundland, Canada. The historical record does not reflect whether Marconi intended the S to stand for “shipping” or “savings.” Marketers, the choice is yours!
Dec. 12 is the birthday of crooners galore, from Connie “Where the Boys Are” Francis to Dionne “Psychic Friend” Warwick. And it was a very good day — every year — in Frank Sinatra’s life. Not only was the Chairman of the Board born on Dec. 12 in 1915, but on Dec. 12 1963, the elder Sinatra received a fine present when kidnappers freed his son, Frank Sinatra Jr.
Returns are not usually joyful occurrences in an online marketer’s life, but in 1913, more than two years after it had been stolen, the Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre Museum. The painting had been stashed in one of the thieves’ hotel rooms: Rumor has it he was overheard at his arraignment saying “I really would have preferred a nice sailboat print, like the one I saw at the Marriott.”
If none of these quite fit the bill, consider that Dec. 12 is “National Ding-a-Ling Day,” according to the Ding-a-Ling Club of Melrose Park, IL. The Ding-a-Ling Club claims to have founded the holiday in 1971 “to promote the idea that a ding-a-ling is a wonderful, loving, intelligent, friendly, and the most desirable kind of person to know . . . a real bellringer!” The Salvation Army uses National Ding-a-Ling day to promote its Yuletide kettle-and-bell-ringing drives, but there is no reason why marketers can’t chime in with their own celebration of Web-triggered inbound telemarketing.
Except, of course, good taste.
To respond to the opinions in this column, please contact e-mail: rlevey@primediabusiness.com
Network
