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Now that we are all back from our long, relaxing, alcohol-ridden, cookie-consuming, indulgent holiday break, we have to revert back to our daily routine. That means eating a well balanced diet, frequenting the overcrowded gym, and working on new projects. That also means boring.

Advertisers love seasonal campaigns. They jump at any and every opportunity to sell their product in a new way that corresponds with the time of year. The New Year is a time of self promise and hope for a better future. What better way to sell your products than jumping on the happiness and positivity bandwagon frame of mind? What advertisers don’t realize is that every retailer out there is putting out the same exact message. And its annoying. And redundant.

Below are sample e-blasts I have received over the last 24 hours. What ones do you find most intriguing, if any? My favorite was Meetup.com’s ad because it tells us to do something completely outrageous: break our resolutions. Quit my job?! Eat More?! Drink More?! Of course these are appealing choices. Meetup.com is catering to our vices, and our nature to want to socialize and continue the ephemeral holiday extravaganzas. This is how we as advertisers should be thinking. Give your audience something unexpected, novel, and entertaining. Stop copying the masses.

Retailers are getting smarter.

Here I am, standing in line at Macy’s purchasing a cocktail dress for my friend’s birthday party in downtown San Diego. The cashier rings me up and asks me politely, “Would you like the receipt emailed to you, or in the bag?”

Next, I head to Urban Outfitters and buy a funky shirt dress, perfect happy hour attire. Again, the same words float through the retail air when the cashier completes my purchase: “Can I email you the receipt?”

A few days later, I am taking my French Bulldog Bleu to the VCA in Hillcrest for his annual shots. The vet techs want to know if they can email the receipt to me instead? And I think, sure, that way I have a record of his office visit.

Emailing receipts is Eco-friendly, but is it email friendly? For people like me who love to be inundated with frivolous eblasts from countless companies everyday, I don’t mind giving out my personal email. I like checking out different offers, looking at pretty pictures, and well-written copy.

But what about the consumers who are more private about their private email accounts? They don’t realize by forking over their email address to Macy’s that their inbox will be invaded with 20 percent off coupons, annual holiday sales, and more.

Good advertising practice, or bad?

As a follow up to our print ad assignment for class, our instructor had us build out a landing page, and eBlast, and a radio spot for a product we use every day. Here are my final copy components:

• Canned Wet Food
• Premium Food Rolls
• Jerky Bars
• Biscuits
• Bones

Before I started taking this promotional copywriting class, I didn’t scrutinize my company’s practice for sending out eblasts. Sure, I wrote catchy subject lines for our eblasts, but I never asked a crucial question: who is the email coming from? It’s important for the copywriter to know who the sender of the email is because it effects what your subject line should say.

Today is my first attempt at writing a print ad for dog food. My homework assignment was to create a print ad for a product I use every day. Anytime I can use my dog in my homework assignment, I am pretty stoked:

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• Grain-Free – say goodbye to Fido’s food allergies
• Delicious flavor – picky eaters will lick the bowl clean
• Easily digestible – no more sensitive stomachs

Today, a coworker gave me Competitor magazine, a publication geared towards long-distance runners like myself who find pleasure in punishing themselves by clocking hundreds of miles for no apparent reason besides that runner’s high. I find athletic magazines a gold mine for advertising ideas because they all speak to the inner spirit of the athlete: their goals, their commitment, their determination, and above all, their competitive personalities. This demographic is very similar to my demographic: people who want to better themselves through education, rather than sport.

I think runners have a strange, compelling, intricate psychology. We like to be alone when we work out and running is a meditative state that calms and centers us.

Here are some cool ads from the magazine I liked:

Brooks does a great job at jumping on the barefoot running bandwagon with this ad “Feel More with Less.”

 I like how this ad taps into what I was talking about above, our sheer joy for running:

Chocolate Milk after a workout? This ad appeals to our sense of accomplishment after a long run. Why not treat ourselves to a little bit of heavenly sweetness?

And Finally, here is my ad. Nike Frees are not typically thought of as trail or mud running shoes. I also like showing a shoe that is not in perfect condition. The reality is that runners ruin their shoes!
My headline would read: “A little bit of mud never hurt anyone”