How the Not-Straight Poop from Dr. Oz Can Help Your Subject Lines
And Gartner Strikes Again....
Hello Gobbledeers,
Some weeks Gobbledy is just a bunch of complaining. Some weeks it’s a list of 31 things that some people tell you is too long a list for them to actually read and maybe if it were like, I dunno, 12 things they would’ve skimmed it or something but while 31 things is a great number of flavors at Baskin-Robbins it may be too many questions/answers for a newsletter (apparently).
This week, it’s a few good examples (< 31) of companies using non-gobbledy language in their marketing.
Straight Poop on an Election
Actually, example 1 isn’t from a company, it’s from John Fetterman’s Pennsylvania senate campaign.
(It is here where I will mention that I have tried 7 times over the past months to unsubscribe from emails from the Democratic National Committee, or whoever the hell is sending me a nonstop barrage of emails from candidates. I will also admit that a couple of times I was - very briefly! - confused as to why Chuck Schumer was emailing me, personally. Because I’m an idiot. But I snapped out of that quickly, and then I thought ‘I’ve unsubscribed from these emails like 7 times - why won’t they unsubscribe me?????’)
In any case, if you weren’t aware, John Fetterman, the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, is running against Dr. Oz, a poop-obsessed doctor who lives (allegedly) in New Jersey.
The Fetterman campaign is much classier than I am, as they have chosen to ignore the poop stuff, and instead sent an email alluding to Oz’s place of residence in a way that I really, really loved:
(Maybe you’re not from these parts - Sheetz is a gas station/convenience store beloved by Pennsylvanians, while Wawa is a convenience store/gas station beloved by New Jerseyans)**
**(Not to add any completely unnecessary complexity to this, Wawa also has locations in Pennsylvania, while Sheetz has no locations in New Jersey. This will not be on the test.)
I wrote a little while back that a formula for great marketing is “Clever + Specific = Winner” and that holds true here - the specificity of the Sheetz vs Wawa battle makes that subject line a winner. It would’ve been easy enough to say “Send Dr. Poop back to New Jersey and support Pennsylvania” but this is much better. Always get specific.
In the Spirit of Subject Lines…
You may have noted that Frontier Airlines recently tried to buy Spirit Airlines*** but was very, very, very outspent by JetBlue, who now has to figure out how to convince the government to allow them to buy the airline.
(***It is a thing that anytime anyone mentions Spirit Airlines that someone makes a Dr. Oz-sized perfect s-shaped poop joke about how much they suck, etc. I am one of the few morons people who will defend them. Unlike nearly every other airline, who pretends that they are providing a premium service and then provides a non-premium service, Spirit provides a non-premium service for a non-premium price, and then gives you the option to purchase a more premium experience. I cannot fault them for offering you a cheap fare and telling you that fare does not include free water. If you get mad at them for that, you have the option to fly someone else. This is all to say that people like to be lied to.)
Anyway, Frontier sent out a couple of emails this week with these subject lines:
There’s an expression that “he who laughs last, laughs best.” I don’t actually know what that means. But it probably applies here, assuming it means that it’s best to get the last laugh. But that also may not be what it means, and I’m not looking it up.
But kudos to them for addressing this story in a funny-ish way.
A Comical Approach to Demand Generation
Kudos to email tech company Postmark for trying a different approach to telling their story. They’ve created a comic (graphic novel? I don’t know what they’re called anymore) to explain what they do and why they’re different. You can see the whole thing here.
I think there’s a ton more they can do here (and maybe they are) to get into some details around the product, but this is a great way to actually get people - gasp! - to read about your product. More kudos to the exec team for not immediately shooting down the idea because “CIOs don’t read comics” or whatever. There’s life after white papers.
One last one…
Reader Stephanie B. passed along this great order status email from supplement company Vitauthority. Every interaction with customers and prospects is a chance to reinforce your brand. I’ve never seen a good order status email…until now.
Don’t Worry, Gartner Never Disappoints
I think the Gartner Graphic AI Bot (tm) is sounding more and more human every day!
Thanks to reader RS for that one…
As always, I’m thrilled when readers share gobbledy examples with me, or share the newsletter with friends & co-workers.
And if you’re looking for someone to keynote an upcoming event, I’d love to share these examples and more with your audience. Shoot me a note anytime at jared@sagelett.com.
While this is apropos of nothing, particularly as it relates to to the actual article I, like you, will defend Spirit until it kills me. Or they kill me, whichever comes first. Having just returned today from another non-death experience on said airline, I have to say they've been on time, beyond nice and surprisingly helpful. For the most part. That being said, my standards are pretty low: do t kill me, get me there in some sort of time way and, do t kill me. A smashing success for spirit, yet again. There.