Smith-Harmon - Make It Pop!

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 11:24 AM
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Website: Hermès
Subject Line: Here comes the sun!
Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2010

I'd like to thank the fabulous Gary Bauman for bringing this adorable animation to our attention.

From Camden Town to St. Marks Place

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 4:42 PM
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From: opening ceremony online
Subject Line: OCNN: Keds for OC Tribute London
Date: Tuesday, June 1, 2010 4:51 PM

Love OC's use of animation in this Keds message.
Ah, the colors of my youth...

Check out the newsletter in its entirety here >

Snow Angels

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 10:37 AM
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From: Email Experience Council
Subject Line: Happy Holidays From the eec & Smith-Harmon - 2 Gifts Inside
Date: Thursday, December 17, 2009

I try not to get high on my own supply, but check out this AWESOME horizontally-scrolling, animated email the team here at Smith-Harmon created in partnership with the Email Experience Council! Shoutout to Ali Swerdlow of the EEC, and to S-H team members Sara Zin and Raleigh Briggs for bringing holiday inspiration to the inbox!

Speaking on which, get inspired about email in the new year! Sign up for the EEC 2010 Email Evolution Conference >
Get $200 off when you use the code HOLI by December 31. I'll see you there!

"Look mummy, there's an airplane up in the sky."

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 9:37 PM
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From: Mileage Plus
Subject Line: Happy Holidays from Mileage Plus
Date: Saturday, December 12, 2009

Always glad to see a holiday greeting, and always happy to find fun animated GIFs in the inbox like this one from United:
Look mummy, there's an airplane up in the sky > (Cue Pink Floyd Laser Light Show)

Mini Delight

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 3:41 PM
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From: Johnnie Boden
Subject Line: New Mini Boden is in with 15% off plus FREE shipping
Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2009

This Mini Boden email is a creative delight!
(1) Love the polka-dot background; great playful backdrop.
(2) The postcard treatment and travel illustrations add texture and depth, making this more than just another "buy this summer stuff" message.
(3) I am especially a fan of the fish and finger-point animations; what a novel way to add movement. The little fish really caught my attention in the preview pane :)!
See the animation here >

Mistletoe Makeover

Posted by Darrah MacLean at 6:32 PM
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From: Sephora
Subject Line: 1 box, 10 gifts.
Date: November 16, 2008

I L-O-V-E Sephora's version of last year's Elf Yourself. Talk about creative. From start to finish, it's a seamless experience that even the most tech-challenged girl can navigate with ease. Here's the skinny: After you've uploaded a pic of yourself, you go through a series of steps where you outline your eyes, mouth and face shape. Sounds complicated, but trust me, they've made it blonde-proof. (It's okay, I can say that because I'm a blonde.) Once you've finished with the outlining, the real magic begins. Within seconds, you have four fun and fabulous looks to choose from: Smokey Sugar Plum, Merry Berry, Santa's Little Temptress and O, Tannen-Babe. It's your face all glammed up in four festive ways, complete with eye shadow, mascara, gloss and more. All that's left is for you to add a personal message and send it on to your fellow glamour gals. You'll get a sweet little email that lets you know your Mistletoe Message has been sent, and best of all, the savvy team at Sephora includes a promotion code in the confirmation email for a free set of lashes or a sample size of Sephora Lip Attitude with any purchase. Simply brilliant.

Want to see my Mistletoe Makeover e-Card?
Check it out here.

Blithesome Holiday

Posted by Alex Madison at 2:50 PM
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From: Anthropologie
Subject Line: A holly jolly good time.
Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I love how well Anthropologie has integrated their holiday messaging into their regular creative style. This email is so clearly holiday, but nothing about it is cliched or off-brand for Anthropologie. The subject line, the snowy cream color, the whimsical copy and the quirky candle animation are all so Anthropologie, and also all so refreshingly holiday.

Prize Pie

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 2:19 PM
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From: Williams-Sonoma
Subject Line: Holiday Pie Baking: Favorite Tools
Date: November 5, 2008
BTW: See the animation here >

I love apple pie, and I love this Williams-Sonoma top nav Shipping/Countdown animation. Way to add visual interest while simultaneously messaging two timely promotions, all within the first few pixels of prime preview pane real estate. Well done! See the animation here >

Instructional Animation

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 9:57 AM
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From: Lands' End
Subject Line: $10 off Outerwear: do you know where your coat is?
Date: Friday, November 2, 2007

Happy Friday! Woo hoo!

This definitely isn't my favorite creative ever - it's kind of a flat sea of blah muted blue - but I'm interested in how animation is employed to walk recipients through how to use a website feature. Check it out here. I do believe this is the first time I've seen an image rotate in tandem with words highlighted within a paragraph, effectively pairing copy points with associated visuals. Neat idea.

Copy it!

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 3:05 PM
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From: Saks Fifth Avenue
Subject Line: Want It! Our Spring Trend Line-Up + FREE SHIPPING
Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Saks' new "Want it!" campaign tagline is such a shameless rip-off of Barney's "Love it!" campaign from last year. It's just too similar not to blow the whistle on it. I do think they made fun use of the rotating GIF though - click here to see it.

Refreshing

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 9:11 PM
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From: CB2
Subject Line: wait til you see this chair
Date: Tuesday, March 6, 2007

This campaign from CB2 is a breath of fresh air. It's simple, bright, seasonally-appropriate, and just plain happy. And the subtle butterfly animation makes the whole thing that much more "just so." There's a tangible sense of creative and marketing teams getting excited behind this one, and subscribers can feel that. You guys win the spring spirit award this week for sure.

All Together Now

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 9:28 PM
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From: Restoration Hardware
Subject Line: Save 20% and Color Coordinate Your Bath
Date: Monday, January 15, 2007

Folks have been comfortably using the animated GIF to feature multiple colorways for some time now. While I generally see it done with a hero image, I believe this is the first time I've seen it happening with alt shots. It's a pretty effect. Will it sell more towels? Click here to see it.

In order to achieve this, Restoration Hardware has used image mapping, which we all know is an absolute no-no in email marketing due to email program incompatability. (Some email programs strip out image maps.) However, I don't believe RH did this out of laziness or ignorance. The problem is, if you put more than one rotating GIF image in a single campaign, it seems to be next-to-impossible to get them to rotate in unison. So one way of tackling that issue would be to save the separate images as a single rotating GIF, and tack on the image map to get them to link to their respective locations in most email browsers. I'd be curious to see, in this case, whether the trade-off was worth it.

I'm even more curious to know whether anyone has a solution to the multiple-rotating-GIFs-in-unison issue. Major props to anyone who can offer advice on that.

One last totally unrelated note on Restoration Hardware marketing in general: they're promoting "annual" sales way too often. Even if the last was lighting and the next is bath, they all blur into one "annual" category, and feel more like a year-long sale than special events.

Making the Bed

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 11:32 PM
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From: west elm
Subject Line: Bold Neutrals: slip into a new bedroom for spring
Date: Tuesday, January 2, 2007

This is a nice use of a rotating GIF, even just on a purely visual level. Click here to see the animation.

A Question of Perspective

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 6:31 PM
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From: The Land of Nod
Subject Line: Introducing Furniture Color Previews
Date: Thursday, June 15, 2006

The dynamic color swap is a great innovation in ecommerce, and I applaud Land of Nod for implementing a Furniture Preview Tool. Also, although it's a little jerky, they make great use of the rotating GIF here to illustrate this new functionality. However, this email suffers from a Land-of-Nod-centric perspective. Rather than touting their own amazing functionality, the copy should focus on how this functionality serves the customer. The text should highlight how easy and fun the customer's furniture shopping experience will be, not how impressed they'll be with the Land of Nod. Remember who you're selling to!

To view the animation, click here.

Animated Announcement

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 7:03 AM
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From: CB2
Subject Line: Introducing the CB2 Gift Registry
Date: Monday, June 12, 2006

Building upon last week's novel usage of animation, CB2 brings us yet another delightful employment of the rotating GIF. While this works wonderfully as an announcement, I could see it working equally well for sale by category messaging. To view the animation, click here.

Eye Catching

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 6:38 AM
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From: CB2
Subject Line: Now back in stock by popular demand
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2006

What a novel, effective usage of the animated GIF! Here, CB2 uses animation to their advantage in two primary ways:
1) By rolling in the 12 restocked products one at a time, CB2 guides us to follow the progression, influencing us to actually look at each item individually.
2) Combined with the grey circular grid design, the animation diverts our attention from the fact that the products are a mish-mash, effectively avoiding the dreaded "garage sale" look.

To view the animation, click here.

Using the Animated GIF

Posted by Lisa Harmon at 8:46 PM
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From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Custom Color Outdoor Collections
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2006

From: Lands' End
Subject Line: Family Summer Fun Starts Here
Date: Tuesday, May 9, 2006

While the rotating GIF image image can be a fun, dynamic addition to any EDM, it is rare that the animation ultimately edifies the actual message. Here we have two examples in which the rotating GIF is used efficaciously.

Like Pottery Barn's April 17 Chesapeake Collection ourdoor furniture message, Crate and Barrel's "Custom Outdoor Collections" campaign engages shoppers in the furniture customization process using color swatches. Here, going one step further, Crate and Barrel applies the color options to the product using the rotating GIF. Unfortunately, we run into some image dithering here, a common scenario when saving photography in the GIF file format, however, the sacrifice is well worth it in this instance. On an unrelated note, I applaud the inclusion of four lower pricepoint "Coordinating Items" in addition to the furniture product, as full-price furniture is often a difficult sell via the EDM vehicle.
View the animation here >

Let's move on to the Land's End message. For the purpose of this discussion, let's ignore the jumbled lower half of the message and focus on the animated GIF. I truly admire the way they've synchronized their category names with correlating imagery. This could be a great way to do a New Season Intro message (for instance, What's New for Summer for "Boys", "Girls", etc.) or a Gift Finder campaign (Great Gifts for "Men", "Women", "Coworkers", "Kids", etc.)
View the animation here >

As internet bandwidth increases and email inbox capacity skyrockets, consider the animated GIF as a way to add another dimension to your next campaign.