From: shopbop.com
Subject Line: Gleaming Accents: Sunglasses, Shoes, Handbags & Jewelry
Date: Monday, April 2, 2007

What could be smarter than an email promoting four low pricepoint, high margin accessories categories? Being prepared enough to coordinate it! I want to mention shopbop again as being one of the best examples of a retailer who approaches photo intelligently. They shoot product across a span of categories and sources in the same environment, allowing them to successfully weave disparate items into tight visual stories, thereby managing to avoid the dreaded "garage sale" look of a cobbled-together campaign that has the marketing message down, but not the assets necessary to address it cohesively. I am a big proponent of shooting specifically for the email channel; it makes sense to push for it as email marketing continues to drive a larger and larger percentage of ecom sales.

From: American Eagle Outfitters
Subject Line: Get Gifted with Great Gifts under $30
Date: Wednesday, December 13, 2006

While it's a challenge we face all year long, avoiding the dreaded "garage sale" mish-mash of product photography becomes particularly difficult during holiday, when strategy calls for random groupings of product to be featured together under various promotional umbrellas such as "free shipping" or, in this case, "under $30". But American Eagle Outfitters has done something extremely intelligent in order to avoid that. They've photographed all of their giftable product in a super-holiday environment, which, rather than playing up the "garage sale" factor effectively neutralizes it. Think about the amount of work and hassle this saves: creative no longer needs to fake backgrounds to make products shot in different environments look as though they were shot at the same location; business and creative don't have to argue about what products can be tastefully featured in tandem. This is total genius! Let it inspire us all to do better photo planning for Holiday 2007. Let's photograph absolutely everything in front of a Christmas tree, then rest just a little easier for the the rest of the holiday season. High five, AE!

P.S. AE, if you actually did a great job of PhotoShopping these products onto this background, think of how much easier it would have been if you'd photographed them all this way in the first place!

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.

From: CB2
Subject Line: The Very First CB2 Catalog is in the Mail
Date: Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Here, CB2 did a great job showing a whole lot of product while avoiding the dreaded "garage sale" look. (You can't see it in my screenshot, but the polka-dots actually rotate between product images and product info.) If only I could CLICK on each image to find the product for purchase on the website! The images all link to an "order a catalog page", which I would imagine will result in a lot of lost revenue for this message.
A note about copy: CB2 is no longer a "new" destination from Crate and Barrel - I've been getting their EDMs for over a year now. Time for a new tagline!

From: The Land of Nod
Subject Line: There's Still Time!
Date: Thursday, December 15, 2005

Land of Nod EDMs seem to vascillate between super-cute and super-sloppy. Here's an example of the latter - the classic "garage sale" - a messy amalgam of unrelated product. This must have been either a) done by one person in a rush in 20 minutes or b) "design by committee" - too many cooks in the kitchen.

From: Red Envelope
Subject Line: Birthday, wedding or new baby?
Date: Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Here's a great example of an email that should never have been sent. Not just because it's a sloppy garage sale, but because there's NO MESSAGE. Even the subject line reflects this lack: "Birthday, wedding or new baby?"

From: Pottery Barn
Subject Line: New Markdowns on Select Items at Pottery Barn, plus our all-time, bestselling favorites
Date: Wednesday, July 6, 2005

Looks like PB's having a garage sale! The mish-mash of imagery and dull color pallete bore rather than inspire us.
I'm also going to guess that this EDM inspired a few calls to the call center; putting the "Additional Savings" promo ABOVE the Bestsellers body area leads us to think that the bestsellers themselves are on sale, when this is not the case.

From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Shop Beautiful and Unique Gifts for Mother's Day
Date: Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Mother's Day messages often require us to put together a "garage sale" of product: items with little or no relationship to one another, a mish-mash of imagery. I'd like to commend Crate and Barrel on avoiding this trap by finding items with color in common. Promoting a jewelry box, glassware, and a wreath simultaneously is no easy feat.
Room for improvement: upgrade the presentation of your shipping cutoff dates. It's great to show them, but they look "unfinished".