It might not be the type of marketing promotion your financial institution decides to use, but look at this example of what you can do with new technology and a hearty dash of personalization.

A local car dealership sent me an email promotion. During November, it said, I’m eligible for a $1,000 voucher toward a new vehicle purchase. That’s a fairly standard offer. The twist comes from the video link embedded in the email. Better yet, the video has multiple personalizations using my name.

Here’s the image that appears in the email. (Check the bottom of this post for the video link.)

Personally, the dancing turkey voice-over is annoying after a couple of times, but overall the video is entertaining and I forwarded the email to others around the office (strictly for research purposes, of course). If nothing else, this promotion is a good example of buzz marketing because it gets people to show it to friends and co-workers.

The personalization is eye-catching. Under the image in the email the PURL (Personalized URL) is spelled out and includes my full name. Then, during the video, my name appears in four places. That’s an ambitious production when you realize this eblast went to the dealer’s entire email list.

The email includes three paragraphs of sales copy, the toll-free number at the bottom, and three lines of disclaimer copy.

As a copywriter, the prominence of the footnote indicators in the text is a major annoyance. If you’ve read my posts for any length of time, you know I don’t want to see disclaimer icons in the body copy.

Here’s an example from the first paragraph:

…and that means that you can buy with no money down and no payments until next year*. Plus, if you decide to exchange for one of our award winning models, you can take advantage of AN ADDITIONAL $1,000 FINANCE VOUCHER^ and receive a complimentary Butterball® turkey†† just for watching the video.

Those three footnotes jump out and disrupt the copy flow, especially because they’re in boldface type in the email. The double-dagger footnote icon is glaringly obvious and probably interrupts the reader. (Two indicators are not better than one.) That same double dagger is at the end of the second paragraph where it’s even more prominent.

There’s really no need for the footnote indicators. The simple disclaimer copy is at the bottom. If I want to read it, I’ll notice it. Legally, it’s there, so you’re covered. What consumer is going to believe there aren’t some restrictions on this offer? And again, there are only three paragraphs of sales copy!

But that’s a trifle you would avoid.

What’s the advantage of this promotion? To fill out the claim form for the turkey, I had to watch the sales video. Once I saw it, I watched it again and passed along the sales message so others could watch the dancing turkeys. Repetition of your sales message creates sales. The message passed along to others initiates buzz marketing.

So, if you’re looking for a new marketing technique to impress your customers or prospects, this email embedded video link is one to think about.

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I can’t guarantee this video will last long, but here’s Butterball Turkey Time. Turn down your volume or use headphones if you’re listening at your desk.

I wrote more about PURLs in another post.