Selling your gift cards to businesses:

I received a great idea in the mail this week from Publix stores in Florida.

The title of the direct mail piece: “Choose a gift that helps your business look good. And you’ll look good too.”

“This year give Publix Gift Cards as your gift of appreciation to business associates and their families.”

Publix has been one of the most aggressive grocers in the promotion of gift cards in their stores, on their website and in direct mail offers.

Every year we get calls from retailers asking for help for a “special anniversary ad.” Normally the special ads are for the 20th, 30th, 40th, or 50th anniversary. Maybe even a 90th anniversary!

Why wait 10 years between anniversaries to celebrate?

Earlier this week one of our customers asked me if we had research on how many people actually read a printed insert ad — with a newspaper distribution of 12,000 in a small, suburban town.

We’ve seen some recent research conducted in similar sized markets with similar subscribers – and it’s not pretty.