Banana Republic 09/09/09 sale email

Taking advantage of today’s single digit date 09/09/09 (not to be seen again for over a century) Banana Republic sent out this animated email today.

Banana Republic: {view animated email}

09/09/09 email promotions

Getting into the spirit, Banana Republic are having a 9hr sale, ending at 9pm with free shipping when you spend $99. Besides the striking creative, the email stood out as one of only two that highlighted the occasion (other was Overstock).

Retailers often come across as a flock of sheep in the inbox. All promoting the same events in unison (Labor Day, Gifts for Him, Father’s Day…)  the repetition can cause subscribers to tune out.

Which is why it was clever of Banana Republic to shake things up with a lesser known event.

Pay attention to the 1st frame: {view email}

4fr 09-09-09 animation

Above is the four frame animated gif, with a 1sec delay between each frame.

Below are the four frames unpacked:

4fr 09-09-09 animation

Although I loved the animated portion of the email, Banana Republic made a classic blunder. Outlook 2007 users can only view the first frame of an animated gif, which in this case is 00-00-00. 

It would have made more sense to make the first frame 09-09-09 and loop the animation from there. Alternatively display the 09-09-09 frame first for 0.1sec (rather than 1sec), so it’s barely visible but shows up for Outlook 2007.

Great minds think alike:

09-09-09 promotions

Even with the slight blunder it was a great idea to tie this event into an email promotion. The Goggle logo also highlights the freaky date, its The Beatles release date and Apple holds its Media Event today instead of its usual Tuesday.