Has the term "Friends & Family" lost all meaning? I'm not riffing on the "never ending friending" epidemic that continues to afflict the social media crowd (myself included), but something a bit more old school -- the "Friends & Family" retail sales event.
It seems like these VIP-only sales used to be limited to actual, you know, VIPs -- best customers, employees or actual friends (and relatives) of employees. I get plenty of VIP mailers from stores I frequent and have been in several of my clients' employee discount programs over the course of my career. But this weekend marks the first time that I've noticed a so-called "VIP Family & Friends Event" promoted with a newspaper insert.
Promoting a private "VIP event" to everybody who happens to subscribe to the Sunday paper -- isn't this what retailers used to just call a "sale?"
So how about a bit of friendly advice? Context is king. Make sure the medium matches the message. Consumers aren't stupid enough to believe that you really think they're all VIPs -- those who aren't will see right through your ploy and those who are will probably feel like you couldn't care less.
