I'm pretty tough on headphones, or at least have been since the dawn of the ear-bud era. The heaviest made it nearly two years, but has been sporting a splint of masking tape around a split in the plastic covering for the last couple weeks. My husband said that he'd planned to pick up another set to tide me through the next couple of birthdays. But--having more than a bit of sugardaddy in him--splurged on a set of noise-canceling headphones with detachable--i.e. replaceable--cord. Something I found interesting, though, was the "courtesy cards" tucked into holder inside the case: "Customers tell us they're often asked about their ____________ headphones. For your convenience, this courtesy card is yours ot pass along. Learn more at ____________." In other words, an attempt to back the power of word of mouth with the tangibility of the written word. Too discreet to be objectionable, at least to my way of thinking.
Contrast that with the robocall and mailer campaign recently run by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina in an attempt to influence the health care debate.
In both cases you have two companies trying to convince people to do something for them. But while one company shows a little outside-the-box thinking inside the case, the other falls back on throwing great wads o' cash at ham-fisted techniques that are traditionally low on yield and high on annoyance factor.
In business as well as life, class comes from a position of confidence, and I think that the above contrast illustrates that nicely.
