An Open Letter to Matt Moss at N3L Optics

Posted on April 20th, 2009 12:54pm by Tim Rogers
Filed under Advertising, Shopping

Dear Mr. Matt Moss: Today I received not one, but two FedEx packages from you. Both were sent standard overnight from your Lake Forest, California, location. Each package contained the same promotional materials, informing me of the new N3L Optics store soon to open in NorthPark. Each package contained the same press release, wherein N3L Optics senior VP Kendra Reichenau was quoted as saying, “N3L is committed to educating each customer on the benefits of performance optics.” Each package extolled the greatness of N3L’s “smart mirror” and its “Newton immersive display” and its “custom fit station.”

Here’s the thing, Mr. Moss. And I’m betting you can see where I’m headed with this. I don’t care.

In the future, try the good folks at ShopTalk. Pick one person. Say, Sarah Eveans. Or Stephanie Quadri. But pick just one. And then send the FedEx to her, maybe with a personal note. Just a quick one. “Hey, Steph, I saw that post you put up about Jellies. I used to wear those, too! Check out our sunglasses!” Something like that.

Helpfully, Tim

beforeafter

45 comments

  1. Now that is probably more publicity than the guy hoped.

    @ 1:10 pm on April 20, 2009

  2. Some people have double PR-vision

    @ 1:15 pm on April 20, 2009

  3. Why can’t you just kindly hand it to the correct person…we are all in business and should help when we can promote eachothers’ businesses. That press material probably cost a pretty penny…geez. Your tossing it and saying you dont care is typical of someone who’s never owned their own business and has no respect for a start up project or product…not cool!

    @ 1:23 pm on April 20, 2009

  4. At least he recycled it.

    @ 1:28 pm on April 20, 2009

  5. Wow! Bad morning?

    @ 1:29 pm on April 20, 2009

  6. I felt the same way when I got some ridiculous magazine that I did not want with a former President dressed in pastel casual wear foisted on me as I left Cotes du Coeur on Friday.

    But I am sure this is different…somehow.

    @ 1:31 pm on April 20, 2009

  7. @ Julie

    Well done, sistah!

    @ 1:32 pm on April 20, 2009

  8. I know how frustrating this can be. I get a fair amount of duplicate mailings myself.

    The funny thing is that it doesn’t take much work at all to remove the duplicates from a mailing list, and it tends to save a fair amount of money.

    Personalization is a great touch – and a number of people are taking the additional effort now. So, when you don’t make the effort, it tends to stand out (in a negative way).

    @ 1:32 pm on April 20, 2009

  9. You know, there’s really no good excuse for not cross-checking names in a database before you spend the money on FedEx. “Hey do you think Timmy Rogers is the same guy as Tim Rogers?”
    “Nah, go ahead and send it!”

    @ 1:32 pm on April 20, 2009

  10. Hey Tim, what is kinda pathetic?- your actions in this case.

    What is REALLY pathetic?- this post.

    What is UBER pathetic?- a holier-than-thou stance from a guy whose entire industry teters on a seismic fundamental shift.

    Seriously man, use your powers wisely.

    @ 1:40 pm on April 20, 2009

  11. Please take the stuff out of the trash and do the right thing…so they made a mistake and you got two…give one to the appropriate D person, and the other to a friend in the biz who could possibly give this new store some press. Now that would stand out (positive way).

    And no, not a bad morning, just think we should all help in business where we can instead of intentionally going out of our way to sabotage.

    @ 1:41 pm on April 20, 2009

  12. How has something so benign warranted such a dramatic response. Is this the first time you’ve received unsolicited mail? I’m a mere pup in the biz and could do without the pr mailings from GoSMile or the eight-at-a-time Artpace foldouts or the three Bloomberg Press catalogs I got last week. But I’ll take ‘em … cause I also get cute little things from Pier1 and invitations to hotel openings in Las Vegas. I think you might be mad that it didn’t have a complimentary pair of sunglasses. I understand. I have the same sense of unfulfilled greed when the Vera Bradley pr pack only contains glossy pics.

    @ 1:48 pm on April 20, 2009

  13. @Julie: First of all, I don’t think most reporters consider themselves as a business (even if they are). They’re encouraged to consider themselves, however naively, independent of monetary sway.

    That aside, editors and reporters are positively inundated with promotional materials. And most of them are poorly written and have nothing whatsoever to do with the writer’s beat. So no, it’s not their ‘responsibility’ to help businesses out, especially if they’re too lazy to hire a proofreader/PR flack with a grasp of basic grammar or the sense to remove duplicates from a mailing list.

    Running a business is hard, but that doesn’t mean everyone else should operate under a sense of obligation to budding entrepreneurs. Life’s hard. C’est la vie.

    @ 1:50 pm on April 20, 2009

  14. Dude Tim, why you gotta be such an @$$??

    @ 2:01 pm on April 20, 2009

  15. who says its their responsibility…sis.
    but chunking it and taking pics of it and posting it and talking about how a dupe is so annoying…pa-lease. all im saying is wouldnt it be nice to go out of our way to be nice…lifes not hard. peace out.

    @ 2:05 pm on April 20, 2009

  16. @cbs: too-SHAY!

    @ 2:06 pm on April 20, 2009

  17. why you got to fill my RSS feed with this Bull, I mean geez Louise, I got better things to read than this.

    @ 2:16 pm on April 20, 2009

  18. what am i gonna do with 40 subscriptions to Vibe?

    @ 2:22 pm on April 20, 2009

  19. Julie I meant Tim had a bad morning. I agree with you totally…I do not think it’s that hard to place it on the correct persons desk and toss one, annoying yes, but really. Could the guy sending it have done a better job, most certainly. Does everything go the right way all the time…nope.

    @ 2:31 pm on April 20, 2009

  20. Methinks that anyone that can afford a lease at NorthPark should be a great potential advertiser………

    @ 2:43 pm on April 20, 2009

  21. Today’s 4/20. Can’t we all just get along?

    @ 2:46 pm on April 20, 2009

  22. @Julie: duplicate press packets dumped in the trash can = very funny epic fail.
    What is even funnier? Reading commenters who cry over the death of a glorified press release. Life Skills Hint: The best stories never start with a press release.

    @ 2:47 pm on April 20, 2009

  23. April Fools?

    @ 2:49 pm on April 20, 2009

  24. Thanks for the tip Tim! If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have known a cool new sunglasses store is opening at NorthPark!

    @ 2:49 pm on April 20, 2009

  25. Yes, the guy could do a better job of getting his package to the right person.

    However, Richard has got a good point especially since DM has said their ad revenue has decreased.

    @ 2:49 pm on April 20, 2009

  26. Tim,
    A good journalist looks inside all the packets — as you did. You never know when one of them might have a JFK x-ray or confession about the Lindbergh kidnapping.
    And the fact that you got two may indicate that they checked with D’s mailing list and you are on it twice, or, maybe, someone told them you’re up for a promotion and they sent it to both addresses. (Or a demotion?)
    Or maybe someone at the company said, “This guy is a reactive twit, I’ll screw with his head by sending dupes.” Land o’ Goshen, Tim, you really do want these birds to gee ‘n’ haw like they have a long row to hoe with you until the cows comes home. By cracky.

    @ 2:52 pm on April 20, 2009

  27. Duplicates are annoying. I’m with Tim.

    @ 3:04 pm on April 20, 2009

  28. Cue Buzz Killington…

    @ 3:12 pm on April 20, 2009

  29. @Tim

    You recently complained about the negative posts in FrontBurner and, by extention, I assume you also mean the nasty posts about you.

    Part of the reason you and FB are slammed are because of diatribes like this, which are filled with black bile and general douchebaggery.

    Lighten up unless this guy is a serial offender.

    @ 3:15 pm on April 20, 2009

  30. So no freebie? If you send a press release, send a bribe. It’s part of the process. Every year the Girl Scouts flood TDMN with cookies, and every year there’s at least 5 stories about the Girls Scouts selling cookies.

    @ 3:18 pm on April 20, 2009

  31. The chances of this going to the wrong person might have been reduced if they’d used a local pr firm.

    Hopefully, N3L has learned from this mistake and is shopping for local pr firms to do their launch work in future locations.

    @ 3:21 pm on April 20, 2009

  32. Why does this remind me of the scene in Swingers when Vince Vaughan tears up the girls phone number?

    @ 3:25 pm on April 20, 2009

  33. I’ve thrown away my fair share of unwanted press kits but never felt the need to whine about it in a blog. Lighten up , Frances.

    @ 5:24 pm on April 20, 2009

  34. Tim,

    I’ve got to side with Julie here. Would it have utterly devastated your day to walk one of the packets to Sarah Evean’s office/cube/desk/whatever?

    @ 6:03 pm on April 20, 2009

  35. Well you sure showed him, tough guy!!!

    @ 6:14 pm on April 20, 2009

  36. There is a group of us sitting in a room and we are counting down till this post gets deleted.

    If anyone happens to see this, save your deleted comments as we are doing an article on them.

    Tim Rogers is not an alcoholic

    @ 6:36 pm on April 20, 2009

  37. Let’s all give Timmy a group hug!

    @ 7:07 pm on April 20, 2009

  38. 5minutes and 35 seconds and counting.

    @ 7:08 pm on April 20, 2009

  39. Maybe I haven’t lived here long enough, but this guy Tim sounds unstable. Is he secretly the one behind all the angry, mean and nasty comments to this blog that the owner then has to clean up after?

    @ 8:08 pm on April 20, 2009

  40. You guys are the best. I mean it. I’m typing this while wearing my new free pair of N3L Optics sunglasses. I can barely see the screen. So please forgive any misspellings.

    @ 8:09 pm on April 20, 2009

  41. Tim, I mean, Gavin –

    People are mean and nasty because the tone of some of the editors is occasionally mean and nasty. As the great Dalton said in the movie ‘Roadhouse,’ “be nice.”

    Let Go… – It’s not fair or nice to call him an alcoholic. Maybe refer to him as a young Lou Grant?

    @ 9:19 pm on April 20, 2009

  42. Tim, thanks for reminding me why I only read Frontburner late in the evening. One click and I’m done.

    This used to be so great. Sad it is now.

    Bethany couldn’t even save it.

    RayRay…if you start a blog I’ll follow.

    @ 10:43 pm on April 20, 2009

  43. Start a blog Ray Ray, many will follow.

    It will be a great place to post
    deleted comments.

    Call it De for defrocked, deflowered, deflogged and delicious.

    Bethany has a great blog but my grammer do sucketh too much to post.

    I prefer to think of Tim as an older Thurston Howell III than a younger Lou Grant.

    @ 11:35 pm on April 20, 2009

  44. I think Maudlin meant 1970s Lou (hard drinking & moody), not 1980s Lou (overly serious minded). Then again, Spider Monkey + Zac = Animal.

    @ 12:29 am on April 21, 2009

  45. Oops, “prospective” is what I meant to say.

    @ 9:23 am on April 21, 2009