Anna Sirota Redneckness is quietly taking over the business in Russia. What to do about it? 07/21/2024, 08:00

Is your mail full of advertising mail? All you need to do is buy something somewhere and you’re done: fill out the form, we will collect bonuses, please specify your email address. I tell them where to go, I don’t leave my phone number. I once made such a mistake that they still call me at the most inconvenient moment and say that a new collection of clothes is waiting for me in an expensive store with a huge 5% discount. Since then I only leave emails.

And they are happy to try; naturally, they bombard us with their suggestions. Some people remind themselves of this several times a day. Most of the time it makes no sense, but even reading the titles of these letters takes a lot of time. Sometimes you click on a link and there will definitely be some kind of hat. Or you believe the promises and spend a lot of time researching and selecting products, but the promotional code does not work. As you can see, it is for a limited range of products marked with almost invisible stars. They say that smart people create a special mailbox for advertising mailings; I promise myself that I will try to do the same, but I never manage to do it. So I suffer, reading all this nonsense.

But, as you know, the stick shoots once a year. This happens in July, on my birthday. Of course, no one gives me an iPhone, but I’m already used to getting nice little things in the form of good discounts. At such times, I mentally admire the ingenuity of marketers. They trick me into trusting them, cunning people, to buy loyalty. They trick you so that you don’t even think about clicking the “unsubscribe” button. And I don’t unsubscribe. Not because I’m looking forward to their rare bonuses, but because it somehow becomes strange: they are not strangers, they have been congratulating you on your birthday for so many years that I don’t want to offend them. Although mailings are extremely annoying, this is a fact.

This is the relatively peaceful coexistence that advertising and I have had for the last five years. The brands have changed, especially in the last two years, but the principle remains the same. You put up with spam for 11 months, then you buy something you’ve wanted for a long time at a reasonable discount.

This year everything has changed. “Dear Anna, happy birthday! We give you a coupon worth one and a half thousand rubles!” – not bad, I think, and read further: “You can use it when buying for 9 thousand rubles.” But this is something new! So is this a gift or not? You will decide there anyway. Or just write honestly: “Dear Anna, we really need your 7.5 thousand, happy greetings.”

The rest went even further. “Happy birthday, we’re giving you a double bonus for purchases made within two weeks.” Here’s the charm of unprecedented generosity!

So should I just buy conditional tights at full price and be happy with the double bonus? Should I spend it again a year later when I buy a certain amount? What marketing genius came up with this idea?

Moreover, judging by the other congratulators, this idea is popular. In my opinion, such a plan smacks of ignorance.

Only one brand still stands by its brand; they sent an unconditional and real discount of 30%. Perhaps we have not yet had time to change our minds and understand that a new trend has emerged in the Russian market: we are no longer fighting for the client, I don’t care, it will work.

Don’t talk to me about tough times, inflation, or even global trends with authority. Customer-centric marketing still exists. My friend from the neighboring country still gets good discounts or gift cards for his birthday. It was our local eagles who decided this would work.

Another example: for ten years straight I have been going to one of the five-star hotels in the city for a massage and spa. Once it was part of an international chain, everything there was shiny and sparkling, now the hotel is owned by the so-called “rich Muscovites.” Among the first innovations were water from a cooler instead of proper bottles, mass layoffs of specialists due to low wages, half of the buttons in the jacuzzi did not work: something bubbles there – and there is no problem.

Do you think the new owner has no money? Of course, there may be more than the old one. And there is a magic formula: ignorance multiplied by “and so it shall be.” And there are many examples like this.

Of course, some will accuse me of my ordinary passion for free things. They will say that I whine about the lost three kopecks. Yes, I whine. But show me someone who would be happy if a good thing went bad. I don’t know such people personally. But I will definitely unsubscribe from spam emails from now on. This is what I will start my personal new year with.

The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.