Chanel, Unilever hit email trail to push new wares

Unilever emailed more than 850,000 young women in 12 cities to promote new cleanser Dove Facial Foam, while Chanel sent free trial offers of its new skincare product Precision to 120,000 women in five cities. Unilever gained over 9,000 registrations from its promotion, while Chanel cleared all of its trial packages within a week of the emails being sent. Both clients sourced emails from a database of people registered to receive marketing messages operated by online DM firm Madeforchina. David Turchetti, CEO of 21 Communications, the online marketing agency that handled the Chanel business, said: "There's a challenge for premium brand marketers because (email marketing's) been stigmatised by certain brands which do not appreciate the careful respect the medium deserves."