Ok – before you start to think that this is another “Black Friday” ad, I promise – it is not.  You have no doubt had your fill of those.  We sat on Thanksgiving afternoon watching ad after ad each declaring the unbelievable deals that their particular store would have on “Black Friday” – beginning at 6:00 pm on Thursday.  When?  My wife chuckled as I kept telling the TV that “Friday is not Thursday.”

On Friday my son posted the following:

“Black Friday Through the Years”

2005: 5 AM

2010: 3 AM

2012: 12 AM

2013 Thursday 8 PM

2014: Thursday

2020: 4th of July

Now that may be an exaggerated prediction – or perhaps not.  Time will tell.  The morning after Thanksgiving (sometimes referred to as Friday), my wife’s phone blew up with 36 “Black Friday” emails.  While I find the greed of “Black Friday” overwhelming, that is a discussion for another time.  What I want to observe for today are the extremes that the marketplace will go to in order to capture your business.  They will start sales earlier and earlier; their advertising creativity will continue to entice; and efforts to outdo each other to snag your money will seem endless.

But as much as I may dislike the commercialism of it all, I can learn from their determination to not give up until that have my last dollar.  What if we went to the same effort to convince our mate of our love?  I could give her a present for our anniversary.  Or, perhaps, our anniversary could start the day before.  Maybe we could give a sneak preview a week earlier.  Ok – I may be getting carried away.  But my point is simply this – if we used the strategies of “Black Friday” merchants to convince our spouses of our love – he or she would have NO trouble knowing it.

So the question for you is – do you love your mate as much as Walmart or Best Buy love your money?  If so, then spend a few minutes this week contemplating how to convince him or her with your own ad campaign.  Need some good ideas – just take some tips from the “Cyber Monday ads.”  They will be good until – at least Thursday.