I’m a gold expert!

When some time ago I extended my Premiere pay-TV subscription (the German pay-TV provider), I also got a cheap receiver as spare for a few bucks, and its package also included (all quotes translated by me):

• A leaflet: “Voucher for playing lotto for free 4 times”.
• An envelope with “A thank-you for Premiere subscribers”: A cell-phone offer.
• An envelope with “For you as Premiere customer!” on it: An electricity provider switch service.
• And an envelope “Expert survey 2008” from Bayerisches Münzkontor, a coin mail-order company.

The latter says:

We picked you representatively – your opinion is especially important to us. Our expert survey 2008 has the motto “Do you consider gold a secure investment?”.

Aaah yes, Premiere receiver buyers are representatively selected… Maybe they should use that text only for their direct mailings (which doesn’t imply that it’s necessarily correct then…); at least in the past years they did some mailings, see e.g. (in German) here or with other topics here.

Included was a questionnaire – “Opinion sheet no. 842/7452”, is that really a unique number? – with 8 questions such as “Would you invest in gold?”, “Should Germany, considering the current economic situation, sell parts of its gold treasures?” and “Would you consider giving gold in bars or coins as a present […]?” At least some of them, it seems to me, are likely to influence the advertising you’ll receive in the future.

The return envelope with its print “Important documents!” and a field for entering the date of arrival are probably “a little” exaggerated, kissing up to the potential customer…

A “personal thank-you package” is also available: A coin at a “preferential price” of 10€ instead of 49,99€ – for acquiring new customers, selling something below value isn’t uncommon, there’ll probably be nice margins later on for regular prices –, a collector’s box and a wrist watch.

And if you don’t read the fine print, you’re also about to receive, “as a special service”, more coins every month – at least this can be canceled and the coins returned at any time, they say, and that’s what one can expect anyway. Well, it should be known anyway that you have to read everything attentively… At any rate, you might be in for some advertising in the future, I guess…