I’ve ranted about and railed against boring or clichéd holiday cards for decades, yet nearly every day in December another one or two (or ten) bland and politically correct cards featuring snowy landscapes or skylines, ice skaters, or children’s holiday artwork arrive, unsigned, in my mailbox. <Open. Glance. Toss.>
Today’s mail, however, was pretty interesting. I received just two cards, juxtaposed below. The one on the right was a fairly typical example, from an old friend, a terrific T&E lawyer I’ve known since we were ten years old. Great guy, but I don’t love his annual too-safe “Seasons Greetings” cards.
The card on the left was from California’s Springer & Roberts, “Disability Lawyers You Can Trust ®.”
(First, I’ve never liked the “… you can trust” tag lines, because it implies that your competitors are liars or cheats. Plus, I’m immediately wary of anyone who promises that I can trust them. But that’s not the point here.)
The card shows two lawyers dressed up in ballerina costumes while holding (1) a Benefits Law book and (2) a legal pad. Four adorable jammie’d kids, obviously their children are asleep below, “while visions of ERISA lawyers danced in their heads.”
Now THAT is pretty gutsy, and the card certainly caught my attention. I don’t know these lawyers, but I can infer that they’re family-oriented and don’t take themselves too seriously.
The card’s punny headline, “We never dance around insurance companies, and our ERISA litigation is always en pointe!” is pretty forced.
But overall, you must respect the effort. These lawyers clearly know who they are and their clients apparently like this about them. They’ve broken through the clutter and conveyed their message pretty effectively. They took a big risk, but I think it worked well for them. (I wonder what their card looked like last year? Is this an annual thing? )
Of course, if you wanted to learn more about them, their website contains 2,000-word biographies, possibly the longest I’ve ever seen (that’s 8 double-spaced pages!). I obviously only skimmed them, but I still got the sense that they’re nice, smart, and dedicated lawyers.
I’m glad these lawyers sent me their card. And that’s not something I say every day.
All images are copyrighted.
