Fisher donates Xmas card budget to bike charities

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Thursday, November 29th 2001 at 12:00AM

Thanks to the debate on this site about the lacklustre marketing effectiveness of mass-mailed corporate Christmas cards, Fisher Outdoor Leisure has decided to split its £1500 Christmas card budget between Sustrans, Re~Cycle and the CTC's Cyclists' Defence Fund

Each charity will receive £500.

A poll on bikebiz.co.uk clearly demonstrated that IBDs aren't impressed by impersonal, database-driven Christmas cards from their suppliers. Personally written ones get the thumbs up but round-robin signed ones are a waste of money, believe the majority of IBDs.

Shimano came to this conclusion last year, and now donates its £7000 Christmas card budget to a cycle-promotion project.

Gordon Fisher of Fisher Outdoor Leisure read the debate on this site about corporate Christmas cards and sought advice from bikebiz.co.uk on a suitable cycle charity who would benefit from £1500. Bikebiz suggested splitting the cash between Sustrans, the route-building charity; Re~cycle, the bikes-to-the-developing-world charity, and the Cyclists' Defence Fund, the legal fighting fund recently launched by the CTC.

Will other suppliers now follow suit? Or will IBDs continue to receive mailing-label Christmas cards that shout 'knee-jerk' rather than 'customer-care'?