Worth Celebrating

I agree with the sentiment.

In general, I think there's a large value to "not asking anything of your customer" from time to time.

Note that Brian's blurb did not mention a coupon, or a promotion, or any insinuation of buying something right now. I think sales / marketing people often send promotions thinking they're doing a favor for the recipient ("Here's $5 off!"), but really, they're just creating pressure to buy stuff.

Obviously, not every marketing message can be like this. But, a certain portion of B2C messages should acknowledge / compliment / convey information, and ask nothing in return. After all, you don't constantly ask favors of your real-world friends ... no reason to think it's different in commerce.

It's a nice thought, but for me at least, marketing has ruined my trust in businesses, and my initial reaction to this email would be "buzz off, if I wanted to buy more of your stuff, I'd go to your site. Leave me alone."

I don't know how you would do this without it looking like marketing spam.