exitcreative

Today I received my October issue of Dwell. Pretty magazine. Lots of ads. Interesting articles. Whatever.

Usually the worst part of reading the more ad-intensive pubs is the stiff cards that make the magazine almost impossible to keep open at the right spot. They do their job (they get noticed) but usually receive a god dammit and a swift razor to the spine.

But today, Officemax and TUL pens (TUL.com) gave me a reason to participate.

There’s the card on the right. Takes up most of the page.

HEADLINE: “Share your handwriting with me and discover who you really are.”

(The “Me” is Dr. Gerard Ackerman who doesn’t show up in many places on the web. Real person?)

The card then provides a space, a line, and an X. We’re prodded to, “Please write the phrase, “I truly need a new pen.” in the space below.”

Then we’re supposed to give our email and check a box that says they can send a “promotional Graphological Analysis from Officemax. We promise not to send you a tidal wave of crap.” Funny, but what defines a tidal wave? Whatever… moving on. The back of the card gives an entree into Graphology and gives a sample of what’s to come.

Here’s my entry:

Wonder what they’ll say about it. I hope I get a free pen. I hope there aren’t tidal waves of crap in my inbox. I’ll report back on both. It’s going in the mail tonight.

UPDATE 1: They have a microsite for this at TUL.com. You can do a rudimentary, slightly custom version of the analysis. And it’s actually really funny. Really funny. They wait until the VERY end of the video to make their sales pitch, which is nice. Apparently, my handwriting suggests that I need a TUL rollerball pen. I like rollerballs, so it can’t be all that off-base. The unfortunate thing is that the video suggests that you Google Dr. Ackerman. Which doesn’t give you much yet. Ohh well.

If any of y’all at TUL are reading this, be a friend and send me some additional information on your pens. The blog community will be testing you on this one, so don’t mess up.