• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, January 6, 2015

So I'm sure you've had your fill of ad agency holiday season shenanigans, right? After all, in December you couldn't visit your inbox without seeing some foolishness from some agency trying to be creative, right? Okay -- so some achieved creativity, but not many.

One agency, New Orleans-based Peter Mayer, eschewed the whole Christmas card thing and instead went all in with a New Year's-themed effort to help everyone make and keep their New Year's resolutions. Called the "Resolution Motivator," the promotion took the form of an old school mailing which urged recipients to call 844-8-New-Year (844-863-9932) to receive helpful tips on keeping personal promises.

If you call the number, you'll be presented with a phone tree selection of things you might want to work on like quitting smoking or stop procrastinating or learn a new language or to get a grip on your addiction to celebrity gossip or to stop taking selfies or to stop texting while flying a helicopter.

Of the effort, Peter Mayer CCO Josh Mayer said:  “In our client work, we’re all about standing out and differentiating ourselves. Instead of a typical Christmas card, we decided to break through the clutter at New Year’s and go low-tech to showcase our creativity. We’re also hoping to inspire some of our friends along the way.”