It was Friday afternoon when I went to get the mail, wondering what the latest gift from Cards Against Humanity’s 12 Days of Holiday Bullshit promotion would be. For the past few days little white envelopes were showing up at my house, sometimes two at a time, and containing cards, dimebags of coal, or posters related to the popular card game. And then that happened.
“HOLY AMAZEBALLS.”
That was my actual response to what the latest envelope had inside: a printed card bearing my name… an actual white answer card that I’m sure would be used in some incredibly devious way as the response to some sexual, perverse, or evil question. HOLY. AMAZEBALLS. I wasn’t expecting it, and when I laid eyes on the card I nearly wept in joy.
But, that’s to be expected from the company that continues to top itself in small, meaningful ways. The promotion, in which 100,000 people partook in, had been forgotten by me, no doubt lost to a hectic office schedule and far too much holiday preparation. When the first envelope arrived — a bag of coal — I was pleasantly surprised. “It’ll be 12 days of this garbage, but that seems totally fine with me.”
What happened instead was 12 days (or so, depending on the wonderful shipping habits of the USPS mail consistency) of great gifts and items, all worth keeping and being happy with. The coal was a MacGuffin, meant to lead me into thinking that “nah, I’m not really getting anything good.” Instead, even that was useful, finding its way into the gift bag for my brother as we had chosen comedy as our couples’ gifts this year. As Cards Against Humanity packs of themed cards arrived, also did posters, comics, a donation to charity and even another, sexually-themed card game all together, Clusterfuck.
And all of this was free, apart for the little $12 I forgot I had given back in November.
And as the holidays crept in, we tore into the packs, adding the new cards as they arrived. We played Clusterfuck on Christmas day, laughing hysterically as we flirted with and “fingered” each other. Each day was a little adventure to the mail box, returning with a smile-inducing treasure.
My wife even began to ask “what did they send you today?” My friends were becoming increasingly upset at me for not filling them in when the promotion began. Several late nights were dominated by indoctrinating new people into CAH, always ending with statements like “honey, we have to buy this game!”
Cards Against Humanity probably didn’t make much money in the promotion, but it doesn’t matter. We enjoyed it, we had a blast, and we’re all excited to do it again next year (should the company repeat the endeavor). It’s rare that a company can create such a positive feeling these days, not relying on the actual product but more so on the overall experience.
It even got me thinking: why don’t video game publishers do things like this? With sales on digital platforms like STEAM or XBLA, or the stockpiles of unsold games and demo discs that are mountains high, companies can create a fun, buzzworthy and social experience that would treat their biggest fans. Apple is doing something similar with its 12 Days of Gifts through its app on iTunes, and Nintendo even tried to create pop-up parties with some of its biggest fans and a $40 Pizza Hut gift card.
Ultimately the ‘Bullshit’ idea can go a long way in making the holiday season a festive one, with a series of small surprises landing in my mailbox matching up to any single big gift I received from friends or family. Though the individual packages weren’t anything to holler about, the experience was definitely more than the sum of them all.
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