One Step Ahead Leaps into Spring
This spring, baby products retailer One Step Ahead combined efforts with its sister catalog Leaps & Bounds, which targets older kids. The Spring 2009 catalog shows a bunch of children enjoying the Splash n Play Pool on the front cover. Gearing up for summer, the beginning of the catalog features an extensive variety of ?Backyard Fun? toys, tents, and water slides, like the Tent ?n Tunnel Town ($169.95). The book also offers a variety of indoor and outdoor safety products ranging from a Wire Guard 2-Pack ($12.95) and Grip ?n Twist Door Knob Covers ($4.95) to a Kidsafe Driveway Guard ($99.95 - $124.95). Other sections of the catalog include ?Nursery,? ?Meal Time,? ?Playtime,? ?Travel,? and ?On The Go.? The ?Fun In The Sun? section underscores the importance of sunscreen and other protective products. Orders from One Step Ahead can be made by mail, phone, fax, or online. Consistent with prior promotions, the catalog offers deferred payment with $100+ BillMeLater orders.

Vanity Fair Offers New Freemium
Conde Nast?s Vanity Fair recently mailed a new voucher package containing a new bookmark/calendar freemium incentive. The package reads ?Do Not Bend,? alerting recipients to the enclosed gift. Inside, an insert urges potential subscribers to ?Act now to receive our blockbuster Hollywood Issue?Guaranteed!? The issue is one of four ?Celebrated Special Issues? referenced in the Professional Subscription Benefits, along with ?The Green Issue,? ?The Style Issue,? and ?The New Establishment Issue.? The enclosed bookmark features a full 2009 calendar with each month laid out along the length of the bookmark. The header reads, ?Vanity Fair: The Biography of Our Age?One Month at a Time.? The opposite side pictures five sample magazine covers. The promotion features Vanity Fair?s long standing hard offer of $12 for 12 issues (plus $3 shipping and handling). Subscriptions can be made by mail or online.

National Geographic Offers Radio Premium with States Book
The National Geographic Society presents ?A Bright New Way For Kids to Learn About Our Fifty States!? in a bright blue 6? x 9½? package promoting a geography book for children. Inside, the promotion offers details about the introductory offer for ?Our Fifty States.? A foldout poster offers a quick look at the book with a list of the contents, including over 300 full color photographs, 58 maps designed to appeal to young readers ages ten and up, a 64-page supplement ?Flags of Our Fifty States,? and essays on each state and region. The reply form includes a ?Yes!? involvement sticker to be affixed to the postage paid card, which offers the book for a ten day free preview; customers who decide to keep the book are subsequently billed $29.95 for the regular edition, and $44.95 for the deluxe edition, which has an embossed cover, gilt-edged pages, and a satin ribbon place marker. An insert offers a closer look on the longstanding radio premium, an FM tuner with the National Geographic logo printed on the side.

The direct mail promotions appearing in Mail Stream are tracked and written up by ParadyszMatera, a media brokerage services company, through its MarketRelevance(tm) Promotion Library. Click here to visit their site: ParadyszMatera.com.