Keeping Creative Alive for Continuity Offers

Columbia House's most recent mailing for its positive-option club, called Play, harkens back to efforts from the early 1990s. The 4˝ x 81⁄2˝ envelope package bears strong resemblance to its forebears with a personalized, plastic membership card peeking through the address window and the ubiquitous stampsheets for selecting free CDs. The major difference is in the offer: Now it's 12 CDs for a penny plus a $4.99 enrollment fee compared to eight CDs for free, and the copy pushes hassle-free membership compared to the earlier strategy of playing up the free music.