Virtual Thank you Cards

To celebrate the accumulation of more than 1 million Twitter followers, British fashion house Burberry is sending animated thank-you cards personalized with followers' names.

Up to 3, 000 followers will receive a virtual notecard emblazoned with their Twitter handles in return for sending a tweet of congratulations or a tweet with the hashtag #thanksamillion, which the company has paid Twitter to promote for the day. The notecards are written the style of Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey's hand and rest against a windowpane of sliding raindrops, which are looped in an animated GIF.

The cards may be a small thing, but followers seem to be enjoying them, if initial response count is anything to go by. Burberry, as a rule, doesn't publicly respond to users on social networks, except when Bailey takes over the @burberry account for London Fashion Week. (UPDATE: The company has informed me it does frequently reply to consumers' Twitter inquiries through @burberryservice.) To get a reply from the company, however automated, is a novelty many are likely to think worth sharing.

The cards also amplify two aesthetic themes: one, the handwritten note from Bailey, which the company frequently distributes in the form of invitations and thank yous across its social profiles; and the animated GIF, which Burberry employed during its February catwalk show to showcase its Autumn/Winter 2012 collection.