Successful direct mail campaigns from INCITE – Vol.7 | Canada Post

INCITE

recommended wetsuit thickness

01canadapost.ca incite

02 FROM THE EDITORTHE GOLDFISH TEST The average consumer has a shorter attention span than a goldfish. So how do you lure their attention?

04FEATURE CASE STUDYWETSUIT When Visit Wales sent a postcard to surfers, the material they used for their postcard said far more than the words on the mailing itself.

06CASE STUDIESAUTOMOTIVE06 Hyundai 08 Land Rover 10 Toyota

COMMUNICATIONS12 Woosh

ENTERTAINMENT14 Hopi Hari Theme Park

FINANCIAL SERVICES & INSURANCE16 BNZ 18 First Direct 20 NRMA Insurance

HEALTH & FITNESS22 Fitness First

PUBLICATIONS & MEDIA24 Newspaper Publishers’ Association

RESTAURANTS26 Denny’s Restaurants

RETAIL28 Rosenthal GmbH30 Sainsbury’s32 Tesco

SERVICES34 Göteborgs Auktionsverk

TRAVEL AND TOURISM36 Tourism Australia38 Tourism Ireland40 Visit Wales - Land

IN THIS ISSUE INCITE | ISSUE 7

42CELEBRATINGEXCELLENCEINTRODUCING THE 2015 INCITE AWARDSThis new annual award recognizes the very best of Smartmail Marketing in Canada.

44A LOOK AT:HOW MAIL IS GETTING SMARTER We talk with Bill Gunton, Canada Post’s Vice-President of Marketing and Commercial Products, about Smartmail Marketing.

FPO

02 INCITE ISSUE 7

FROM THE EDITOR

oday let’s talk about goldfish.

They have an attention span of just nine seconds. That’s one whole second longer than the average consumer gives an advertising message.

So it is hardly surprising that some 85% of all advertising goes unnoticed.

Think of all your marketing campaigns as if they had to pass the goldfish test.

Ask yourself, does our idea have what it takes to get noticed? Will it hold onto attention for nine seconds and beyond?

If you can say yes to those questions, then you have an idea like the first mailing you see on the facing page. It’s for the BMW M6 from Kirshenbaum Bond.

They fitted a BMW M6 with an ink sprayer. Then they got the top driver from the BMW Performance School to drive the car over hundreds of pieces of art paper.

As he drove over the paper, he flipped a switch. Ink sprayed onto the tires. The tires left a mark on each piece of paper. The whole process was captured beautifully on film.

This idea made the most of the three elements that Canada Post refers to in Smartmail MarketingTM: physicality, data and connectivity.

The mailing was physically compelling. What arrived through the post was a work of art, printed on thick paper. The whole thing looked and felt unique.

The audience was highly targeted. The mailing went only to existing BMW owners and people who had expressed an interest in the M6.

And it was just the start of a conversation. Every mailing directed the recipient to a website where they could watch a video of their work of art being created by BMW’s work of art. And guess what? Even though only hundreds were mailed, millions saw the video.

Here’s another great idea that passes the goldfish test. The plate you see on the facing page.

Corelle makes unbreakable dinnerware. Sales were dipping. So Corelle wrote a letter. On one of their plates. And mailed it to the editors of lifestyle magazines.

They wrote: A plate that can survive the mail can survive anything.

The mailing cost little more than some product and a few stamps. But the PR was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A real plate. Sent to storytellers and tastemakers. And a great tale to tell. It’s physicality, data and connectivity all in one little case study. And it generated 100% response. Every editor ran the story.

Throughout this issue of INCITE, there’s plenty of smart mail ideas to learn from.

Physicality pays off on pages 16-17. The Bank of New Zealand mails out a $1,000 brick of real bank notes to homeowners. Unfortunately for the recipients, the bills arrived shredded.

Data is at the wheel on pages 8-9. Land Rover’s research showed that Land Rover owners spent 90 days considering their next car. To make sure that owners remained Land Rover owners after their next automotive purchase, they created a three-phase campaign.

The first mailing reminded owners of the brand and its values. The second showcased the new car’s innovations. And the third then talked about the money.

On pages 34-35, connectivity reaches out in unexpected ways. Here, a Swedish auctioneer studied the photos in people’s online “house for sale” ads to see what art and furniture

they might also like to sell. Getting a postcard with a picture of your own home would have instantaneous stopping power.

Call it Smartmail Marketing. Or just call it being smart about how you use mail. It helps your ideas pass the goldfish test, luring the attention you want from your customers.

Enjoy.

T

The Bank of New Zealand mails out a $1,000 brick of real bank notes tohomeowners. Unfortunately for the recipients, the bills arrived shredded.

by Patrick Collister

Patrick Collister has earned himself a distinguished place in the world of

creative advertising. After a seven-year stint as executive creative director of

Ogilvy & Mather London, he crossed the line and went into direct marketing

as ECD of EHS Brann. In 2007, he founded Directory magazine, a quarterly

publication that showcases innovations in communications.

Most recently he was appointed Head of Design for The ZOO at Google

NACE. He has won a fair share of awards, including Golds and Silvers

at Cannes. At The Caples Awards 2013 he was presented with the Andi

Emerson Award for an individual who has made an outstanding contribution

to the direct marketing community.

ABOUT PATRICK

THEGOLDFISH TEST


1

2

4

3

1-3 BMW M6 print | 4-8 CORELLE post-a-plate

5

7

6

8

04 INCITE ISSUE 7

FEATURE CASE STUDY

CREATIVE DIRECTORS Paul Snoxell, Andy Todd | ART DIRECTOR Simon Nicholls | COPYWRITER Dan Wright | ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Ethne Gladstone

ACCOUNT MANAGER Jessica Brown | ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Caroline Macpherson

BACKGROUND

A number of water sports enthusiasts had registered interest in Wales as a holiday destination on the Visit Wales website.

But they would normally only think of Wales in high summer. The aim of the campaign was to drive incremental visits to Wales in autumn, when people would not normally have Wales on their radar.

IDEA

To tackle perceptions of Wales head-on, the idea was to position autumn as peak season and to surprise people with the abundance of things going on – particularly in the sea.

What “Wetsuit” brought to life was the fact that the water temperature was at its warmest between September and November thanks to the Gulf Stream. Water sports enthusiasts could wear a thinner wetsuit in autumn than in summer.

This simple message was mailed on a piece of neoprene of the exact thickness of an autumn wetsuit.

RESULTS

9% of recipients went on to request further information.

INSIGHTS

One of the worst aspects of talking to a mass audience is that your message has to be broad in its appeal. You have to generalize. You have to be vague. And that’s the lovely thing about Smartmail Marketing. You can talk to very specific groups of people about very specific things in a very specific language. Surfers and sailors would have known the neoprene was thinner than usual. Without a word being spelled out, what this mailing would have said to them is, hey, we know you. And what a crazy dude you are.

And they would have loved Visit Wales for it.

WETSUITINDUSTRY Travel and Tourism | PRODUCT Holiday Destination | CLIENT Visit Wales | AGENCY Partners Andrews Aldridge | COUNTRY United Kingdom


06 INCITE ISSUE 7

EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ross Chowles | CREATIVE DIRECTOR Livio Tronchin | ART DIRECTOR Andrew Lang | COPYWRITER James Armstrong

AGENCY PRODUCER Imraan Abader | CLIENT SERVICE Rowan Eva

AUTOMOTIVE

BACKGROUND

If South Africans were asked to think about luxury car brands, Hyundai would probably not have sprung to mind.

This was the challenge when launching the new Sonata, a luxury car that even the harshest critics compared to Mercedes and Lexus.

To get people to rethink what they knew about luxury cars, teaser ads in TV and print ran showing the Sonata with its badge replaced by a question mark.

IDEA

To get the South African motoring media to question their own luxury perceptions, important motoring journalists were mailed a box containing a large image of the new car printed on fabric together with Mercedes and Lexus emblems.

They were invited to come to the launch of the car to find out what it really was.

RESULTS

This mailing to journalists helped the launch become more successful than anyone had hoped. Just one month after launch, dealerships across the country had sold out of Sonatas and a waiting list had to be created. Subsequently the car has sold at a rate of 180 per month, cementing Hyundai’s place in the mid-size luxury market.

INSIGHTS

This is another instance of Smartmail Marketing having an important part to play in an integrated campaign. When you have a big idea that connects across all media channels, as this idea obviously does, then you need to make the most it by using influencers and opinion leaders to amplify your idea as far and wide as possible.

And with dimensional mailings like this, it’s important to send a physical item people will actually want to keep. In this example, collected data allowed them to target automotive journalists specifically, knowing the emblems would almost certainly have stayed on their desks for months, even years, as paperweights or ornaments. And so, the mail here served not only as a collector’s item, but also as a testament to Hyundai Sonata’s luxury status.

RETHINK LUXURYPRODUCT Sonata | CLIENT Hyundai | AGENCY The Jupiter Drawing Room, Cape Town | COUNTRY South Africa


08 INCITE ISSUE 7

SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Ivan Pinto-Bravo | SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Matt Lalande | TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE DIRECTOR Ben Smith | SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER Dave Kopec

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Noreen Pero | DIRECTOR Michael Chang | VP GROUP DIRECTOR Phil D’Adio | ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR Dabbie Lamano

ASSISTANT ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Meghan Barquinero | ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Kyle Heinsen

BACKGROUND

Though Land Rover owners purchased a new vehicle every 2.5 to 5 years, there had been no strategy for communicating directly with existing owners.

Land Rover knew many of their drivers were “sitting on the fence” because they were thinking it was time for something new, or they had had a bad experience with the car, or they had moved into a new lifestyle and weren’t aware that there was a Land Rover to meet their new needs.

IDEA

Research and data showed that the customer journey took three months from consideration to purchase of a Land Rover. So a data-driven, multi-touch, rolling communication campaign was created, which spoke to owners across a 90-day period in three distinct stages.

Phase one focused on re-invigorating owner feelings for the brand, reminding them what Land Rover stood for and connecting them to the brand spirit.

Phase two was more rational, showcasing new innovations and refinements to the range.

The last phase focused on transaction and, as the prospects got ever closer to commitment, reinforced the benefits of buying a new vehicle.

Each stage started with direct mail but included email and a comprehensive website with three online videos shot for the campaign.

Owners received communications featuring the 2015 model of their existing vehicle with the exception of those who owned Land Rover’s entry-level vehicle, LR2, who were encouraged to trade up to a superior model.

RESULTS

The first measure of response was through the initial direct mail pieces webkey. The 4.66% usage rate was more than double the anticipated usage of 2% across 40 states.

Results indicated a very engaged audience. Past effective rates in 2014 ranged from 10.86% to 28.46%. In 2015, response rates were 31.99%.

Finally, as far as sales were concerned, first wave results were amazing with $24,240,000 in sales for an investment of less than $60,000.

INSIGHTS

Technically, this is a really first-rate piece of Smartmail Marketing. Making use of acquired data, every mailing featured the specific model of Land Rover owned by the recipient, be it a Range Rover, a Discovery or the Freelander. And, by pushing the connectivity, it really did establish a “conversation” with the target. Mail, email and the online experience were all meshed together over a three-month period in which Land Rover drivers were gently guided towards their next purchase.

The other thing to notice here are the numbers. Nearly $25M of metal shifted out of the showrooms. That’s remarkable. And proof mail really does help drive business results.

UNCOMMON OWNER IN MARKET CAMPAIGNPRODUCT Land Rover | CLIENT Land Rover | AGENCY Wunderman, New York | COUNTRY United States

AUTOMOTIVE


10 INCITE ISSUE 7

CREATIVE DIRECTOR AND COPYWRITER Matej Kodric | ART DIRECTOR AND DESIGN Aleksandar Jordacevic | PRODUCTION Zevnik DOO | ACCOUNT TEAM Renata Sestic, Metka Orel

BACKGROUND

With a new multimedia communication platform, Touch and Go, and several other exciting innovations and features, the new Toyota Yaris was the smartest and the most exciting car in its segment.

IDEA

The new Yaris simply had too many improvements and features to talk about. They were best discovered first-hand at a Toyota dealership.

So, to drive traffic to the showrooms and to communicate something of the awesomeness of the new car, an electrostatic mailing was created with the help of the Institute for Practical Physics.

Made with plastic and special foil, this mailing gave recipients a hair-raising experience, literally, when they opened the mailing. It brought to life the message, “The new Yaris. You’ll bristle with excitement.”

RESULTS

Response rates were 20% higher than the previous best-performing mailing.

The idea was also picked up by specialist websites as an example of best practices for direct mail.

INSIGHTS

One of the questions we often ask clients is: what response do you want? Invariably they answer, we want people to buy our new car.

Yes, of course you do. But just to get them to notice your new car and consider it, maybe for the first ever time, what response do you want when they first open your direct mail piece? When they first think about your brand? Do you want them to laugh, to be amazed, do you want them to pin the letter to the wall or to put the piece in a draw? If you don’t think about that one incredibly important moment, then you are probably wasting your money.

The physical experience of this mailing would have delivered a moment of amazement. And from that one moment, all else followed including better response rates and, we presume, better sales.

THE EXCITING TOUCH OF THE NEW YARISPRODUCT Toyota Yaris | CLIENT Toyota | AGENCY Saatchi & Saatchi, Slovenia | COUNTRY Slovenia

AUTOMOTIVE


12 INCITE ISSUE 7

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Wayne Pick | HEAD OF COPY Kim Pick | COPYWRITER Michael Goldthorpe | ART DIRECTOR Mari Petterson

COMMUNICATIONS

BACKGROUND

The high prices set by Telecom, New Zealand’s national telecommunications service, were constant front page news. Independent wireless network Woosh wanted to target disgruntled householders in its key network zones, letting them know they could be paying half as much for their phone with a phone-and-broadband package from Woosh. The piece needed to generate impact and get cut-through in the cluttered letterbox environment.

IDEA

To take advantage of anti-Telecom sentiment, long-time Telecom customers were invited to switch to the new, independent player Woosh – able to offer cheaper prices because of its independent wireless network.

On a tight budget, all Woosh could afford was a letter in an envelope. Except this letter was physically ripped in half by a mailhouse team before being dropped in 50,000 mailboxes around Auckland, capturing the aggressive negative sentiment around Telecom’s high prices, and representing the portion people would save by switching to Woosh.

RESULTS

The results during the first campaign period were the best ever for Woosh, with a record number of new accounts opened each day. It was assumed this was because of the wider campaign from Woosh. However, when the campaign got rolled out again, in network zones where the mailer dropped, there was a significant increase in new Woosh customers (up to 62%), compared to an average 9.3% nationwide. A testament to how important data is in getting your message to those who want and need to hear it.

INSIGHTS

This is direct mail behaving like ambient media. Imagine this in your mailbox. Its appearance reveals the idea immediately: you could be paying half of what the big guys want you to pay. Also, the use of that violent green. That’s called branding. There is nothing remotely subtle or even sophisticated about this idea. It sets out to be dramatic and urgent and succeeds because (marketers please note) it has an amazingly persuasive argument to make.

HALF A BILLPRODUCT Phone and Broadband Package | CLIENT Woosh | AGENCY Tequila, Auckland | COUNTRY New Zealand


14 INCITE ISSUE 7

COPYWRITER Luis Felipe Figueiredo | ART DIRECTOR Rodrigo Panucci | CREATIVE DIRECTORS Hugo Rodrigues, Denis Kakazu | AGENCY PRODUCTION Rita Vilarim, Thiago Loureiro

PHOTOGRAPHER Fábio Bataglia | ACCOUNT TEAM Fernando Silva, Cesar Arantes, Marcus Nakata, Melissa Gamoeda

BACKGROUND

Hopi Hari is Brazil’s largest theme park.

They have held the Hora do Horror event every year for the last ten years and wanted to create buzz and excitement around the 10th anniversary show, which was even bigger and scarier.

IDEA

To suggest how frightening the show was going to be, journalists and bloggers were mailed a fresh set of underpants with the message, “Horror Hour, the 10th Anniversary. Better come prepared.”

Along with the gift was an explanation and an invitation to visit.

RESULTS

200 bloggers who specialized in entertainment were mailed the underpants. 175 of them attended the opening event.

In under 24 hours, the mailing had generated over 2,500 comments and shares in all social media with hundreds of tweets and re-tweets about both the mailing and the event.

INSIGHTS

How do you reach a million people on a limited budget? You reach the people the million turn to every day, the bloggers and vloggers they know and trust. Every content creator brings an audience with them, as this piece acknowledges. If you can do something to interest and amuse someone who has half a million followers, then you’re halfway to your target. And that’s the power of the element of connectivity. Again and again Smartmail Marketing proves itself to be a relatively low-cost way of getting through to the handful of people who can amplify the story a hundred times over.

SPARE PAIRPRODUCT Horror Hour | CLIENT Hopi Hari Theme Park | AGENCY Publicis, Brazil | COUNTRY Brazil

ENTERTAINMENT


16 INCITE ISSUE 7

CREATIVE CHAIRMAN Nick Worthington | EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Wayne Pick | CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kim Pick | SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Kristal Knight

SENIOR COPYWRITER Darryl Wong | PRINT PRODUCER Sheriden Derby | DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Paul Courtney | BUSINESS DIRECTOR Sarah Williams

GROUP ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Jillian Stanton | PROJECT DIRECTOR Janelle Wilson | SENIOR CRM PLANNER Angela Legge | PLANNING DIRECTOR David McCallen

BNZ DIRECTOR, RETAIL BANKING & MARKETING Craig Herbison | BNZ COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Marcia Masters

BACKGROUND

As part of BNZ’s promise to help New Zealanders be good with money, the bank wanted to jolt people into tackling their biggest financial commitment – their home loan. Most New Zealanders had no idea how much money they were wasting on unnecessary home loan interest.

IDEA

Every day, billions of dollars in old banknotes were destroyed by the world’s major banks and turned into waste. The idea was to salvage some of that waste and make it valuable again.

Collaborating with the Reserve Bank, $1,000 of real shredded cash was put into bundles and delivered to homeowners across the country with a letter explaining how a BNZ Tailored Home Loan could help them prevent such waste and save $156,000 on a typical $300,000 home loan.

RESULTS

Millions of dollars in worthless shredded money was recycled into a simple campaign, which saved New Zealand homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars and also increased BNZ mortgage lending by $600 million.

Home loan enquiries jumped 13%.

Bank preference increased 11% against BNZ non-‘main bank’ customers.

INSIGHTS

On the video created for submitting this campaign to awards shows, you can hear the squeals of shock as homeowners realize they have a thousand bucks in their mailboxes. The imagination instantly reassembles the notes and sees it as hard cash.

Therein lies the extraordinary effectiveness of the idea, in allowing people to weigh up for themselves, literally, the cost of sticking with their existing home loans.

What makes mail such a great medium is its physicality. In this instance, Kiwis everywhere would have turned the mailing over, would have thrown it to someone else in the kitchen, would have laughed and would have started to think hard about what a thousand dollars means. If you’ve ever wondered why some marketers use direct mail, there are six hundred million explanations in this campaign.

$HREDPRODUCT Tailored Home Loans | CLIENT BNZ | AGENCY Colenso BBDO/Proximity, New Zealand | COUNTRY New Zealand

FINANCIAL SERVICES & INSURANCE


18 INCITE ISSUE 7

EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Daren Kay | SENIOR COPYWRITER Tom Harman | SENIOR ART DIRECTOR George Bell | LEAD DESIGNER Ian Fryer

SENIOR PRODUCTION MANAGER Darren Jackson | GROUP ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Dominic Moore | ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Cindy Gingell

BACKGROUND

The objective of the campaign was to recruit new customers to the telephone and online bank, First Direct. Using direct mail and an incentivised member-get-member approach, First Direct wanted to talk directly to potential customers who were already warm to the idea of switching.

IDEA

The problem was that at any given moment, only 7% of the population was looking to switch banks, so simply finding these customers was a challenge.

That said, because First Direct was the UK’s most recommended bank, a member-get-member approach seemed the simplest way to target a warm audience.

1,000 existing customers were mailed, allowing them to pass an application form to friends who they thought might like to switch.

The mailing delivered the member-get-member message in between different layers of newspaper, the package replicating Pass the Parcel, the children’s party game. Each page of the newsprint wrapping paper featured funny stories centred around First Direct. “Remember when passing something on was so much fun?” asked the tag tied to the first layer. Once unwrapped, customers were rewarded with a harmonica and the offer of an iTunes voucher worth about CAN$100 when someone they know joined up.

In a market saturated with enticing offers to move bank accounts, the idea made memorable and fun a task that could easily have been embarrassing or irritating.

RESULTS

Preliminary data revealed that a high percentage of those contacted said they would recommend to a friend. In phone research, one customer said it was “the most original thing he had received in a long time and completely unexpected from a bank.” He added that he “will be recommending First Direct to everybody.” He signed off by playing a tune on his harmonica.

INSIGHTS

This piece speaks as eloquently about the brand as it does about the deal on offer, CAN$100 for any successful recommendation.

First Direct was unusual in that its customers did genuinely love it. Part of this relationship was due to the consistently quirky way it talked to them across all its channels. No other bank in Britain could even think of sending a harmonica to 1,000 of their customers. No other bank would imagine that playing “pass the parcel” would be regarded as amusing. No other bank would have been able to match First Direct in brand awareness and brand preference scores.

PASS THE PARCELPRODUCT First Direct Bank | CLIENT First Direct | AGENCY TMW, London | COUNTRY United Kingdom



Every layer you unwrap the excitement builds

20 INCITE ISSUE 7

CREATIVE DIRECTORS Stephen Anderson, Al Mackie | ART DIRECTORS John Jordan, Janine Poon | COPYWRITERS Anton Posa, Jermaine Rowe | PRODUCTION David Collier, Kate Best

ACCOUNT SERVICE Kristy Schwind, Chelsey Peace, Sandy Xydis

BACKGROUND

With the launch of NRMA Insurance’s new “NRMADE BETTER” brand positioning, the task was to welcome new customers by reassuring them that they’d made the right decision in taking out an NRMA Insurance policy, thus making the first step in establishing and securing the customer relationship for the long term.

IDEA

Insurance companies help people protect the big things in life: cars, houses, boats and so on. But more often than not, it’s the little things that go missing. And they can be extremely irritating to track down. The idea was to give people a way to find the things they often misplace by giving them the TrackR.

To use it, they simply attached the device to their wallets, keys or pets. When the object went missing, they used an app to locate it. Using Bluetooth, the TrackR emitted a noise so the user could locate the missing keys, wallet, remote etc.

Customers were provided with an immediate and physical example of the new NRMADE BETTER positioning by giving them a quick and easy way to find things.

RESULTS

Since launching in December, 1,606 TrackRs have been redeemed, a redemption rate of about 16%. As well as purses and remote controls, even a pet guinea pig has been located. And during the process, NRMA collected loads of relevant data to be used to improve any future communications.

INSIGHTS

Isn’t it fascinating how different media connect with and influence each other? For instance, brands often try to provide real help online, answering search queries with useful advice and information. Now here’s a brand taking ‘utility’ and applying it to the physical world.

There is real marketing intelligence here. Insurance is something you only want to think about once a year, when, grudgingly, you renew your policy. So, in simply being nice and giving their customers something for free, NRMA are getting people to view them more warmly. In addition, they are getting the brand name at front-of-mind every time a customer loses (and finds) the remote, the purse, the dog, etc.

WELCOME TRACKRPRODUCT Insurance | CLIENT NRMA Insurance | AGENCY M&C Saatchi/Lida | COUNTRY Australia



22 INCITE ISSUE 7

EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Steve Harrison | COPYWRITER Iain Hunter | ART DIRECTOR Jamie Bell

BACKGROUND

Fitness First was one of the UK’s largest chains of gymnasiums. They wanted to create a campaign that would recruit people to their local gym.

IDEA

Most advertising for gyms featured pictures of perfect people with perfect muscles, perfect tone, perfect bodies. But the insight behind this campaign was most people do not want to live the lives of self-denial that it takes to look like that. Fitness First set out to say, it’s okay to indulge yourselves and eat what you want – so long as you come to the gym to get back in shape.

With a limited budget, mail was chosen because it provided the best way to support each local gym.

On the Wednesday, prospects received what looked like a menu for an Indian takeaway restaurant; on the Thursday a Kebab house menu; and on the Friday, a menu for an Italian takeaway. The menus explained how much exercise was needed to shed the pounds put on by each of the dishes.

RESULTS

The monthly uptake of new members increased by 50% for the duration of the activity (two months). With each new member committing to a minimum 12-month contract, the campaign was responsible for generating an additional CAD$74,918 in revenue for Fitness First, for a return on investment of 23:1.

INSIGHTS

The brilliant thing about mail when it’s used like this is how local it is. It reinforces a sense of community and connectedness. Perhaps Fitness First spent a bit more than they might have done with a couple of small ads in local newspapers, but they got their message into every kitchen of every home in the areas that counted.

When the message is delivered in as friendly a way as this, then it becomes even harder to understand why so few retailers use mail as a medium.

TAKEAWAY MENUSPRODUCT Gyms | CLIENT Fitness First | AGENCY Harrison Troughton Wunderman, London | COUNTRY United Kingdom

HEALTH & FITNESS


24 INCITE ISSUE 7

ART DIRECTOR Ian MacMillan | COPYWRITER Anthony Wilson | CREATIVE DIRECTORS Tony Bradbourne, Rob Jack | DESIGN Heath Lowe, I Love Dust

ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Annabel Rees | ACCOUNT MANAGER Nicola Muollo

BACKGROUND

When the New Zealand All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup, it created some pretty memorable newspaper front pages in New Zealand. But what about the hundreds of thousands of Kiwis who lived abroad – how could they share in the afterglow of the World Cup victory?

IDEA

A full-page press ad was created, which allowed readers to turn the entire newspaper into a mailing they could send along to friends and family elsewhere in the world to share the experience of national pride.

All they had to do was fold the paper, pop a message on it with a few stamps and post it.

RESULTS

Because of the varying sizes of the folded newspapers they couldn’t be electronically counted, but it was estimated that well over 1,000 newspapers got mailed.

That is a lot of personalised mail that people paid for themselves to send around the world on behalf of the Newspapers Publishers’ Association.

INSIGHTS

Is this direct mail? Is it ambient? Is it experiential? The answer is yes! It is one of those metamorphosis ideas, when one medium turns into another.

But what is great about it is the simple human truth that when New Zealand won the Rugby World Cup, it was one of the most massive events in the small country’s history. People wanted to share their feelings of elation and pride. And mailing the newspaper to a friend abroad was a physical and real way of including them in the celebrations.

Proof not only of the power of newspapers but of the power of mail to touch people on a deep emotional level.

SEND A NEWSPAPERPRODUCT Newspapers | CLIENT Newspaper Publishers’ Association | AGENCY Special Group, Auckland | COUNTRY New Zealand

PUBLICATIONS & MEDIA


26 INCITE ISSUE 7

ART DIRECTOR Antony Nelson | COPYWRITER Michael Sutherland | TYPOGRAPHER Monika Pobog-Molinowska

BACKGROUND

Denny’s was a coffee shop/diner serving fast food out of some 1,600 restaurants in the US. Denny’s was known for serving food around the clock. What they wanted to do was to emphasize the fact their diners did not close, except when required to by law, by launching an All-Night menu to students.

IDEA

The All-Night menu was printed onto pillowcases, which were then distributed around universities. Students seemed to be the perfect target audience. They were up late at night, they hated having to cook for themselves and would love some new bedding, especially if it was free. Whereas ordinary menus tended to get lost or thrown away or pushed to the back of a drawer, this one would always be there. Just at the very time the students might be considering a late-night snack.

RESULTS

Since the launch of Denny’s All Night Menu, average unit sales steadily increased at Syracuse University, where the pillowcase was first distributed. Regional sales were up by as much as 11% while the competition was trading flat. The pillowcases really were an “overnight success” and became the talk of the campus.

INSIGHTS

In almost all marketing communication, the key to success is relevance. What is appealing about this idea is that the creative team so clearly had their target audience in mind. Students. They stay up all night, they get the munchies, they don’t wash their sheets for months on end. The pillowcase would have struck a chord with every kid who had one delivered. It’s an idea that knows who you are, where you are and what you are. That’s relevance. That’s Smartmail Marketing.

PILLOWCASEPRODUCT Convenience Food | CLIENT Denny’s Restaurants | AGENCY Publicis Kaplan Thaler, New York | COUNTRY United States

RESTAURANTS


28 INCITE ISSUE 7

EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sascha Hanke | UNIT CREATIVE DIRECTOR Rolf Leger | CREATIVE DIRECTOR Christian Doering | ART DIRECTOR Nadine Nolting

COPYWRITER Sarah Sommer | PRODUCTION MANAGER Martin Lühe | AGENCY PRODUCERS Nina Offermann, Rachel Hoffmann, Christopher Tychsen

ACCOUNT MANAGER Britta Kronacher | ART BUYING Katja Sluyter

BACKGROUND

Rosenthal was founded in Germany in 1879. From the beginning, the company had always mixed tradition with innovation.

They wanted to find a way of selling more china tableware to young married couples setting up home for the first time, capitalizing on the fact that tableware is their number one choice of wedding gift.

IDEA

Giving a voucher to be redeemed against the plates and cups the happy couple had itemized on their wedding list was boring.

There is an old German tradition that smashing china is said to bring good luck to newlyweds, the noise banishing evil spirits. This inspired an idea to create an envelope made of porcelain with a voucher for Rosenthal tableware hidden inside.

RESULTS

Thanks to the Weddinglope, the number of vouchers sold at Rosenthal stores increased by 32% compared with the same period the previous year.

INSIGHTS

One of the strengths of mail, when you get it right, is that it has staying power. It lasts for weeks, even months in the home. But what makes this piece great is it has been designed not to last.

We love the fact that it makes something of the old superstition of breaking a plate to bring good luck. And we also love the real physicality and theatre of it, the moment of noise and laughter it would bring when the happy couple has to smash it to get at the goods inside.

The irony, of course, is that the Weddinglope is such a lovely thing in itself, you might want to keep it – but can’t.

THE WEDDINGLOPEPRODUCT Porcelain | CLIENT Rosenthal GmbH | AGENCY Kolle Rebbe GmbH | COUNTRY Germany

RETAIL


30 INCITE ISSUE 7

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Caitlin Ryan | ART DIRECTOR Nicola Rogers | COPYWRITER Reuben Turner | ACCOUNT TEAM Duncan Stewart, Annie Hingston, Claire Moore

BACKGROUND

Online shopping was a relatively loyalty-free category. Unrestricted by the proximity of a local store, customers could shop where they wanted. They were often driven by price and incentives, or only ordered bulky and functional items.

Sainsbury’s had just relaunched their home grocery shopping service to make the experience easier and more inspiring for the consumer. They wanted to create an emotional rather than a functional or price-led relationship with Sainsbury’s online while, at the same time, delivering to the overall brand thought of “Try something new today.”

IDEA

Postcards were used to promote the generic benefits of shopping online as well as the unique benefits of Sainsbury’s online.

They were mailed out in sequence, from the customer’s first shop online until their fifth visit to the website. The creative was tailored to suit each of the different stages of the customer journey.

Nectar card data helped with the segmentation of customers and the targeting of messages based on actual behaviour.

To help create an emotional connection, the postcards were personalized to give the impression that Sainsbury’s treated their customers as individuals. The creative treatment was designed to be colourful and playful to suggest that online shopping could be fun.

RESULTS

Response rates for some pieces were as high as 49.25%, more than four times the targets, with a cost per response of CAD$3.40, and an average order value of CAD$176.61. Ongoing testing indicated that the campaign worked without incentives, showing that it was the brand that mattered rather than just money-off coupons.

INSIGHTS

Can you spot the difference between these postcards and your typical mailing? Yes, they are round. Sometimes that’s all it takes to get noticed, to do the opposite. Everyone else sends out mailings in oblongs, so send out something round. Physical mail can be as simple as it is effective.

The other neat thing about these is the way they connect at different points on the customer journey. The first plate talks about why you should shop online (it’s easy, and there are great offers to be found); the second reassures the customer the food they get delivered is as fresh as if they picked it off the shelves themselves; and the third is a gentle prod to go online again (Not shopped with us for a while? Then you won’t have seen this new tip...)

SHOPPING ON A PLATEPRODUCT Sainsbury’s Online Shopping | CLIENT Sainsbury’s | AGENCY Proximity, London | COUNTRY United Kingdom

RETAIL


32 INCITE ISSUE 7

CREATIVE DIRECTOR George Boyter | ART DIRECTORS Martin Cleave, Kevin Little | COPYWRITER Lysette Teasdale | PRODUCERS James Uzzell, Mark Gleig

ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT Ben Duke, Anna Dacey

BACKGROUND

Tesco was the leading supermarket brand in the UK. Much of its success was credited to the Tesco Clubcard, a loyalty scheme that enabled the store to track exactly which products its customers were buying.

250,000 shoppers were identified as having bought at least 12 organic food products in the previous two months. The task was to get these people to become wholly committed to an organic lifestyle.

IDEA

Whether their motivations were for health, animal welfare or the reduced use of chemicals, Tesco customers were mailed the message that it was now easier than ever to eat organic all the time.

Mail allowed Tesco to demonstrate the range of products available, along with seasonal information and helpful recipes.

RESULTS

Average sales to cost ratio across the program was $1.68 for every $1 spent.

Total uplift generated by the campaign was CAD$7,074,983.

Average uplift per mailing was CAD$1,010,164.

Participation was up to 32%.

INSIGHTS

Creativity has been defined as the only legitimate way to give yourself an unfair advantage over your competitors. The Tesco Clubcard did just that. It accelerated Tesco’s growth dramatically. If you’re looking for a big idea in advertising, few come any bigger. It was an idea that allowed Tesco to capture data on an unprecedented scale and to use that data to identify different opportunities among different groups of its customers. You can read about it in the book “Scoring Points” by Clive Humby and Terry Hunt.

Tesco knew the recipients of this mailing were already interested in organics. They didn’t need to sell hard. What was required was a gentle reminder why the organic way was a better way, plus a bit of incentive with a money-off coupon, and voila! The results speak for themselves.

GROWING FROM NICHE TO MAINSTREAMPRODUCT Tesco Organics | CLIENT Tesco | AGENCY Dunnhumby | COUNTRY United Kingdom

RETAIL


34 INCITE ISSUE 7

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Anna Reynold | PRODUCTION MANAGERS Björn Lind, Jessica Forsman | ART DIRECTORS Kristofer Salsborn, Axel Tagg

COPYWRITERS Anders Malm, Anders Holmstrom

BACKGROUND

Göteborgs Auktionsverk was Gothenburg’s largest auction house. Like any other sales house of that sort, they depended on a constant supply of valuable goods and antiques for their upcoming auctions. Usually the best way of doing this was by getting a valuation expert into people’s homes where he/she could spot what was of interest and put a value on it. Often it is the stuff that people think isn’t worth anything that turns out to be the most valuable.

IDEA

Peder Lamm was one of the most famous experts in art and antiques in Sweden. He was asked to scan property websites and examine the photographs of the interiors of houses that were up for sale. Frequently he was able to spot items in the photos that could be of real significance.

When he found something, the image was downloaded, the interesting item was circled and then it was put on a postcard and mailed to the homeowners asking if they wanted to sell more than their house.

RESULTS

In the month of the campaign, valuations of items was up 144% compared to the same period the previous year.

It is difficult to know quite how many objects have been sold at auction this way because many have been identified but not auctioned yet.

INSIGHTS

This is a startling idea that takes what we do in the virtual world and projects it into the real world.

It reveals how much information about ourselves we give away online without thinking. Some people might think it’s a bit creepy, an auction house peering at their photographs for glimpses of treasure, but actually, what it’s doing brilliantly and cheaply is connecting people who are in a mind to sell with people who want to buy.

THE TROJAN EVALUATIONPRODUCT Göteborgs Auktionsverk | CLIENT Göteborgs Auktionsverk | AGENCY Milk | COUNTRY Sweden

SERVICES


36 INCITE ISSUE 7

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Gavin McLeod | ART DIRECTORS Shane Bradnick, Gavin McLeod | COPYWRITERS Dustin Lane, Dave King, George Shaw | PRODUCER Josephine Panetta

ONLINE PRODUCERS Elly Gillis, Tammi Luiker | CLIENT SERVICES Kimberlee Wells, Eleni Pelosi, Lara Wolski

BACKGROUND

Tourism Australia was tasked with promoting (not selling) Australia as a conference and events destination. The problem was Australia was perceived to be a remote and costly option compared to destinations such as Dubai and China.

In addition, many events destinations were targeting the same sector so competition was tough. Lastly, it was not always easy to find the decision-maker in large organizations.

Despite all that, the objective was to generate and engage 25% of warm leads from all contacts mailed, by nurturing relationships with recipients that would overcome these perceived barriers.

IDEA

Making any decision that was going to cost the business money and involved flying half-way across the world was not going to be taken lightly.

Tourism Australia set out to firstly excite multiple contacts about Australia as a business events destination and then, most importantly, provide them with tools that would make it easy for them to make their event a reality.

A multi-channel campaign with separate, but inter-connected pieces was developed, with each piece aimed at getting the right information about hosting events in Australia to the right recipient in the decision-making process. Data ensured that each piece was specifically tailored to the recipients: brief information for Corporate Decision Makers, more detailed information for Corporate Influencers.

Direct mail was sent to businesses throughout Asia, the UK, and the US.

RESULTS

This was Tourism Australia’s first opportunity to develop an ongoing dialogue with their hottest prospects.

It delivered 46% of recipients as warm leads with each of these recipients logging onto their personalized website and either registering for an Events Kit (13%), subscribing to a podcast (17%), or contacting TA personally to praise the campaign and express their thanks in receiving this direct mail piece (18%).

In addition to the people who directly received the mailing, an average of six other individuals per company were tracked logging onto the website.

While most business events were planned 2 years in advance, there was one immediate booking as a result of the campaign for 10,000 people from 53 countries, each delivering $400 per day in spend.

INSIGHTS

You can give an impression of Australia in other media but if you really want them to feel the spirit of the place, then mail is where to start simply because of its physicality. You have a physical painting in your hands. A real, physical iPod and not just a link to some online destination.

Even when you do go to the website, there is another reward there for those who want it in the full set of books.

This campaign has been planned with great thoroughness and executed with care. It would not have been cheap but it paid for itself almost immediately and over a whole two-year cycle would almost certainly have led to millions of dollars of spend. That’s all you need to make a big impression on the bottom line: a client with clear objectives and a singular proposition working with an agency that values craft skills.

RE-ENERGIZEPRODUCT Business Events | CLIENT Tourism Australia | AGENCY M&C Saatchi/Mark | COUNTRY Australia

TRAVEL & TOURISM


38 INCITE ISSUE 7

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ian Bates | HEAD OF COPY Ian Atkinson | ART DIRECTOR Darren Mower | DESIGNER Dave Oliver | PRODUCTION MANAGER Nicola Hurley | PRINTER Lexon

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER Emma Watson

BACKGROUND

To try to get more people to think of Ireland as a holiday destination, Tourism Ireland asked for a cold mailing to target those people who were interested in walking tours and heritage breaks.

To stand out from every other holiday mailing, all of which looked like travel agent’s brochures, the brief was to have an idea that would not rely on photography.

IDEA

From Treasure Island to The Da Vinci Code, people have been fascinated by tales of mystery, intrigue and reward. In short, everyone loves a treasure hunt.

The idea was to develop a mysterious and engaging approach by mailing prospects a beat-up old map: Treasure Ireland.

Over the years, different visitors had discovered many “hidden treasures” and had handwritten them onto this cartographical wonder. Now it was the recipient’s turn to find “hidden riches” as well.

The copy stated, “It is time for this map to pass to you.” The reader was then invited to request a brochure and enter a competition.

RESULTS

56,000 maps were mailed leading to 6,000 brochure requests and competition entries.

39,000 were emailed, securing an open rate of 21.5% and click-through rate of 30%.

INSIGHTS

What makes this work are the little bits of torn-out messages purporting to have been written in the past. You glance at the map, read the scrap, go back to the map to find the place mentioned, then you read the postcard. And through this physical back and forth, you become well and truly involved in the piece.

Just discovering all the contents of the envelope is something of a journey in itself.

The notion of “Treasure Ireland” is more than faintly corny but because it is put together with such (Irish) charm, it works.

TREASURE IRELANDPRODUCT Walking and heritage holidays | CLIENT Tourism Ireland | AGENCY Entire, Bristol | COUNTRY United Kingdom

TRAVEL & TOURISM


40 INCITE ISSUE 7

BACKGROUND

There was a lot of fun creative stuff to do in Wales. All over the country, visitors could find courses, classes and workshops that could enrich a holiday or even be a holiday in themselves. Problem was, people didn’t often know about them. So the brief was to connect with the more adventurous types on the mailing list and get them and their children interested in coming to Wales for a more engaging holiday experience.

IDEA

The insight that drove the campaign was a simple one: people aren’t happy with a holiday full of “doing nothing” anymore. They want to do everything. Try stuff. Learn stuff. Make stuff. So the work had to spark imaginations. Let people know that Wales is full of creative activities. Then show them how to find them.

Because the types of holidays Visit Wales wanted to tell people about were very hands-on, the mail piece was too. Recipients received a block of clay they could play with, give to their kids, or use to make something together. The pack built on this fun moment, explaining that to really let out your inner artist, or learn something new, a course in Wales was the way to go. The URL directed families straight to a specialized section of the Visit Wales website. There, they could find as much information as they needed to get booking.

RESULTS

Ongoing campaign.

INSIGHTS

The real problem with Wales is that it’s wet. Very wet. But a clever strategist at Partners Andrews Aldridge flipped that and reasoned that because it rains a lot, it is the perfect destination for families to do stuff together.

This is such a powerful piece of communication through what it doesn’t say as much as what it does. It doesn’t tell dads how useless they are as parents. It does tell them how important they are in their kids’ development. It doesn’t lecture. It allows parents to make the connections themselves. This slab of clay allowed them to create in their imaginations an idealized version of themselves. Its physical simplicity communicates the idea in an effective and memorable way.

CREATIVE DIRECTORS Paul Snoxell, Andy Todd | ART DIRECTOR Simon Nicholls | COPYWRITER Chris King | CREATIVE SERVICES Natalie Woodley | PRINT Production in Print

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER Jessica Brown

CLAYPRODUCT Wales | CLIENT Visit Wales | AGENCY Partners Andrews Aldridge | COUNTRY United Kingdom

TRAVEL & TOURISM


42 INCITE ISSUE 7

irect mail’s role in the marketing mix has been evolving alongside the changes in technology. Big data, deeper analytics capabilities and innovations in technology are giving marketers the ability to command

attention and connect more effectively than ever before.

For this reason, Canada Post recently worked with the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) to celebrate the very best of Canadian direct mail at the annual CMA awards with a new award category.

The INCITE award recognizes the smart new ways that marketers are using mail, and gives well-deserved recognition to campaigns that can inspire new ways of thinking.

What made an entry award-winning?The INCITE Award was open to all Canadian direct mail campaigns that had been in market in the previous 18 months, whether mail was used as part of an integrated campaign or as a standalone piece. Each submission was assessed for its strategic thought, creative execution, and results for the campaign.

Only those submissions that excelled in all of these areas would be considered for this award.

The judging processThe judging panel drew across a variety of disciplines, including marketers, advertisers, creative professionals and direct mail experts.

Every submission was judged in its truest form, by requiring a physical sample to go along with the online submissions. This ensured judges could fully appreciate the tactile experience for themselves while completing the judging process.

“We could actually unfold and explore each piece,” said Scott Pinkney, senior judge. “We got a real sense of the impact each mailing could make. The proof was right in our hands.”

The winners for 2015A wide spectrum of entries were received for the inaugural INCITE award. Ultimately, the three entries shown on these pages stood out from the rest. They were recognized at the CMA Awards Gala as winners of this first annual award.

INTRODUCING THE 2015 INCITE AWARDS D

PVR Confidential Augmented Reality PostcardThis entry showed how direct mail can amplify the impact of a larger campaign. The concept of “PVR Crimes” dramatized the struggles some households have with PVR recordings, and highlighted the benefit of recording up to 8 shows at once with Rogers NextBox 3.0. The mailer paired with an augmented reality app, taking customers through a series of videos that revealed a PVR Crime.

GOLD

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE


CIBC Visa Infinite Privilege launchHigh net value customers are an exceptional audience. So the physical touchpoints of this multichannel campaign needed to be exceptional, reinforcing the premium nature of CIBC’s new travel rewards credit card. Contemporary travel styling and soft-touch finishes provided a luxury appeal to the acquisition mailing. The welcome package reinforced a sense of exclusivity featuring a letter hand-signed by a bank executive accompanied by a leather passport holder.

ABCRC Every Empty Counts DMThis campaign showed how direct mail can have high sharability. Every Empty Counts brought their recycling awareness program to top of mind with school principals, sending a clear box that featured teacher tools and information tailored to the school’s level of participation. The posters and reusable wall clings inside the package helped teachers bring the message of recycling into the school and to students.

THE 2015 CANADA POST INCITE AWARD JUDGES LEARN MORE

For more details behind

the 2015 INCITE Awards,

visit canadapost.ca/incite.

BRONZE

SILVER

Visa and Visa Infinite Privilege are trademarks of Visa Int./CIBC lic. user.

SENIOR JUDGEScott Pinkney VP, Executive Creative DirectorPublicis Hawkeye

JUDGE PANELJennifer Campbell General Manager, Commercial MarketingCanada Post

Stacey Cummings Director, Influencer Marketing, Canada Post

Janet Brearton General Manager, Business Development, Canada Post

Mary CochraneDirector, Commercial Marketing,

Canada Post

Kaksha Mehta Senior Manager, Marketing, RBC

Paul Tedesco Managing Director, Track DDB

Stephanie GoyetteSenior Brand Manager, Kraft Canada

Dan Gaede Creative Director, Proximity Canada

44 INCITE ISSUE 7

A LOOK AT:

Question: For those who haven’t heard of it until now, what is Smartmail Marketing?Bill Gunton: Smartmail Marketing is a new approach to direct mail that uses its most powerful attributes to amplify the impact of your marketing.

Q : What makes it different from direct mail?BG: It’s a new way of thinking about how marketers use mail. We call it The Science of Activation because it combines three elements – physicality, data and connectivity – to create a message that’s more relevant and more engaging.

Q : Where did this new approach come from?BG: We’re always talking with marketers. More and more, they were telling us that they’re seeing tweets, clicks, follows and so on, but online engagement hasn’t been converting to the sales they expect. Marketers may be well-versed on techniques for creating interaction, but in doing this, some have forgotten about tactics that drive action, like direct mail.

Technology is changing the context of direct mail. So we researched precisely how consumers relate to mail today. How do people interact with it? Why does it work? What makes one approach more effective than others? These are answers that marketers are looking for.

Q : What kind of research was involved?BG: We had ethnographic experts look at how mail gets from the mailbox into a customer’s hands and into their lives. This study combined with extensive international research in our white paper, Breaking Through the Noise.

We also had neuroscientists use brain-imaging to see how the mind reacts to direct mail. We could actually see how easy direct mail is to understand and how persuasive it can be compared to similar messages sent through digital media. The study, A Bias for Action, revealed the differences between how physical and digital media impact the brain.

Q : Were there any of the research results that surprised you?BG: The first study let us put numbers to what many marketers already instinctively know. I think we’ve all held onto direct mail that’s interesting, whether it’s takeout menus, catalogues, or flyers for home improvement services.

What I personally found fascinating were the insights from the neuroscience study. There’s sometimes a gap between what consumers say they think and what they actually think. The brain imaging let us watch how physical materials are received differently. We could actually see why direct mail can be better at closing the marketing-sales loop.

What’s great about both of these studies is how current and relevant the information is. They look at direct mail in the context of today’s technology, and how DM is part of the mix.

Q : What’s changing about how we use mail now?BG: Let’s come back to those three elements: physicality, data and connectivity. All three now have more to offer, and can be more integrated.

For example, some direct marketers say that sixty percent or more of your response comes down to your list, which is your data. If you consider just that, you might be content to send a catalogue to your best customers, and hope that it drives them to the website.

But data now includes information like recent purchases and wish lists. What if you used this information to send each one of your best customers a custom mini-catalogue, with items they selected themselves? Today’s digital printing makes it possible. Near-field communications and QR codes turn a print catalogue into an online purchase with a quick tap on a smartphone. Whether you tie your direct mail to your website, or to an integrated campaign, your mailing can become connected to a much larger message.

Q : Now that Smartmail Marketing is out there, what do you see as the biggest changes coming to the mailbox?BG: Technological innovation is just going to continue. I see this naturally extending to direct mail. There is an enormous opportunity for marketers to build connectivity through mail. Data is going to be playing an ever-increasing role. And I’m excited to see how marketers use new personalization technologies. Canada Post is committed to staying at the forefront of these changes, making ongoing investments in products, services and education to help marketers solve the challenges they’re facing now, and in the future.

The white papers Breaking Through the Noise and A Bias for

Action are available for download online.

To learn more, visit canadapost.ca/smartmailmarketing.

GET THE RESEARCH

HOW MAIL IS GETTING SMARTERCanada Post Smartmail MarketingTM promises a more intelligent approach to direct mail. To learn what this means for marketers, we talked with Bill Gunton, Vice-President Marketing and Commercial Products at Canada Post.