Door drop digest: Carl Walsh, Mediacom

When I was asked for my views on the door drops I get through the letterbox, the first thing that I decided to do was to keep an eye on the volume of direct mail we also receive (cold acquisition of course) to see how the volumes stacked up against each other. Any direct media person needs a starting point to compare against and I am no different plus I thought that comparison might prove interesting, which it did…

The first thing I learnt is that we don’t really receive a lot of door drops in my area of TW11. I thought it would be more, much more – certainly, not the 12 items in two weeks that we did receive. I am not going to include Taxi cards, builders nor the spiritual well being recommendations. I suspect these were hand delivered (and there were only four of them).

The second thing was that the direct mail volume seems disproportionally high. Over the same period, as a household, we received 32 items of direct mail, not quite three times as much as door drops but almost.

I am certainly not going to leap to a conclusion on a two-week sample of one that all direct mail advertisers should jump to door drops, but rather make the observation (before I go totally off brief) that it appears door drops still remain an undervalued and underused media channel.

Many of the direct mail items were no better or harder working than their door-to-door cousins and I would imagine that many wouldn’t beat the overall cost per sale challenge if a fair crack of the response whip was given. I have a number of clients that need reminding and convincing of this and this will spur me on in these efforts.

Virgin Media
I made a side bet with myself that at least one of the big “telcos” would appear through my door and Virgin Media didn’t disappoint. Don’t get me wrong, I like the way they use door drops, I used to plan one of them myself. Low cost and high frequency, single-minded response capturing media such as door drops can make such a difference to utilities so it’s no surprise we receive a lot from them.

What did surprise me was that it was for their mobile products and not TV or telephony. And to be fair to Virgin Media, it was a big, bold, and well-executed piece of communication – much like the rest of their work. I began to think about the targeting and was wondering if, given we are in the age of austerity, perhaps Virgin Media had tried to grow by opening up new audiences (I am convinced I don’t fit their core profile!) more receptive to value messages than ever before.

Then I noticed that all offers were for Virgin Media customers only. I am not one of them. I do live in a cabled area so I can only assume that Virgin Media are hedging their bets here. Perhaps, given how I opened this piece, Virgin Media should really be using direct mail for this after all!

Royal Mint
Next Up, I had The Royal Mint trying to sell me a £5 coin for £14.99. An Olympic one obviously. This was also good hardworking direct response creative at its best. Simple and cost effective to produce, single minded, and easy to follow. Given this is a coin for the discerning investor, I would like to think they got the targeting correct. I haven’t received anything from The Royal Mint for a while now so I quite like the urgency as well – it made me feel especially selected.

It was also refreshing to see The Royal Mint trying to bridge the knowledge gap between online sales driven by online media through a free P&P offer code mechanic. I wish some of my clients would do this kind of thing and I’d love to see the results of this some day. I might just buy the £5 coin as well.

Direct Line
Direct Line pops up next with an A5 home contents insurance postcard. It’s simple and clear on one side (luckily where the relevant stuff is), but with a strange reverse which I didn’t quite get. I don’t think it matters but maybe it could work harder if the two sides were integrated or clearer in some way.

Southern Electric
Southern Electric delivered a rather uninspiring attempt to grab attention about free electrical wiring checks. It’s an extremely dull (but important) subject at the best of times and I don’t think this is a good attempt to bring the subject to life at all.

I am unsure on the green, and the mountain biker flying through the air on the front only reminds me of the BMX chase scene from ET. When you really look at it, they are only offering a free visual check. I suspect there won’t be too many Southern Electric engineers tutting and shaking their heads in TW11.

Local door drops
Some local door drops now – two estate agents clearly in need of stock for a stagnant market. Both tried to sell my house last summer unsuccessfully so I wish them luck. I think they might have a while before they’ve ridden this one out. M J Kloss the decorator also turned up this week, as he does every week. It must work for him, as he’s a decorator in my area I would definitely spontaneously mention. I would never get a quote though (sorry, that’s a really bad awareness and consideration gag!).

Local council door drop
Lastly, we have the Conservatives reporting back on their management of the local council. It’s quite an impactful piece. Luckily, Boris is only small on there. I won’t comment too much on the content other than to say that they seem quite proud to have cut staffing levels at the council by 15%. Clearly the PR department had gone home for the day when this one went to press! As ever, door drops remain an important method of local and national government communications and long may that continue.

So, an interesting two weeks in TW11 in terms of door drops. Some good creative work, some very bad creative work; some questionable targeting; some economic indicators that the property market still has along way to go plus Boris Johnson’s smiling face and a note to self to get hold of ET (not literally) and watch the best BMX chase scene in cinematic history. OK, the only BMX chase scene in cinematic history.

Carl Walsh, director, Mediacom