2011 Bronze Best use of business to business direct mail

Client Targetbase Claydon Heeley

What is wonderful about this work? We successfully grabbed cynical senior marketers’ attention and convinced them we’re an agency worth talking to. Our Time Mail offered two tantalising glimpses of possible futures... and from a mailing file of 117 we booked 23 creds meetings and generated £120,000 of fees in Year one, with an ROI of 48:1.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? We created a highly targeted, attention grabbing and ever-so-slightly ominous new business mailing that exemplified our creative offering. We knew that once we speak to clients we can generate meetings and ultimately new business, but how to get busy senior decision makers to take a call? We identified four target sectors: retail, automotive, fundraising and financial services. Within each we selected companies that offered a good fit in terms of size, potential spends, brand and culture. To ensure we were as personalised as possible, we chose between five and 10 companies in each sector and researched extensively. We even checked that they were in the office for the week we mailed. We then called the day after.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? Every agency says they’re great. And there are lots of great agencies. So we set out our stall with a weird, charming and gently portentous mailing programme. Two postcards arrive a day apart. Both are sent by you from the year 2029, via the miracle of ‘Time Mail’. One arrives from your own personal paradise island promising a fantastic future. The other from dreary Southend, where things ‘haven’t quite worked out as planned’. The difference is simple – in the rosy future you agreed to talk to our agency. The postcards were personalised by industry sector with specific case studies. The follow-up mailing took it one stage further with a letter from the future. This time, the future you also enclosed a cheap mobile phone – the very handset on which you took the call from our agency. Our follow up call then rang the mobile phone two days later...

Results The chance to choose their future clearly struck a chord. From a mailing file of 117 we booked 23 meetings over a 10-month period – a response rate of 19.5%. We’ve already generated £120,000 in fees – with print and production costs of £2,500, that’s an ROI of 48:1. We expect these two new clients to generate over £380,000 per year – taking the ROI up to 150:1. We’re also following up many meetings and have others booked, so we’re sure this revenue will increase.

Team Chris Martin, Tim Lines, Steve Grout, Sam Parsley, Richie Florey.