2011 Silver Best use of business to business direct mail

Client T-Mobile

What is wonderful about this work? We developed the perfect proposition for the plumbing sector: a ‘tough phone’ with a great price plan. The right product and a little bit of cheek resonated. By talking their language, we ensured a massive response. An unprecedented 45% of the 10,000 contacts followed up by telesales have entered the sales pipeline, to sign within the next 18 months, at a cost of 60p per lead.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? Any large audience is made up of many smaller sectors, who often have more specific needs. So while we are the only mobile phone provider to look at solutions for small businesses as a whole, we have also been developing propositions targeted directly at specialist markets. Our research told us that plumbers in particular need tough, durable, water-resistant mobile phones. So we targeted them with two perfect products: the Motorola DEFY and the Samsung Solid Immerse. Both are designed to be water, dust and scratchresistant and are IP67 certified (they can withstand being left in a metre of water for up to 30 minutes). So if you accidentally dropped one in a puddle and your mate trod on it, your day wouldn’t be ruined.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? With a clearly defined audience, it really helps if you can talk their language. “Tougher than a load of old ballcocks” did exactly that. Combining a clear, desirable benefit with a bit of cheek provoked the right reaction with our audience. And because we described the benefits of the phones up front, we had the full support of manufacturers! Our primary medium was DM to 10,000 plumbing contacts, but the creative also ran in four plumbing publications: Heating & Plumbing Monthly, Heating, Ventilating & Plumbing, Plumbing Heating & Air Movement News and Professional Heating & Plumbing Installer, plus a Travis Perkins bathroom catalogue. We also showcased the handsets in a special feature on tough phones in the T-Mobile retail magazine.

Results A traditionally tough market softened to our approach. The 10,000 DMs were followed up by T-Mobile’s telesales team and achieved an unprecedented 45% of prospects potentially signing within the next 18 months. The cost per lead was also calculated at just 60p. This success rate has led to the telesales team demanding more of the same activity. The telesales team also fed back that this was the most recalled DM they’d ever followed up on – a major coup for an extremely low-cost campaign.

Team Caroline Welsh, Tara Wright, Joanna Andrews, James Mountain, Hywel Thomas, Phil Pinn, Kevin Johnston, Steve Osaer, Anna Start, Stephanie Watt.