2017 Bronze Best Digital Performance

LIDA

Client: Royal Mail

The stamps that fell to earth

Campaign overview

Disruptive and different.

Iconic and interstellar.

A small budget with a big impact.

Royal Mail drove a reappraisal of their brand – capturing data and sales in the process - by creating a collector’s edition set of 10 David Bowie stamps.

Strategy

To help foster new imaginings of Royal Mail – plus to grab sales and precious opted-in data - a campaign was built around the launch of commemorative stamps celebrating the life of David Bowie.

But to succeed, the Royal Mail had to reach beyond stamp collectors and wow those Bowie fanatics and music lovers.

Worldwide interest was sparked by revealing the iconic designs of the stamps through a press release. And Royal Mail's in-house PR team created a truly unique launch: the world's first interstellar stamp launch.

The launch captured the headlines and was picked up by publications across the globe. Social media amplified the message and helped build Bowies fans into an experience they could feel.

A dedicated website was created where viewers could watch the 52 stamp sets (one for each year of Bowie's career) blasted into space as a fitting tribute to the star from the stars.

Creativity

The initial Royal Mail PR launch was extremely successful. But getting media owners to talk about the stamps again would be tricky.

The space launch guaranteed the stamps became newsworthy once more.

And the journey wouldn't end in space.

Once the stamps fell back to earth, Royal Mail drove engagement and invited Bowie fans to win these exclusive space-travelling stamps by guessing where they landed.

To extend the campaign further, eight clues were posted on social channels in the form of short Bowie-themed films. The films’ release was staggered over a week to reach as many fans as possible.

52 winners received a personalised certificate alongside one of the Royal Mail special stamp sets. These certificates were made unique with a red thunderbolt postmark to signify that they were one of only 52 to travel from space to the winners' door.

Results

From a UK-based launch, Royal Mail created a story that captured the attention of Bowie fans across the globe.

The stamps that fell to earth achieved over 6.6 million actual impressions.

The popularity of the campaign converted the interest into click-throughs, with over two million visitors to the Royal Mail shop.

Coverage across press & social media spanned 68 countries, resulting in orders being made from 42 countries, with one in five orders from outside the UK.

Overall Royal Mail exceeded sales targets by 153%, and achieved an ROI of 25:1, making this tribute to Bowie one of the most successful and talked about stamp collections of all time.

Team

Ben Rhodes (Group Marketing Director) Royal Mail - Timothy Lees (Marketing manager) Royal Mail - David Wiggin (Strategic Communication) Planning Manager - Royal Mail Natasha Ayivor (PR Manager) Royal Mail - Fraser Chisholm (Head of Stamps Marketing) Royal Mail - Andrew Pogson (Associate Creative Director) Lida - Andy O'Carroll (Associate Creative Director) Lida - Tom Thomas (Chief Creative Officer) Lida - Bob Udale (Lead Strategist) Lida - Margaux Sloan (Senior Account Director) Lida - Ian Kaye (Programme Director) Lida - John Dutney (Senior Production Manager) Lida - Alex Mosey (Strategist) Lida - Jon Chandler (Technical Director) Lida

Contributors

Arena media Sent into Space space launch