2022 Gold Mail

Agency: RAPP

Client: TV Licensing

Campaign Name: The Record-Breaking Mailing

Campaign Overview

No one needs a paper TV Licence anymore - but seven million Direct Debit customers still hadn't chosen an eLicence despite it cutting the cost of watching shows. Numbers had inched down, but the organisation wanted to rip up the record books to get them to drop faster.

Strategy

A TV Licence is a legal entity, so switching from a paper copy to a digital version couldn’t be incentivised. But persuading people to switch was essential, not least because posting licence holders their renewal costs up to £2.8m each year.

The challenge was to make switching to paperless easier, in the form of an irresistible challenge to turbocharge interest. This led to the selection of a powerful fusion of personalised, QR-assisted technology and adrenaline-fuelled emotion.

QR caught on during the pandemic, so building the technology into the customer journey would make switching easier. Some 2.4 million customers received personalised QR codes that pre-populated their details on the TV Licensing website. All they had to do was tick a box and click 'done'.

Creativity

The QR code was a good starting point. But to take things to another level, TV Licensing needed to bring switching to life in a competitive way people couldn't resist.

The TV-watching British public may not seem like honed competitors straining at the leash. But given the chance, we all like a challenge. The creative approach leveraged this insight and turned going paperless into a race.

The Record Breaking Mailing was born, for paper licence holders who think they haven't got time to switch. They were prompted to scan the QR code and share the time it took - and gain the glory - on Twitter. A bit of admin became a world-record attempt.

The message was delivered with an insert that challenged people to become a World Record Breaker. The QR code was placed centre stage, linked directly to a pre-populated web page showing the ‘record’ time the recipient needed to beat. A simple yet effective idea that got people switching and sharing the campaign mechanic.

Results

The campaign overcame the apathy and inertia of an established, habitual customer base who were wedded to their old paper licence. Scores of online posts of people's record times were shared on Twitter, spreading valuable positive sentiment and comments about the TV Licence.

The mailing drove a 999% improvement on the previously most successful TV Licensing mailpack, working 10 times harder than the control. The conversion rate in the first month was 15.6%.

The projection of converted licence holders for the current financial year is just under 1 million customers. This single year’s-worth of licence holders switching to an eLicence should result in a postage saving of £2.3m for the BBC when projected over the next five years.

Rolling the campaign out to other licence-holder groups who don’t pay by Direct Debit is expected to help accelerate the switch to paperless and deliver even more cost savings.

The Team

RAPP - Ian Cochran, Associate Creative Director - Jay Packham, Associate Creative Director - Fran Perillo, Creative Partner - Paul Beier,Creative Partner - Lloyd Frankland, Senior Copywriter - Adrian Williams, Senior Designer - James Shillaw, Senior Motion Designer - Mat Poscha, Studio Manager - Adrian Hoole, Strategy Partner - Darren Cushway, Strategy Director - Lindsay Sawyer, Account Director - Georgia Tudor-Miles, Group Account Director - Hannah Sheppard, Senior Account Director - Kim Wakefield, Senior Project Manager - Joanne Butler, Senior Project Manager - Emily Crisp, Data Planner - Annie Parker, Senior Analyst - Darren Young, Campaign Selections Manager - Al Mackie, Chief Creative Officer - Jason Cascarina, Executive Creative Director - Caroline Parkes, Chief Strategy Officer - Hiten Bhatt, Head of Design

TV Licensing - Catriona Ferguson, Senior Project Manager - Nicola Ager, Head of Marketing - Lou Dearman, Marketing Manager - Linda Witt, Marketing Manager

Contributors

Capita and Communisis