2023 Silver Sustainability

Agency: The Creative Consultancy

Client: Royal Mail

Entry Title: Lighter Deliveries

Executive Summary

Royal Mail is the UK’s greenest delivery partner due to mostly on-foot deliveries. As a result, it produces half the CO2 per parcel of any of its competitors. It wanted to share the message to open doors with C-suite decision-makers.

Strategy

To establish a target list the team extensively researched the UK’s most sustainable multi-channel retailers, including their initiatives, ESG reports, green awards and credentials. The brands were overlaid on Royal Mail’s priority target list, giving 10 key accounts – including Disney, Nespresso, Burberry, Levi’s, and IKEA.

The activity needed to be compelling and disruptive enough to achieve instant cut-through with the senior decision-making unit, while sharing the depth of the green message. The campaign positioned Royal Mail as a highly sustainable, forward-facing carrier that could offer large retailers a greener delivery service compared to rivals.

Shopper vox pops provided further insight that brands’ green credentials, and sustainable delivery and returns partners, were important to maintaining their loyalty.

Creativity

An ABM approach featuring a central direct mail piece was the best way to guarantee cut-through with a senior audience.

The agency developed a personalised ‘box within a box’ for each brand. The larger box was the equivalent volume of carbon produced in a delivery by any other carrier; the smaller box was half the size, showcasing the 50% less CO2 produced by a Royal Mail delivery.

The stock was fully recyclable, used sustainable inks and a carbon offsetting printer. The boxes could even be re-used when turned inside-out. They were designed to reflect the target brand’s own colours and imagery, and contained a bespoke QR code linking to a dedicated landing page, making sales follow up easier.

The boxes were delivered on-foot by a ‘dancing postie’, echoing the consumer TV ad.

Results

60% of the brands scanned the QR codes on the boxes to visit the landing page. Royal Mail made meaningful contact with 100% of the target brands and booked meetings with several.

The sales pipeline opportunity, as a result of the opened doors, the ROI is around 346 times the cost of the campaign activity.

The Team

The Creative Consultancy - Teresa Sullivan, Executive Creative Director - Rowan O’Duffy, Photography and Video Director -Beth Alexander, Head of Copy - Dean Chillmaid, Senior Creative - Tim Cornell, Creative Director - Sophia Sellick, Creative - Marie Riley-Hague, Creative - Nicci Kitchiner, Account Director - Gary Hughes, Digital Developer -