2011 Gold Best use of door drops

01 Dec 2011

Client Focus DIY

What is wonderful about this work? Our ‘Keep Britain Beautiful’ campaign got people to consider Focus DIY as their local, friendly choice to buy flowers and other gardening products at Easter. We achieved an incremental income of £2,900,000 and ROI of 12:1 (excluding VAT). The 15,000 door drops led to 2,854 website hits and uplifted response rate by 9%.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? Easter is a key period for every DIY chain – better weather, longer days and bank holidays start people thinking about getting their gardens ready for summer. Millions of pounds are spent on gardening products. Focus DIY is a smaller, more local option than chains like B&Q or Homebase, but with a good reputation for plants and flowers. We wanted to strongly promote this and find an innovative, standout way to associate Focus with plants. We came up with the theme of ‘Keep Britain Beautiful,’ which led to the idea of printing the door drops on seed paper. The very medium carrying the message helped you achieve it. We used existing data to target the best prospective postcodes. To build on the engagement strategy, we also developed a bespoke microsite.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? We needed a door drop that was, in its own way, beautiful. It also needed to have standout at one of the most competitive times of the year for DIY chains. So we made the medium the message. We sourced wildflower seed paper from the most cost-effective supplier overseas. We used a flowery font and muted colours to create a distinctive look and feel. The copy created intrigue to draw the reader in by telling them to ‘tear this leaflet up’ and that it ‘wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on’. Lastly, we tried the seed paper ourselves, creating a time-lapsed film of the paper turning into a bunch of wild flowers. We added a QR code for our specially created microsite to get key offers and more information. It also had the time-lapsed film on it, showing that the seed paper really did work. We also used the customers’ IP address and Google Maps to show them their nearest Focus store.

Results The seed paper door drops were a small part of the ‘Keep Britain Beautiful’ Easter campaign which saw us mail 812,000 Focus DIY discount cardholders (746,000 of whom were over 60, a key Focus audience). Of these, 26% responded, going in-store and making a purchase with their discount card. The door drop uplifted response further, got local news coverage and encouraged more people over 60 to request a Privilege discount card.

Judge's comment:““Top marks for creativity! What I liked most about this is that it challenges all your preconceptions about what a leaflet is and what it does. Having driven you online via a QR code, the creative encourages you to tear up the leaflet, bury it, water it and watch the flowers bloom. It’s a brand experience that gives this leaflet a shelf life that lasts months, even years.” Mark Davies, TNT Post

Team Ian Atkinson – Creative Director, Glen Marsden – Designer, Malcolm Smith – Art Director

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2011 Gold Best use of door drops

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