2012 Gold Best use of door drops

Client The Royal British Legion

How did the campaign make a difference? The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year: innovative door drop targeting brought total income for this campaign to £2,450,313. It recruited over 28,700 new donors, achieved a cold ROI of 1.15 and a warm ROI of 5.77. And the 11-11-11-11 campaign got great coverage online, in social media and in national press and TV.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? Remembrance Day happens every year – but that means it's mature as a campaign, and recruiting new supporters through direct media is increasingly hard. What's more, getting younger supporters is even more difficult, as remembrance is so strongly associated with old conflicts and soldiers. But in 2011, Remembrance Day would fall on 11-11-11-11: a once-in-a-lifetime occasion. So for those who haven't given to the remembrance campaign before, this was the one to support. A modern look was developed, with a strong focus on the present day. An intelligent door drop model was used, which overlaid data from existing supporters to find the best postcodes by penetration and giving level. Finally it was arranged to have a ‘Field of Remembrance’ at Royal Wootton Bassett, since that town had been so prominent in the media in 2011. A card poppy was included in with the DM for people to write a message of support on, then return to be planted in the Field, creating a giant ‘11-11-11-11’ display.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? Stunning, active imagery showed servicemen from current conflicts, plus servicemen injured in Afghanistan, Iraq and earlier conflicts were interviewed to create 11 true stories of incredible bravery for the microsite (11-11-11-11.org.uk). The line ‘For them, For now, Forever’ created a sense of occasion that included current conflicts as well as those from the past. Green was added to the colour palette, a contemporary military colour to further convey topicality and modernity. Copy felt fresh and momentous. For example, the first paragraph of the door drop was just four words: 'A respectful silence descends’. And images of the Field of Remembrance poppies, flanked by servicemen from the army, navy and RAF, were used by the national press and featured on TV.

Results Cold activity was profitable from the get-go, which is pretty rare nowadays. Warm activity achieved an ROI of almost £6 for every £1 spent. And as well as raising almost £2.5m, more than 28,000 new ongoing supporters were recruited. Early analysis confirms that a much higher proportion are in their 50s or younger. Over 80,000 card poppies were returned.

Team Ian Atkinson - Creative Director, Nick Thomas - Creative Strategy Partner, Ed Swarbrick - Senior Art Director, Sue Byde - Senior Account Director, Hannah Bridgeman - Senior Account Manager, Liz Hanks - Head of Marketing Analytics, Guy Upward - Head of Direct Marketing, Leah Harris - Direct Marketing Team Leader