2014 Silver Financial Services

How did the campaign make a difference? Stanley Gibbons Investment had tried to acquire high net worth investors in Guernsey using doordrops before, without success.

Insight showed that islanders like to keep their money on Guernsey – so the key to unlocking success was to position an investment with Stanley Gibbons as an investment in Guernsey.

Within 16 weeks of landing, our test had generated £600,000 worth of investment, which is a first-class ROI of £57.31 per £1 invested. Many investors were so convinced by the piece, that they took it with them into the Stanley Gibbons St. Peter Port office when they were enquiring.

Strategy When it comes to investing in rare stamps, Stanley Gibbons is the global leader. But despite having a presence in Guernsey, the company was relatively unknown by high net worth islanders. It needed to make an impact with these households and encourage new investment.

The key to this was recognising where islanders wanted to invest their money: they did not want it to leave the island.

The campaign took this insight and positioned Stanley Gibbons as a Guernsey investment opportunity. This was true: the company has vaults in Guernsey, so the stamps would be stored on the island and the invested money would be paid into a Guernsey bank.

To ensure the success of the campaign, careful messaging was emphasised the company’s Guernsey credentials and implied that only a select group of Guernsey investors were being targeted.

Creativity This was a serious investment proposition with a factual case for investing in stamps – so the creative approach needed to look less like a door drop and more like a premium invitation.

The creative test had to ooze quality, reinforce the Stanley Gibbons’ brand values of trust and equity and ensure that islanders viewed it as something of note, rather than a sales piece – as the old activity had appeared. The creative use of stock, the Maltese Cross format, the copy length, the carefully-chosen images, the call to actions, the embossing and Stanley Gibbons’ impressive Royal Warrant – each and every part of the piece was crafted to look more like a royal invitation than a door drop.

Inside, the copy gave a full and factual explanation of how and why investing with Stanley Gibbons is rewarding – and referenced the Guernsey community throughout.

Results Our Stanley Gibbons test door drop activity caused quite a stir amongst the islanders we were talking to.

Many of our targets even brought the door drop with them to the Stanley Gibbons office in St. Peter Port.

Our first door drop in the campaign generated £180,000 of investment. Our second door drop – which we refined based on the learnings of the first – generated £600,000 of investment within 16 weeks of landing.

This represented a ROMI of £57.31 per £1 invested.