The Warehouse

Background

The agency’s 2008 St. Valentine’s Day campaign didn’t just win the Grand Prix at The Caples, plus many other gongs, it also established a database of 20,000 guys, who, once again, needed help to surprise their wives and girlfriends with the lengths they had gone to make her day special.

The brief was to develop the affinity these men were beginning to feel for the brand and to get them into the stores to buy gifts for their girls.

Idea

The guys were e-mailed and invited to discover how the women in their lives could be bowled over by the ultimate expression of their love – an ad in the country’s largest newspaper, the New Zealand Herald, that appeared to be specifically addressed to her.

Driven to the website by curiosity and/or the need to impress, guys were asked questions only guys would be able to answer. They didn’t want their girlfriends to get in and discover the hoax, did they?

Online, they could personalise their message which got read by their webcam

Results

From an e-mail database of 20,000 guys, the agency achieved:

E-mail open rate: 48.8%

E-mail click-through rate: 57.93%

Website visitors: 13,438

In addition, over 240 guys downloaded vouchers to redeem in-store so they could make their partner’s day even more special.

Our Thoughts

Research has revealed that in this recession, people are trying to avoid the shops. They prefer buying stuff online than on the High Street, where they might buy more than they actually need.

The irony is, if they were to surrender to temptation, the shops would have more stuff on their shelves and brands would need more ads and recession would eventually slither away. So here’s an idea that actually got 240 blokes downloading coupons and into the shops. Spending. And thus, perhaps, saving you and me. Let’s hear it for sales promotion!