Big Envelope

Background

The agency had to communicate with small businesses in New Zealand that Vodafone, traditionally known only as a mobile phone provider, was now offering fixed/land-lines, and that by switching suppliers significant cost savings could result. The key role of the direct mail piece was to create impact and memorability, and was to be closely followed by an outbound call strategy - with no expectation that this cold mailing piece would generate actual responses.

Idea

Aim Proximity wanted to highlight to small businesses that their current bill was a great deal bigger than the one Vodafone would offer. Who better to inform them of this than Vodafone’s Incredible Bill Shrinking Department, with the world’s biggest business reply envelope? The copy simply suggested that recipients drop in their current bill (humorously suggesting that folding it to fit would be quite acceptable) and send it back to Vodafone to see just how much money they could save.

Results

From a mailing of 10,000, the Incredible Bill Shrinking Department received 464 queries – a 4.6% response rate. Unbelievably, 87 of those actually mailed the purple BRE back! This was all achieved without the aid of the outbound call strategy – as resource issues prevented this happening.

Target Audience

Small businesses in New Zealand

Size

10,000 mailings

Our Thoughts

I asked for 'bread and butter' work and, thank you chaps, it doesn't come much more basic than this. No one queued up all night for this brief but the team focussed on the competition's weakness (bigger bills) and dramatised it in unmissable fashion. SH