Mailbooks for Good

Background

Books were society’s most basic tool to share literacy and culture. But many people across the world simply did not have access to them. Unfortunately, many of the books donated to charity were in bad condition or were no longer relevant.

Idea

A new type of dust jacket was created and designed to fit a series of Random House titles. When a reader bought a book and read it, all they had to do was simply flip the dust jacket inside out, turning the book into a pre-paid, pre-addressed parcel. When posted, the books were sent directly to The Footpath Library, a charity who provided the homeless with books. 

Results

The first Mailbooks rapidly outsold their non-branded counterparts. Social media, design and book websites spread the idea leading to expressions of interest from multiple international publishers. The innovation is globally patented and an international
launch is planned for late 2013. 

Our Thoughts

What we love about this is it transforms the postbox at the bottom of the street into a recycling centre.

More than that, it transforms mail.

Up until seeing this idea, I had imagined Direct Mail could only be a B to C channel. But here it is as a C to C medium.

Online, social media have shown the incredible power brands have when they become meaningful in the lives of their customers and fans. But if brands are going to be talked about, they need to talk about themselves in very different ways. They can’t put out messages about the product any longer. They have to start conversations about shared values.

And that’s why I’m so excited by this. It is mail as a social medium. It’s peer-to-peer communication about an issue of shared importance.

It’s the analogue learning from the digital world and maybe the beginnings of a whole new way of getting people using and appreciating mail.