Mind The Coating
Issue 17 | December 2010
Agency
Goss Sweden
Creative Team
Copy: Michael Schultz, Elisabeth Berlander, Ulrika Good; Art Director: Mattias Frendberg, Gunnar Skarland, Jan Eneroth, Mimmi Andersson; Production Designers: Elin Andreasson, Lena Bjorklund Henriksson; Graphic Designer: Louise Christiansson; Account Managers: Anna Troglin, Monica N Persson, Lena Kling; Account Supervisors: Johan Good, Stig Lundstedt, Frederik Toreskog; Web Director: Robert German; Traffic: Satja Wallin
Date
December 2009
Background
Mjuk Biltvatt (Soft Carwash) is a car wash business with three locations in the Gothenburg area, where cars are cleaned using methods that are particularly gentle on the paintwork. The car is hosed free of gravel and other hard particles with a high-pressure water cannon. Then detailed cleaning is done by hand using foaming sponges.
It’s pretty much the only place in Sweden where cars are still washed by hand and they wanted car-owners to know their methods are superior to regular car wash tunnels, which scratch and compromise the coating.
Idea
Who is most likely to be most concerned with the paintwork of their car? New owners, of course.
People who had just bought shiny new cars were mailed this illustration of what can happen when a car is not washed with Mjuk Biltvatt care.
Results
So far, 270 people out of our 1,000 recipients (27%) have taken advantage of the offer.
Our Thoughts
Successful direct mail is more than just finding the right people, it’s about talking to them at the right time. And this does that beautifully. It also does it in the right way, getting the car owner to scratch away vigorously until the metaphor makes itself clear that this is what could happen to his lovely new Beemer or whatever.
For a lot of agencies, the insight that recent car buyers could be a profitable target group would be enough and they would settle for a simple letter and a down-to-earth headline like: Did you know your car-wash could already be lowering the value of your new car? But not the good Goss people, who are always looking to push an idea as far as it will go.