Dana Cooper Mailing
Issue 14 | March 2010
Agency
Greymatter, Johannesburg
Creative Team
Creative Team: Elene de Beer, Adele Kruger, Katinka Krugell, Frans Kies, Copywriter: David Derbyshire
Other Credits
General manager: Annelé Pretorius , Strategy: Craig Townsend, Traffic Manager: Chantelle de Koker
Date
September 2009
Background
Greymatter is a specialist Direct Response Marketing agency facing the age-old problem: how do you win new business without having to go through the lottery of a pitch?
The solution: to look out in the trade press for new senior marketing appointments and target those individuals with very specific packs, demonstrating the agency’s expertise and, ideally, getting appointed without the beauty parade.
Idea
The first target for this personal approach was identified as Dana Cooper, who had just been appointed Head of Marketing at Momentum, a major insurance company in South Africa.
Through research and with the help of her PA from her previous job, the agency learned that Ms Cooper loved travel, particularly destinations off the beaten track. As a result, they developed a travel theme that linked direct marketing and Greymatter to various far off destinations.
The outer box had a teaser picture of an ancient map with the words “Let Greymatter show you the ‘direct route’ to far flung destinations.” Inside was a personalised letter that explained the purpose, the offer (that the agency would come up with a strategy and creative idea free for a specific project they knew Momentum was dealing with), and included the call to action.
Included in the pack was a mini credentials document designed like a passport giving relevant info about the agency and its client list.
A personalised brochure and electronic photo frame showed both campaigns and remote travel destinations. The whole package was wrapped and tagged and hand-delivered to the target’s home.
In summary, all the ‘tricks’ of the direct marketing trade were applied to create an effective, highly personalised pack that sold what Greymatter does.
Results
The client did not make use of the offer of a free idea as a sponsorship deal had already been put in place. However, Greymatter were invited to a meeting and began developing new work for Momentum in October 2009.
Our Thoughts
What’s brilliant about this is that there was a target audience of one. And a 100% conversion rate. Hree’s a direct marketing agency going direct. Amazing!
Think about it. If you’re an agency, a pitch can cost you as much as £100,000 in terms of both material generated and time costs. Smarter by far is to circumvent the whole process. Greymatter owned up to costs of £420. Yeah, sure. So let’s add their hours, but even so that’s probably no more than £5,000 max. Do the sums.
Most agencies haven’t got the bottle to do as they instruct their clients, so it’s heartening to see one genuinely believe in the power of DM.