Reach+

Background

Many marketers believed that mail media was outdated, expensive and time- consuming to produce. Even though An Post was a trusted and well-loved brand, their direct mail solutions were seen as irrelevant.

To change minds, An Post introduced its newest product: Reach+.

While Reach+ answered the logistical and financial qualms of business customers, they still needed to be convinced that mail media could be innovative and impactful. What better way to convince people of the power of mail media, than to show them?

Idea

10,000 potential business customers of An Post were mailed an experience.

An exclusive acoustic performance was recorded specially for An Post by one of Ireland’s leading singer-songwriters Gavin James.

Each DM piece turned into a stage on which he could sing his hit song, ‘Nervous’.

Gavin James, playing live on the recipient’s desk.

They also got the chance to win tickets to a money-can’t buy, one-off performance by Gavin inside one of Dublin’s most historic buildings, the General Post Office.

This was a world first not only for direct mail as a media but also for Firstage.

Results

650 people downloaded the Firstage app and entered the competition to see Gavin James live.

The average view time in the app was 12 minutes. In four months since product launch, Reach+ generated over five times the amount of business originally projected for year 1, with almost 1.5 million units mailed so far in 2018. On a brand level, it reintroduced the audience to DM in a brand-new light that was exciting and innovative, showcasing the power of creativity.

Our Thoughts

I really thought this would do better at awards shows than it did. Judges aren’t impressed by new technology but by what you do with it. In other words, I suspect juries wanted there to be more than a guy singing a song on your desk. They were looking for more inspiring content.

Personally, I think AR offers unparalleled opportunities to Direct Marketing. In this instance it turned a piece of folded paper into a stage. It transformed a dull morning in the office into showtime. And it made a stodgy old brand look modern and relevant.

No wonder it did a lot for both An Post’s brand image as well as driving sales. I think this is just the very beginning of a huge new development in advertising, augmented reality and mixed reality experiences. Full credit to An Post for being an early adopter.