
The search for the invisible Diamond of Mystery
Google Australia / Adwords
Issue 25 | December 2012
Agency
M&C Saatchi/Mark
Creative Team
Creative Director: Hamish Stewart Art Director: Patrycja Lukjanow Copywriter: Mike Condrick Illustration: Christopher Wahl
Production Team
Print Production: Josephine Panetta
Other Credits
Account Service: Andrew Henderson
Date
July 2012
Background
Google offered a range of proven online advertising solutions for businesses but many marketers believed Google online advertising was irrelevant to them because no-one ever searched for their product online.
Google needed to demonstrate to the sceptics that the Internet had fundamentally changed consumer behaviour, making advertising with Google more important than ever.
Idea
The task was to demonstrate that no matter what customers were searching for, they really did search for it on Google.
To do this, the agency recreated what looked like a classic adventure novel but rather than it being a search for gold or for King Solomon’s mines, it was for “The Invisible Diamond of Mystery”.
Instead of the usual 250-page tale full of twists and turns, the book showed how the modern-day seeker would conduct their quest: with a simple Google search. On the very first page, the search was over.
On the following spread of the book, the recipient found a letter with personalised statistics, an overview of Google’s advertising channels and the contact details for their sales rep.
The remainder of the novel was left deliberately blank, with a message at the end encouraging the recipient to use it as a notebook.
The pre-mailer was a bookmark featuring an image from the book itself, and a hint of the adventure about to unfold, so when the book arrived, the two came together perfectly.
Results
Out of the first 57 outbound follow-up calls, the sales team was able to secure a near 300% increase in the number of consultations booked, raising their completion rate from just 15% to 56%.
The sales team reported that the mailing gave them a nice ice-breaker and enabled them to have easier conversations with potential clients.
As a result, warmed prospects from this DM have already filled 100% of the sales pipeline, dispensing with the need for hours of cold calling.
Our Thoughts
I love the fact that Google uses Direct Mail. The company’s name is a synonym for all things digital and everything they do is at the bleeding edge of technology. Except when it comes to B to B communication, when reaching marketing directors isn’t so easy.
The point Google makes so effectively for us is that there is a time and a place for all media in an integrated campaign and Mail has a time and a place as much as any other medium.