Testing unaddressed mail against traditional advertising

Background

Jydsk Vindueskompagni had two problems. One, their windows were 100% Danish-made in a price-sensitive market with competitors whose production was based in Eastern Europe. Two, customers purchase windows infrequently in their lives and have little knowledge of brand and quality differences.

Target Group

Householders whose houses had windows that were 20-30 years old. Geographical segmentation via geo-targeting based on two criteria:

• Proximity to households that had purchased windows from Jydsk Vindueskompagni within the last three years.
• Proximity to one of the eight Jydsk Vindueskompagni stores.

Campaign Goals

The intention was to produce and distribute unaddressed advertisements at the same cost as paid-for advertising in idényt, a free magazine distributed to 2.8 million households in Denmark - and to obtain at least the same response.

Idea

Jydsk Vindueskompagni wanted to try two new ideas.

Firstly, a new strategy that moved away from talking about price and product, which is what all the competition were doing, and to talk about better service,better delivery options and greater flexibility.

Secondly, they wanted to test unaddressed mail as a medium against their previous advertising in idényt, the free magazine. Not only was response declining from idényt but most of the competition were using it as well.

Among the advantages of using brochures was that they allowed Jydsk Vindueskompagni to present their new image without the clutter of their competitors’ messages. Also, recipients could read the brochures in peace and quiet and keep them for the day that changing windows became a pressing need.

One of the criteria for the geo-targeting task was that recipients should live near households that had bought Jydsk Vindueskompagni windows in the past three years. The theory was that if one house had its windows changed recently, there would be a fair chance that the neighbours also needed new windows.

Results

All contacts from prospects in the selected geo-target areas were registered before, during and after the distribution period, and the trend was compared to the number of prospects in other areas.

Danish Post DMA Dagen Awards 2011 – Gold Winners Showcase

• Jydsk Vindueskompagni received 80% more responses from the selected geo-targets.
• The price per contact was approximately 50% of the price of advertising in idényt.
• Activity at jvk.dk increased by 31% and 11%, respectively, in the two periods.

Jydsk Vindueskompagni was the star of this category, a company that consistently puts to the test the habits and traditions of the industry and, consequently, generates significantly better results.

It was particularly bold of the company to move from traditional advertising in a medium used by its competitors to unaddressed mail. The brochures did not just give plenty of space in which the messages could unfold but, when the recipients kept them for future reference, the time in which to do so as well.

Particularly outstanding was the insight that the company should focus on areas where neighbours had recently changed their windows.