Joneses keep up with the Windsors
Issue 19 | June 2011
Agency
Story UK
Creative Team
Ailsa Jones, Sheryl Newsome and Susan Anderson
Date
January 2011
Background
When Ailsa and Ian announced they planned to marry in London on 30th April 2011 they thought it would be their ‘big day’.
Then disaster struck! Prince William announced his intention to marry Kate only streets away a few days later. With the city on high alert and accommodation costs rocketing! they had to rearrange their marriage arrangements and tell all concerned.
Idea
Ailsa and Ian moved their date by a week.
The Royal couple deemed tea-towels too ‘naff’ for their official merchandise. Turning disaster to their advantage, Ailsa and Ian printed tea-towels as invitations. Giving guests a memorable way to remember the changed date.
Results
100% response!
They lived happily ever after.
Our Thoughts
A Marketing Director, flicking through Directory about six months ago, said: “Well, I can’t see the point of subscribing. I mean, I have nothing to learn from people’s party invitations…’ His eye had fallen on Gary Sharpen’s wedding invitation (a tribute to the Monopoly board) in Issue 16.
Actually, Ailsa’s invitation may not be designed for commercial gain but it has been designed to elicit a response beyond a mere RSVP. It has been designed to share a sense of fun. A straight copperplate invitation is transactional mail requiring a Yes or No answer in much the same way 99% of commercially-driven mail is also transactional. It’s two dimensional. So, my marketing friend does have a lot to learn from Gary and Ailsa, I think. Every letter is an opportunity to build loyalty to a brand as well as an opportunity to make a sale.