Agency self-Promotion

The envelope was constructed with a piece of fishing line and a bright yellow tag protruding through the top. When you pulled at the fishing line, it ripped open the envelope so you literally reeled in the contents.

A pack was mailed out purporting to come from a firm of solicitors informing the recipient that he could be in line for an inheritance from a possible Aussie ancestor. The inheritance? A year’s supply of Foster’s.

The idea was to take prospects on a ‘journey’ that demonstrated how the frugality of a BMW diesel can allow owners to have the occasional, well-earned, old-fashioned ‘to-hell-with-it’ moment of decadence.

It’s you – on a stamp! The awards night was an opportunity for everyone to look their best. So a great portrait photographer was hired to take photographs of all the great and the good in advertising and marketing who were at the awards night.

200 Marketing Directors of medium to large American companies were targeted and mailed a piece depicting Saint Brendan, an Irishman who is thought to have reached America long before Columbus.

A simple but highly visible envelope with a large window showed a 5 cent coin stuck to a card containing a scratch panel, which once scratched, revealed a personalised URL and unique code.

The challenge was to develop a baby club which was sufficiently different from all the other similar clubs out there to become a young mum’s favourite source of information about nutrition during pregnancy and in the first years of her baby’s life.

1000 packs were mailed out. Initially, the mailer appears to be a typical packet of toy soldiers, but once opened, the recipient finds that the figurines are in fact children - reading books, playing soccer, riding bikes and doing other childhood activities. In other words, doing what they would do in a normal life.

In place of a test drive, the target audience of 1500 existing and potential GTi owners was invited to a private Track Day, where they could put a new Golf GTI through its paces on a closed race-track.

St. Valentine´s Day is the most romantic day of the year. Men and women give and receive presents from their partners so the agency thought Calle 13 should give presents too. But, of course, the channel is more about action and drama than soppy love stuff so two completely different mailings were created.

Change4Life Autumn campaign – EHS, London COI/Department of Health Bright and cheery ways to help tackle obesity from those bright and cheery folk at EHS

Concrete Envelope – Y&R, Auckland Microsoft Direct mail gets a hammering – literally. And rather wonderfully.

Dinosaur – Iris Worldwide, London Iris Worldwide Big network agencies are lumbering creatures from the Pleistocene. This mailing suggests Iris could be better adapted.

The agency had to create a look and positioning for a financial product which could hold its own in the ultimate arena of cutting-edge innovative design...

Grudgeby – Partners Andrews Aldridge, London RFU For nearly 150 years, Oxford and Cambridge have kicked and fought each other on the rugby pitch. Every year it’s a grudge match.

Using the bright colours and characters from the advertising, the recruitment into the CRM programme is an easy to complete questionnaire for mums and kids.

The creative force was a combination of well-crafted copy with state-of-the-art digital technology producing up to 40,000 variables per campaign...

In The Dark – Greymatter, Johannesburg Absa The day after the power-cuts started in Gauteng, homeowners got this mailing suggesting one way of dealing with the blackouts.

John Smith’s Travel Diaries – Proximity, Lisbon ANA, Airports of Portugal How do you persuade airline route planners to keep flying to Lisbon? You show them how much there is to see and do there.

Kern scientists were asked to weigh every element of their corporate stationery (from the letterhead to the envelope, down to the very ink on the business card) to a staggering seven decimal places...

DM’s Longest Letter Ever – DraftFCB New Zealand The Herald on Sunday Readers spend an hour browsing through the newspaper on a Sunday so media buyers were challenged to spend the same amount of time on the letter.

Nip and Tuck – CMW London Peugeot The new car has had cosmetic surgery so the pack arrives in bandages.

Operational Effectiveness – Archibald Ingall Stretton 02 Here’s how an IT Manager can lose a dozen of his job titles (such as CEO Testing Mobile Chargers).

Precision Weighing – Wunderman, London Kern Kern can measure anything – from the paper their letters are printed on to a puff of wind.

When the post-room is slow, a nice cup of tea is what they need but when things are busy they need a caffeine hit. Trust FedEx to supply what’s required.

Thank You Notes – Rapp, Auckland Heinz Wattie’s If you’re a dog owner, now you have the opportunity to say thank you to your four-legged friend.

The Worlds Longest Business Card – BWM Sydney Australia Post How they drummed up an audience in Australia for Directory’s very own Patrick Collister

Direct mail and a fully personalized website helped every customer feel excited by the holiday ahead and involved in preparing for it with Thomsons.

In a category clouded by white softness, the bold tree-themed campaign had major cut-through...

Winter Car-Kit – Stephens Francis Whitson, London More Th>n Insure with More Th>n and they actually give you something back for your money – in this case, everything you need to deal with a British winter.