Iron Envelope
Issue 16 | September 2010
Agency
Proximity London
Creative Team
Creative Director: Duncan Gray; Copywriter: Marcus Iles; Art Directors: Jo Jenkins
Production Team
Head of Production: Chris Chadwick; Production Manager: Becky Crilley Nirvana Creative Production
Other Credits
Senior Account Director: Nick Myers; Marketing Manager: Paul Malone; Head of Large Business Fulfilment: Gary Winter
Date
March - May 2010
Background
The task was to launch Royal Mail’s new Tracked service to 80 high volume customers, each worth about £1 million.
The new service increased the weight of items that could now be sent and monitored in transit from 5kg to 15kg.
The problem was, businesses had simply never thought of Royal Mail as potential carriers of heavier packages.
The objectives, therefore, were both to raise awareness of this new higher weight limit and to start conversations with customers that would lead to sales later in the year.
Idea
This mailing shattered any perception there had been of Royal Mail only being good for lighter items.
The envelope was made of iron with the name and address of each recipient etched onto it. Each of the 80 letters was written with the help of the sales team so that it was both personalised and as relevant to the recipient’s business as possible.
As a further demonstration of the new service, each of the iron envelopes was delivered using Royal Mail’s tracked service, so that each named recipient, or his secretary, had to sign upon receipt of the mailing.
Results
To date opportunities amounting to some £10 million are in the pipeline.
Our Thoughts
This was the work of the same team who brought us the ‘Chocolate Letter’ and which was so successful for Royal Mail. 6,000 were mailed out and tracking studies indicated that 13,000 people claimed to have received it. And, while Royal Mail are coy about the numbers, it added significant volume sales and created new revenue that was worth over £3 million.
This will do much the same, beefing up both perceptions of Royal Mail as a brand and driving sales of the new product. It is true I’ve seen a similar idea – a bank mailed out a metal envelope to sell its new titanium card – but the idea here is different. It is to be deliberately weighty. I keep going on about how an interesting letter brings a moment of theatre to an office or a home and this would have done just that.
The real hero here was the client who must have gulped at the per unit costs but who did not baulk from them.