Junk Mail

Background

James Lee is a professionally qualified garden designer, who specialises in the design of contemporary outdoor spaces, with a focus on creating spaces that are suited to both relaxing and entertaining in. The brief was to produce a door drop leaflet that could be used to communicate his garden design services in hand picked areas of London. The objectives were to generate leads to turn into client commissions and to convince potential clients that garden design is a worthwhile investment.

Idea

Research revealed that many homeowners thought the following about garden design: ‘Although I’ve spent a fair amount of money on making the inside of the house look great, I’m not sure about spending money on the garden as it’s unlikely that I’ll get it back when I sell the house.’

To overcome this concern Sharpen Troughton Owens Response’s strategy was to communicate in a way that would make potential clients think again. They wanted to explain that a good garden design can add as much as 10% to the value of their house and give them an enjoyable outdoor space. It was felt that it was unlikely that the target audience will have previously received a direct communication from a garden designer, and certainly not one that leads on the proposition: Getting your garden designed can add as much as 10% to the value of your home.

The piece designed visually show-pieced contemporary gardens from James Lee’s portfolio to demonstrate his design strengths, and why a designer can make a real difference. Door drop targeting was carried out using a house price index and through Google World to identify London house owners of expensive houses with gardens in existence. The door drop leaflet consisted of a wrap around leaflet that was tied to a single stem flower, from Covent Garden Flower market. The flower was left on the door steps of pre-selected houses at 6am, alongside the milk bottles and copies of the FT.

Results

An initial door drop of just 50 received an 8% response, with one guaranteed commission – worth £15,000.

Target Audience

Door drop targeting was carried out using a house price index and through Google World to identify London house owners of expensive houses with gardens in existence.

Size

50 households