Eulogy!

• Consumers
• Businesses
• Everyone

Royal Mail

The Renaissance of Direct Mail

Objective

In 2008 Royal Mail launched www.mmc.co.uk, a new online resource for media agencies and advertisers featuring the best of mail media as an advertising platform, and Matterbox (www.matterbox.co.uk), which allows brands to engage consumers by sending samples through the mail. Eulogy's objectives were to:

• Reach & engage advertisers who could increase investment in or shift marketing budget into 'mail media', direct mail and customer magazines
• Position Royal Mail as the leading provider and innovator of 'mail media' solutions and communicate that no other form of advertising has the reach and personalisation of direct mail
• Differentiate Royal Mail from rivals whilst highlighting the overall benefits of direct mail and how it can complement other marketing activity
• Demonstrate that 'mail media' can be environmentally responsible and get 20 B2B customers to sign up to Royal Mail's 'Sustainable Mail' initiative

Description

Eulogy! positioned Royal Mail as an ''industry body'' for mail media and the authority on direct mail and customer magazines.

www.mmc.co.uk
To enhance the launches and control positioning Eulogy! carried out a media tour among key journalists with senior Royal Mail spokespeople. This traditional yet effective approach ensured journalists understood the proposition and experienced first-hand the site's functionality.

Matterbox: Eulogy! replicated the media tour approach to launch 'Matterbox', a new channel launched by Royal Mail which allows brands to engage consumers by sending samples through the mail. Royal Mail sends targeted 'Matterboxes' to opted-in subscribers on a regular basis. The media tour was supported by news generation activity including total and new subscriber statistics and reaction to the box and contents, alongside the development of bespoke 'Matterboxes' for industry events.

Environment: Royal Mail was keen to implement a green strategy, factoring in all facets of the business. In 2008 Eulogy! introduced green messages that applied to 'mail media'. This included Sustainable Mail, a service launched to reward businesses for 'greener' practices. Eulogy! implemented a thought leadership campaign, ensuring extensive trade press coverage.

Customer Publishing: Consumers value customer magazines as a communications tool from favourite brands. Royal Mail recognised this and wanted to support the industry.

Eulogy! launched a discount to publishers that mail customer magazines and forged a strategic partnership with customer magazine trade body, the APA, to promote research on the effectiveness of customer magazines.

Data: Eulogy! created campaigns to showcase Royal Mail's data portfolio, which ensures direct mail campaigns are well targeted, relevant and timely. Using address redirection data, the Home Movers Index was created, which revealed consumer relocation trends. We also compiled a Business Barometer, identifying the top 100 towns in the UK for business population growth.

All the above activity was underpinned by news generation ideas, opinion pieces, feature placements and a journalist contact programme, to react to developments within Royal Mail and respond to wider marketing industry issues and the broader news agenda.

Results

• Eulogy! secured a total of 312 pieces of coverage during the period vs. a target of 252
• The PR Value of campaign was £769,799 vs. a target of £550,000 and representing an 80% increase on the previous year
• The campaign delivered a return on investment of more than 9:1