THE 1997 DMA/ROYAL MAIL DIRECT MARKETING AWARDS: BEST USE OF DM MEDIA - LOW VOLUME - CONSUMER DIRECT MAIL

WINNER

Client: Scotland Direct (Holdings)

Agency: In-house

Copywriter: Arthur Bell

SECOND

Client: Scotland Direct (Holdings)

Agency: In-house

Copywriters: Fiona J Lawson, Arthur Bell

Art directors: Andrew Leigh, Paul Provan

THIRD

Client: Rover Cars

Agency: Ammirati Puris Lintas

Copywriter: Simon Wood

Art director: Mick Oxberry

WINNER

This mail order company, run by the Bell family, is a regular among DMA

Awards winners. In this entry, Arthur Bell turned his copywriting skills

to the cause of charity.

It all began at a fundraising dinner for the MacMillan Fund for cancer

research. Susan Bell, a director of Scotland Direct’s Whisky Connoisseur

Club, won a valuable bottle of Laphroaig whisky. It was decided to offer

it as a raffle prize to 250 big-spending club members, in return for an

unspecified donation to the charity.

An individually prepared and signed letter was sent out. Donors were

invited to place their name and membership number on a reply envelope,

and their cheque inside it.

There was a response rate of 31.6%, and total donations, excluding

future pledges, were pounds 2650. The cost of the mailing was a modest

pounds 60.

’This is a demonstration of how a beautifully and eloquently crafted

piece of copy can work hard,’ said the judges. ’It shows that a direct

marketing pack doesn’t need to have high production values and lots of

widgets and bells and whistles to pull a response. The results were

fantastic, and there are a lot of lessons that could be learnt from such

a simple and cost-effective approach.’

SECOND

It’s Scotland Direct again, this time with its formation of a club to

provide discerning coffee drinkers with products not available at

supermarkets.

Membership recruitment inserts to existing customers of the Scottish

Gourmet and Whisky Connoisseur clubs generated a 7.7% response. These

cost only pounds 2.55 each, against a pounds 8.90 joining fee.

Brochures are sent out about every six weeks and the first three

generated a 19% response, with average purchase values of pounds 25.90

per order.

THIRD

The Mini car has its own personality. The fun and enthusiasm it

engenders was reflected in a campaign to market the ’97 Mini Cooper and

1.3i models, and to build brand equity for the launch of a new model in

2000.

The agency describes the communication piece as having ’a retro, cheeky

character’, and asserts: ’Small car advertising has never been so

brave.’ Over 500 requests were received for further information packs

and a rising number of orders was gained.

This article was first published on Marketing