THE 1997 DMA/ROYAL MAIL DIRECT MARKETING AWARDS: CREATIVITY IN DM - CREATIVE SOLUTIONS

WINNER

Client: Royal Mail Response Services

Agency: OgilvyOne Worldwide

Copywriters: Xanthos Christodoulou, Steve Harrison

Art directors: Brian Storey, Bob Anderson

SECOND

Client: Siemens

Agency: FCA!

Copywriter: Shaun McIlrath

Art director: Ian Harding

THIRD

Client: Saatchi & Saatchi

Agency: In-house

Copywriter: Gary Sharpen

Art director: Dave Hobbs

WINNER

Having won the category for low-volume business direct mail, this entry

went on to be picked out by the judges as the best of the creative

solutions submitted. It is all to do with targeting and

personalisation.

To draw the attention of TV advertisers and their agencies to the

potential of the one-line Freepost NAME service as a response mechanism,

the top 30 agencies and 100 advertisers were identified for special

treatment.

Senior agency people received film viewers which contained their own

work and demonstrated how Freepost NAME could improve response rates

without cluttering their creative. The message to clients was

exemplified by the delivery of a mailbag.

With such a personalised campaign, data had to be carefully

verified.

Secretaries were called in advance to warm them up to receiving the

mailings.

Another line of attack was to find out which bars the prospects used and

to distribute personalised drinks mats in them.

Probably the most daunting brief a creative team can have is to

communicate effectively with top people in advertising, the judges

observed. They found the approach to the ad agency people particularly

entertaining: ’They are narcissistic and the best way to get them to pay

attention is to talk about them and their work.’

SECOND

A campaign to launch the S6 mobile phone was under way in traditional

media. But as Siemens was little known in the UK and competitors’

budgets were as much as four times higher, an ingenious idea was needed

to create extra awareness and stimulate trial.

The inspiration was to use London’s cab drivers to talk about the

product and offer their fares a free phone call. This tickled the media

and over pounds 750,000-worth of publicity resulted.

THIRD

An embarrassment of riches in graduate employment - more than 1500

applications for around half a dozen vacancies - was resolved by

creating a recruitment pack which incorporated a self-selection process

to reveal the best candidates and deter the also-rans.

The pack motivated the right candidates and provided them with powerful

reasons for making the agency their first career choice.

At the same time, the unsuccessful ones, who might be future clients,

were left with a favourable impression.

This article was first published on Marketing