Mail That Sells

Ericsson Australia


A three-step innovative global Ericsson Enterprise campaign that was distributed recently, targeted Australia's top corporations. Some 1300 mailing pieces went out to Chief Executive Officers, Chief Financial Officers and Chief Information Officers.

"The first two pieces were aimed very much at positioning us as the leader in producing solutions that can simplify everyday living in the office and on the move," says marketing communications manager, Sarah Mitchell.

With the first three-dimensional piece, Ericsson wanted to alert the target market to the company's new offering and to the opportunity to "rethink the enterprise" using Ericsson solutions for converged communications. But in talking about bringing together mobility, data and voice, there was a great deal of detail to convey, so rather than put it all in the mailer, Ericsson used the mail piece to urge executives to go to their site (www.ericsson.com/rethink) where visitors could win a mobile phone.

This initiative was supported by a strong print campaign including placements in media such as BRW, The Australian and The Financial Review.

The second step in this campaign, a mailer that went to the same audience two weeks later, urged the recipients to "rethink Internet Protocol telephony." The mailer promoted what was described as a new way to take your office into the future with the all in one Ericsson IP Communication Platform, WebSwitch. Once again, people were directed to the web site where numerous leads were acquired.

The climax of the campaign was the invitation to a breakfast seminar, held during the same week of April in both Melbourne and Sydney. Attendees had the chance to hear the Global President of Ericsson Corporate Networks, Lars E. Svensson, who was visiting from Europe. Lars presented an informative briefing relating to the developments in the convergence of data, mobility and voice.

"We used the first two mail pieces to build awareness amongst this particular audience," says Mitchell. "By the time the breakfast invitations arrived, people were aware of our innovative offering and were happy to devote some time to hearing what we had to say."

Optus

Uncle Toby's Popcorn can make a big impact in the mail!

That's what Optus Television proved when the company mailed a pack of popcorn to customers in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

The initiative was part of a broader Optus effort to retain subscribers to its pay TV channel. The mailer aimed to get people to renew their subscriptions and it was extremely successful. The message encouraged recipients to choose a movie and settle back and enjoy it with the popcorn.

"We went out to many thousands of our subscribers and we were knocked out by the response," says manager customer management group, Optus Television, Tracy Ah Hee.

If it needed to be proved again, this mailer demonstrated once and for all that three dimensional mail can pay rich rewards. The extra expense is invariably repaid many times over.

"With our North Sydney advertising agency, George Patterson Bates, we came up with something really creative on this occasion and the comments from customers were just so positive," says Ah Hee. "The results were way ahead of expectations and we were all delighted."

Optus Television is part of the Consumer and Multimedia Division of Cable and Wireless Optus. Its aim is to become the provider of choice for entertainment, information and communications into the home.

The National

The National has found through research that there needed to be a smoother transition when implementing changes that affected small business customers. In conjunction with Melbourne direct marketing agency, Marketability, it was decided to develop a high impact direct mail pack that would alert customers to any impending change and prepare them for it.

A large number of packs were printed in the first run and now they are used as an ongoing initiative whenever the move of a small business banker takes place.

"We needed to produce a direct mail pack that involved business customers sufficiently, to get the piece opened, read and retained," says marketability account director Linda Bouchier.

"To get it opened we opted for a red envelope with intriguing creative visible through the large window face. The copy reads, 'Banker ready and willing to help your business.' The tone we used was very personal and engaging, enticing the recipient to open it and read on," she explains.

Inside the pack is a letter with the new banker's contact details lasered onto a handy integrated push-out business card and a wallet cardholder.

The project manager communications, business financial services, at The National, Rose Sticca, says "the response directly from the bankers and their clients since we have introduced this new communication has been totally positive. We're delighted with the results."

The calls that bankers now regularly receive from customers when starting out in their new roles are seen as hard evidence of the success of the campaign.