The Offer: Oasis Grower Solutions, a horticulture and commercial greenhouse products brand, introduced Wedge Plus growing medium in April. The product decreases the usual 24-day root propagation period ?for poinsettias by five days.?
The Data: To promote the new product, Oasis launched an integrated b-to-b campaign on May 10 focusing on how much impact five days of extra waiting can have. It sent dimensional mailers to 150 recipients and traditional mail pieces to 1,000 other members of its in-house database, 98% of which is composed of businesses.?
The Channel: Oasis worked with the Communications Factory on the campaign. In addition to the mailers, the company ran print ads and developed a microsite to market the Wedge Plus product. The 2% of Oasis’ database not composed of businesses was made up of editors and researchers to whom Oasis sent mail pieces ?to generate press around the product.?
The Creative: Creative takes a humorous approach in explaining the consequences that can come with waiting five days longer to undertake a task than is necessary. Fictional counterparts to historical figures such as Charles Lindbergh, Bill Haley and The Comets, ?and Sir Edmund Hillary are said to have lost their place in history due to five-day delays in plans. ?
Verdict:
David Brown is EVP and general manager of Meredith Integrated Marketing. He oversees the company’s Content and CRM business, including database analytics agency Directive Analytics. Prior to joining Meredith in 2005, he held senior-level positions at Dentsu and OgilvyOne Worldwide.
This is a good example of a good direct mail idea, but not a big idea that works across a whole plan. The idea of using not-so-famous misses to illustrate the five days of saving is evocative and memorable in direct mail, but may not travel as well into print advertising or online, where the idea appears to get in the way of the actual promise.?
