Best B2B lead generation campaign
Highly commended: TNT
Agency: RCA
Campaign: China
TNT, one of the world’s largest express delivery companies, delivers consignments by air, road and sea in more than 200 countries. According to TNT’s latest customer loyalty measurement survey, however, customers believed that TNT was primarily a European company and lacked experience to deliver to other parts of the world.
TNT has had a presence in China for 18 years and continues to invest in the Chinese market. To emphasise the firm’s global experience, a campaign to promote awareness of TNT’s work in China was developed. The focus on China would also imply by association that TNT has experience in handling other emerging markets such as India and South East Asia. The campaign aimed to show prospects and existing customers that TNT’s expertise was greater than they perceived, while TNT staff would be motivated about TNT opportunities. Initially the campaign was in English and later translated as necessary as it rolled out across TNT’s offices around the world.
This year was the Year of the Golden Pig, a lucky year in the Chinese calendar which only happens once every sixty years. It is also TNT’s 60th year of providing customers with express delivery services. Two concepts were selected: Relax’ and Picking the Best (for China)’. To underline TNT’s link with the lucky year a Chinese zodiac guide was sent out with each mailer, providing details on all twelve signs and detailing their compatibility. Over 474,000 mailings were sent generating a response rate of 6.3 per cent – the equivalent of around 30,000 leads.
Prospects who registered online or returned a reply card received either a set of Tai Chi balls (Relax) or high quality chopsticks (Picking the Best). Those who went on to book a shipment during the promotional period, whether they were new or existing customers, received either a TNT 747 model plane (Picking the Best) or an incense set (Relax).
Tailored envelopes were produced to help create a degree of intrigue about the enclosed mail piece. Two versions were produced, one with an Ancient Chinese proverb and the other a teaser message about the Year of the Pig. The supporting microsite included information about TNT in China and TNT Services as well as an interactive game complete with images from TNT’s China operation and its air fleet.
The microsite was adapted for 32 different countries with 23 of the sites produced in the local language. When the campaign ran, between February and May 2007, in excess of 40 TNT countries took part. Knowledge and sensitivity had to be shown towards different cultures so alternative themed material was prepared to avoid losing impact. For example, the microsite for Turkey had to be amended to remove any reference to the “Year of the Pig”, as the pig is offensive to Orthodox Muslims. The microsite was particularly popular with 32 per cent of registrations occurring online, 37,000 unique visitors and the online game played 7500 times.
The exact budget for the direct marketing campaign was difficult to calculate accurately as each local market printed and fulfilled the DM element of the campaign themselves. The estimated total cost for printing and fulfilment stands at around 200,000 while the cost of the microsite creation and adaptation was 50,000. With a partially estimated total cost of 250,000, the campaign was directly responsible for generating over 21,700 new traders with immediate additional revenue of 6,000,000. The cost worked out at 8.30 per lead and 11.50 per converted customer, against an average order value of 276.50. ROI was therefore 24:1, excluding the lifetime value of the new traders.
Marc Albani, TNT marketing & PR manager of IBU says, “I was delighted with the planning and implementation of this campaign. It not only exceeded our ambitious targets, delivering an impressive ROI, but they used creativity to engage our audience. In addition to the traditional DM route, RCA executed an engaging on-line element that achieved a fantastic response in many countries around the world.”