About the client company
FedEx offers businesses secure, time-guaranteed delivery – for when it ‘absolutely, positively has to get there overnight’.
Strategy – broader business issues the company is facing
The UK business market already knows about the famous FedEx guaranteed overnight service. But they don’t know about FedEx’s more affordable four-day delivery, for when it’s important but less urgent. Our challenge was to communicate this choice.
There were two obstacles we needed to overcome: postal customers are often bound by long contracts, so targeting them at the right time is almost impossible.
Also, in each business, there are often several people responsible for choosing a postal contractor, so hitting the post room manager alone may not be enough.
Objectives of the campaign
- To motivate trial of FedEx’s services.
- To generate new leads and customers.
- To overcome the two obstacles as mentioned in ‘Strategy’ by creating an idea that has:
1. long shelf-life – something that will be kept in the post room
2. the potential to engage several decision makers within each business
The target audience
Our strategy was to target businesses selected as potentially high lifetime-value customers. Within those businesses, we specifically targeted busy post room managers (the key influencers when it comes to choosing postal services).
Media strategy
Why direct mail? Well, what better way to demonstrate FedEx’s package mailing service, than by delivering an authentically packaged and branded FedEx package?
This is also the most effective media to fulfil our strategic objectives: namely to create something of perceived value that would stick around the post room – and be shared.
Creative strategy
Our insight: some days in the post room, everything’s urgent, some days it’s not. Our strategy was to dramatise how FedEx offered a solution to either scenario. We wanted to demonstrate this in a way that our prospects would understand. We also wanted to create something that would have genuine value in a post room environment, with the potential to be shared around the office.
Our authentically packaged and branded FedEx pack ticked all the boxes. It contained a choice: caffeine-packed coffee or calming camomile tea. Every sachet acted as a miniadvert, promoting the relevant FedEx service.
So every time our prospects make a cup of coffee or camomile tea (for potentially weeks to come) they are reminded of the choice offered by FedEx.
We offered a relevant incentive too: if prospects placed enough orders by a certain date, they would receive a FedEx branded tea or coffee machine for their post room. These branded machines acted as yet another reminder of the FedEx offering – as well as, of course, a great incentive to sample the services.
Timescales of the campaign
Campaign development: March 2009
Implementation: June, 2009
Results analysis: July, 2009
Budget
£16,000 – £4,000 for production.
Results
Percentage conversion to lead/sale: 3.4 per cent
Cost per lead/sale/appointment: £714
ROI: 1,275 per cent
The prospects we targeted had a very high potential lifetime value. So we were pleased this low-volume campaign generated 35 direct responses (7 per cent response rate). Seventeen of these were converted into new customers. Based on the typical value of this type of customer, this equates to a 1,275 per cent ROI.
Even though FedEx’s prices are ‘premium-end’, we successfully attracted extremely high lifetime-value customers. This was during a difficult economic time when there was plenty of aggressive, price-focused competitor activity. We converted prospects that had previously not done business customers.
Due to the long contracts many of our prospects have signed up for, it’s certain we still haven’t seen the full fruits of this campaign.
Client testimonial
“A simple idea that understands our audience. Outstanding results. Need I say more?”
Nicole Keep, marketing director