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Direct Mail – Campaign (Over $50 million)
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Direct Mail – Campaign (Over $50 million)
1st place
CLAAS Omaha Inc.
Omaha, Nebraska
With
Bluestem
Omaha, Nebraska
Statement of Objectives:
Encourage national and local media, community partners and state dignitaries to attend a stop-over event in two North American locations (Colorado and Nebraska) to further promote the CLAAS Tractor World Tour – raising charitable funds benefiting CARE, an international aid organization founded to alleviate poverty worldwide – and gain additional awareness through editorial coverage.
Target Audience:
National and local media (Colorado and Nebraska)
Community partners (business owners, chamber members, etc.)
State dignitaries
Communication Strategy:
With a cause finding worth in miles, Matthias Lause, a 26 year old mechanic from Germany made his way across 17 countries, 5 continents all in 300 days traveling 15,500 miles at 25mph driving a CLAAS ARES 697 ATZ tractor. To further promote the cause, Matthias stopped over at B&G Equipment, Greeley, Colorado where he made an appearance to further charitable giving. As well, 4 days later he made his way to CLAAS of America Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. With coordinated enticement to the media, an Eblast promoting the event, a direct mail invitation and follow up calls to attend this stop-over which included an appearance by Matthias as well as interviews and photos of his travels, speakers from the CARE organization and Erika Claas, wife of CLAAS chairman Dr. Helmut Claas.
The simplistic format of the direct mail and the Eblast positioned the CLAAS brand supporting a philanthropic endeavor in which attendees could gain information about the travels and more importantly give coverage of the cause. Members in attendance also received full press kits including a press release of his journey, a brochure of the program's goals and overview materials of CLAAS.
Measureable Results:
With great success in Greeley, Colorado and Omaha, Nebraska, CLAAS received pre-emptive articles of the arrival of Matthias in local media as well as follow up stories of his time shared at Omaha Headquarters. With approximately 75 people in attendance, media included national trade publications, local television coverage, agricultural radio coverage (specifically) and local print.
To date, approximately $40,000 has been raised for the CARE organization through Matthias' journey at which he will make his final stop at the at AGRITECHNICA show in Hannover, Germany in mid-November.
Judge's Comments:
Company Scope & Marketing Objectives:
CLAAS of America, Inc. offers a wide variety of technologically innovative hay tool, baler and self-propelled forage harvester and combine harvester products to provide farmers optimum performance in the field. CLAAS marketing attempts to build awareness of the industry leading technology and the engineering that goes into our products. We also look to reinforce the lifelong relationships we build with our customers and dealers. With the knowledge and innovative thinking of over 8,300 employees worldwide, we are committed to establishing CLAAS technology as the standard in the agricultural market.
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Direct Mail – Campaign (Over $50 million)
2nd place
Liebherr Construction Equipment Co.
Newport News, Virginia
Statement of Objectives:
In January of 2007, Liebherr introduced its first minimal tail-swing excavator. Due to its size and features the R924 Compact-Swing excavator reaches a very specific segment of the construction market. Three direct-mail pieces were tailored to support the introduction of this machine. In contrast to the rest of the Liebherr machines marketed in the United States, the R924 Compact-Swing is a minimal tail-swing machine designed to operate in confined spaces. While each mailer had its own look, they all shared one common characteristic: the circular shape stimulating the working radius of the machine.
Target Audience:
Liebherr earthmoving dealers, business owners and contractors engaged in road construction, landscaping and utility work.
Marketing Objectives:
Liebherr's introduction of the R924 Compact-Swing was essential to create awareness among a new market. People who are familiar with our brand associate Liebherr with large machines. The R924 Compact-Swing is a standard excavator with compact dimensions that falls into a different product category and, therefore, a different customer segment.
The purpose of this campaign was to extend familiarity with our new minimal tail-swing excavator, raise awareness of the range of products that Liebherr offers in the United States and influence those individuals involved in the purchase decision.
The marketing campaign consisted of two different mailers based on target audience and sales territory. They were designed to grab the customer's attention and encourage them to contact Liebherr for further information.
- Introduction (July)
The first mailer was sent at the end of July and consisted of a four color circular mini-brochure which highlighted the main features and benefits of the R924 Compact-Swing. This mailer also included a second piece which was a round post-it pad with the name of the machine and logo.
- Follow-up (August)
A second mailer followed within a month. This mailer contained a full size round brochure with a multilingual demo-CD and a poster of the R924 Compact-Swing. The brochure was consistent with the first mailing piece in terms of layout and cover. The difference is between the two mailers, however, was in the content delivered. The second mailer contained detailed product information as well as competitive comparisons based on the main features.
Results:
The marketing campaign has proven to be successful in relation to the data received from trade publications. The campaign generated a significant increase in online traffic as well as sales leads and inquiries received through their magazines. The months of July, August and September showed the greatest increasing trends providing evidence of the correlation between our direct marketing approach and our market segment. We are pleased with the initial market reaction and look forward to the next step: to position our new product.
Judge's Comments:
- Good consistency throughout package.
Company Scope & Marketing Objectives:
Liebherr is one of the world's leading manufacturers of construction and earthmoving equipment. A supplier of acknowledged technologically advanced products and services to a multitude of industries, Liebherr manufactures products for aerospace, concrete mixing technology, container and mobile dock cranes, machine tools, diesel engines and material flow technology.
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Direct Mail – Campaign (Over $50 million)
3rd place
Vermeer Mfg. Co.
Pella, Iowa
With
Two Rivers Marketing
Des Moines, Iowa
Statement of Objectives:
Vermeer spent years researching and developing a new stump cutter cutting system. The industry had not introduced a new or innovative cutter system for years - until the introduction of the Yellow Jacket Cutter System.
The objective of the campaign was to position the Yellow Jacket Cutter System as the new standard in cutting performance and maintenance. We also wanted to build anticipation in the industry about the system.
Our strategy involved developing a teaser campaign that would provide bits of information to our target audience about the product. The first mailing – Buzz Buzz – simply stated a new cutter system was coming. Two weeks later our target audience received the Sting Sting mailer. This piece provided an overview of the cutter system, feature and benefits and a comparison to a leading competitive product. Our final mailing announced the arrival of the Yellow Jacket Cutter system at Vermeer dealerships. The campaign was implemented over a six week period.
The target audience included 6,000 current and prospective Vermeer stump cutter customers.
To date, more than 12,000 pockets, 42,000 teeth and 900 kits have been sold since June of 2007.
Judge's Comments:
- Great use of type, color, photography.
Company Scope and Marketing Objectives:
Vermeer is a global leader in the manufacture of products for the tree care, compost, wood-waste processing, landscape and underground installation markets. The marketing and communication goal of Vermeer is to showcase how Vermeer products are helping customer's complete challenging projects worldwide.
Direct Mail – Campaign (Under $50 million)
(Click for larger image)
Direct Mail – Campaign (Under $50 million)
1st place
KIOTI Tractor
Wendell, North Carolina
With
Advantage Marketing Communications
Blairstown, New Jersey
Statement of Objectives:
Target Audience:
Potential Compact Tractor Dealerships in Areas Where KIOTI Had No or Weak Representation
Communications Strategy Employed:
KIOTI has been slowly building their dealer network across North America while developing their corporate headquarters in Wendell, NC. With the proper customer service and support systems in place, they were now ready to aggressively fill in areas where they had no or weak dealer representation to help drive brand awareness and sales upward. Direct mail was selected as the medium due to is cost-effectiveness and its ability to add some personalization to the piece without personally picking up the phone or visiting each and every prospect.
We implemented a three part testimonial direct mail campaign (two postcards and one mailer with a DVD inserted into a clear plastic envelope) to highlight the successful experience of existing KIOTI dealers to help lure in potential new ones. The front of the postcards and mailer contained a personalized URL (PURL) that the user could log onto to find out more information about KIOTI products, KIOTI the company and special new dealer incentives being offered. We also included a short questionnaire on the PURL to help capture some additional information about the person visiting the site. The back of each postcard and interior of the mailer contained a personalized letter from KIOTI. The final mailer had a DVD with company information on it to show the depth of the global company behind the tractor.
The mailings were sent on subsequent Fridays for three weeks in a row so that they landed on the recipients desk on a Tuesday, the weeks lightest mail day, for optimum results. The first two mailers were the postcards with the third, more substantial piece being sent last. KIOTI personnel followed up with interested dealers as they logged onto their PURL sites.
Documented results:
Because there was a PURL tied into each mailer that went out, we were notified in real time when someone logged onto their personalized KIOTI website. We were further notified when they filled out the questionnaire on the site with a breakdown of their answers so that we could react appropriately based on their expressed level of interest.
191 people who received the postcards logged onto their personalized site yielding a phenomenal direct mail response rate of 13.962% over the course of the three part mailing. We are presently gauging how many of those who responded to the mailings sign up as a dealership to determine the volume of business those dealers conduct in their first year so we can accurately calculate the overall return on investment for this campaign.
Judge's Comments:
Company Scope & Marketing Objectives:
KIOTI Tractor Division of Daedong-USA, Inc. is a distributor of compact and utility tractors from 90 horsepower and below in North America. The range of products currently encompasses over twenty models with either manual or hydrostatic transmissions. In addition, we also distribute a wide range of attachments and implements for our tractors and we provide parts and warranty services to North America.
As a distributor of "premium" compact and utility tractors, attachments and implements in North America, our goal is to raise brand awareness of our products in the marketplace and to incorporate within the brand identity the premium nature and exceptionally high quality of the products we distribute.
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