Research shows especially millennials do not see added value in real mail compared to digital mail. PostNL therefore wanted people to truly reconnect with real mail: - Inspiring and activating people to send more postcards. - By doing so making people experience that real mail is far more personal than digital mail can ever be. Strategically Valentines Day was chosen, since this already is the most personal mail event. How could it become even more personal in a way digital mail could never be? With virtually no budget, the idea had to be both newsworthy and inspirational to activate consumers.
Problem
Big Idea: sending Valentines cards with lipstick kisses instead of stamps! Activating people to send more Valentines cards as well as engage them more with the product. PostNL firstly had to rewrite all its recognition software so all possible lipstick kisses would be identified. A romantic online explanatory video was shot. This video was included in the press release four days before Valentine's Day. It instantly exploded on social media and in PR. In the final days before Valentines Day, the campaign was given extra energy with some creative activation: - Kiss busses were posted on busy squares activating people to write cards. - Video's on social media showing men putting lipstick on. Some extra presents: A famous radio DJ spontaneously called his female listeners to send him as many kissed cards as possible. In Dutch schools children were assigned to create kissed Valentine cards.
Result
The press release immediately caused an online tsunami, being trending topic for several days. All Dutch newspapers, major TV news shows and online news sites reported extensively. It was widely picked up internationally: among others BBC World News and German TV made reports from the PostNL distribution centre. All this attention lead to a huge response: - Almost four times as much Valentines mail was sent. - Even an increase of 100% in paid Valentines mail (with stamp). Probably men! The extra turnover surpassed the variable cost of the promotion, giving PostNL immediately a positive ROI. Even when they had made their product free of charge for a day! In tracking, the brand values of PostNL showed the highest increase ever. Which proves a bright idea with virtually no budget can activate more people than many multimillion ATL campagnes. PostNL, the Dutch postal company, wanted people to reconnect with real mail, which meant: - Inspiring and activating people to send more postcards. - By doing so making people experience that real mail is far more personal than digital mail can ever be. There was no budget for an ATL campaign so people had to be activated through a newsworthy and inspiring promotional idea. Strategy was to focus on Valentines Day, the most personal mail event. How to make it even more personal in a way digital mail could never match? The answer: WITH A KISS! The day before Valentines Day all Dutch people could send their Valentine cards with a lipstick kiss instead of a stamp! Special software recognised the lipstick kisses.