WHO DO WE TRUST FOR THE BIGGEST ANNUAL GIFT SEND? RUDOLPH!

The Brief

Staples already had a pre-existing campaign, aimed at driving sales among their current customers, and making them aware that the Mail & Ship category had undergone a major expansion with a diverse new product range. Our brief was to target SME businesses specifically, from small warehouses to eBay Power Sellers. The target audiences were based in Germany and The Netherlands, and our prospect database supplied by the client was 40,000 strong.

The Response

In our search for a unique concept, we explored cardboard technology. This inspired us to design a cardboard engineered, self-assemble reindeer. It was a huge challenge, one that also had to be mindful of production and postage costs, along with the logistics of delivering into Europe at the busiest time of the year for DM. The prospects also needed the time to redeem vouchers and order for their own business needs before Christmas.

Our campaign message was centred around all these thousands of small businesses being integral to the success of Christmas. Whatever they were sending, no matter the size or fragility, Staples could handle it. So it was only natural to be sending them the figurehead of the largest annual gift sending operation (Rudolph).

The Results

“I contacted Gasp after reading their monthly newsletter, which was not only creative but also conveyed their sense of fun (important when dealing with big asks and tight deadlines). There is no doubt that they have assisted in furthering Staples sales and awareness - Holland is now covered with our reindeers!” Kirsty Montgomery, European Head of Acquisition, Staples.

An initial indicator of the campaign’s success was that the vast majority of the inevitable quota of undelivered returns that we received back were immediately whisked away by courier to Staples HQ in Amsterdam, to meet the extra demand! We also know that ‘Staples the Reindeer’, as it has been fondly nicknamed, has outstripped the normal brochure response rate and boosted positive conversations across social media.

Measured against the response rate of catalogues sales, this campaign gave a very healthy 60% uplift!