The Brief

Beyond creating the annual call-for-entries mailer, we wanted to reinvigorate participation from direct marketing, digital and advertising agencies in the DMAM Awards 2009, as well as elevate the status of direct marketing as an effective weapon alongside traditional advertising.

Creative Execution

Just as the Trojan Horse was immortalised as one of history's most triumphant ideas, the mailer invited agencies to come forth and celebrate their best ideas. From there, we demonstrated the power of direct marketing by taking personalisation to new heights. From the address label, poster, booklet and letter to EDMs, we customised the copy and images to reflect each recipient's name and agency.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We used the fabled Trojan Horse to illustrate how a single idea, well crafted and executed, can break through seemingly impenetrable walls to reach its target. And what better way to jolt jaded agency folk than send out scale replicas of the behemoth as the call-for-entries mailer. The paper, printing and delivery of the pack were sponsored by Takeo, Fuji Xerox and POS Malaysia respectively - all fellow DM practitioners who wanted to push the envelope for breakthrough direct marketing.

Results

The attention-grabbing mailer and radical personalisation resulted in a huge response from a mix of 16 advertising, digital and DM agencies, doubling the number participating from the previous year (only 8 DM agencies took part in 2008). With over 200 entries, a 9% increase from 2008, this was a remarkable achievement considering the budget cuts from clients on marketing and communications, as well as agencies slashing budgets on awards entries and rewards due to poor global and local economic performance.