The Campaign

Christmas is about joy and excitement. But how often have you guessed your gift based on the wrapping alone? Australia Post decided to bring the surprise back to giving, by turning our standard, cardboard post boxes into a range of present disguises. Based on the clichéd gifts we are so used to receiving, Disguise Packaging consisted of six bespoke gift boxes, built to withstand the postal delivery process, and six hand-crafted wrapping kits, for those who didn’t need to send their gifts. The range of disguises were sold in every Post Office and through Australia’s largest online retailers, just add a disguise at the checkout for your order to arrive with an extra surprise.

Creative Execution

Design was integral to Disguise Packaging. The five cardboard Post boxes, based off clichéd Christmas presents, came in a range of shapes and sizes all designed to hide your gifts. The range included a handbag, Mum’s the Word, a tie, The Tattletie, a sock, The Dad Default, a fruitcake, Same Old Fruitcake Co. The traditional Re-Gift and a pyramid for The Total Mystery. We also created a range of “shortbread tins”, Postman’s Petticoat Tales, baked to overdone perfection. The wrapping kits were designed to mimic gift-wrapping from our fictional retailers; a handcrafted soap shop, antique books, kitchen essentials, stationery supplies, fishing tackle and a nougat company. Each kit contained adhesive logos, a ribbon and a sheet of A1 paper. Rothfield Print Management designed die lines and built the boxes with enough structural integrity to withstand the postal system. They also managed the production and distribution of all 1.4 million disguises.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

Instead of creating ads, we designed an entirely new product line that sold out in eleven days. In total we produced 1.4 million disguises for only $186,000. With each disguise sold at an average cost of $6, Disguise Packaging netted an additional AU$8.4 million in revenue for Australia Post. The promotional campaign reached 7.6 million Australians, establishing long-term relationships with new and existing customers. With engagement on social up 72%, Disguise Packaging created deeper connections between consumers and one of Australia’s oldest brands. Brand sentiment was up 54%, online postage increased 15.4% over the Christmas period and we exceeded parcel our parcel sales targets by 118%. Finally, 85% of the people exposed to the campaign now associate Australia Post with online shopping. Disguise Packaging confirmed that Australia Post are central to the joy of receiving and our range of limited edition parcel designs put the surprise back into Christmas.

Online shopping continues to see major growth in Australia, representing a growing business for Australia Post. However, before our Christmas campaign, the vast majority of Australians didn’t associate the brand with online shopping or the joy of receiving. The campaign needed to change the ways Australians aged 25 - 54 interacted with Australia Post. And without the budget for broadcast media, we were limited to digital, social and a small amount of in-store media to reach both regional and metro audiences. We started by considering the role of Australia Post at Christmas. We quickly realised that as Australia’s largest postal service, they are responsible for getting more presents to their intended recipients than anyone else (bar Santa of course). We translated this into our single-minded proposition: Australia Post delivers the magic of Christmas.