James Ready’s letter to customers.
Customers were disappointed
when James Ready beer left off
the quirky cap messages for which
the Canadian brand had become renowned. Here’s how agency
Leo Burnett turned the mistake into
an award-winning campaign.
The challenge
James Ready includes messages under its
caps to amuse customers. In June 2010, more than
a million bottles of James Ready beer were sent out with blank caps. Within days, the company started receiving letters, emails and even videos from confused customers. Agency Leo Burnett was
asked to create a campaign that would explain and apologise for the mistake to customers.
The campaign
The brewery included letters in each pack of beer
and spread the word with an online video. They
asked customers to collect and return their blank caps in return for “something” from the brewery. Gifts ranged from rubber gloves, to old hockey cards, to ninja hamsters, each sent out with a personalised note.
Examples of items and personalised notes that were sent out in exchange for blank James Ready caps.
The results
Apart from generating goodwill, conversation and competition among customers, the brand collected thousands of customer names and addresses.
The campaign itself also won wide acclaim, including winning a Silver Lion at Cannes, two Silvers and a Bronze at the London International Advertising Awards, and Gold and Silver at the CASSIES (Canadian advertising awards).
Learnings
This campaign is a great example of showing your business personality. Consumers increasingly expect businesses to act more “human” – including being willing to apologise and having a sense of humour.
The tone, language, font choice and gift choices demonstrated that the James Ready brand is informal, light-hearted and fun.
What are the tone and language of your own DM pieces saying about your business personality?
Useful tools and resources
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and the interviewees, and not of Australia Post.
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Love this idea!! This is where I see the future of direct marketing, using exciting personalised mail pieces to interrupt and enrich the daily lives of customers and start fun conversations… aka old school word of mouth. Great article, thanks