Case Study 'Wine knowledge check' contributed by our Interdirect associate B&F, Germany.
In these days of economic downturn when there is a mad scramble for customer acquisition, to get a prospect to raise hands to say that he/ she is interested in a product is indeed a challenging task. This case study illustrates a simple way to make this happen, when the medium is a direct mailer.
Objective: Generating new members for a wine club 'Chateau Direct' which included a wine nomination subscription (4 packages per year, each worth Euro 89 and includes 12 bottles of selected wines)
Challenges:
- Getting as many prospects to raise hands by making them read the direct mail
- Creating a 'Trojan Horse' to draw the attention of the customers for the category of wine
Target audience: People with middle / high income and with graduation and above who may be interested in 'dolce vita'
Creative Strategy:The strategy played on the insight that people like to show off that they have knowledge bordering on being experts and hence the creative gave them an opportunity to reveal the knowledge. A questionnaire was sent to them to enable them to display their knowledge, of Germans and wine, which would get them a membership for the wine club 'Chateau Direct'. The free membership was a gesture of thanks for filling in the questionnaire and sharing their profile details.
Creative Execution:The questionnaire was used as a means (Trojan Horse) to elicit response from the target audience. The questionnaire was designed in such a way that it can identify genuine wine lovers amongst the target audience thereby ensuring that those who convert have a probability of persisting with the programme in the long run. The questions revolved around the prospects' knowledge of wine. The Direct Mailer also explained in detail as to how the wine tester of the club accompanies the wines from the harvest to the bottled product, thereby building the credibility of the wine amongst the connoisseurs. The copy contained a number of interesting anecdotes about the club and the concept. All of these improved the disposition of the target audience towards the club and ensured a high response rate.
Result:The response rate was a substantial 182% above the response rate of the controlled group. The mailer also helped the company to garner valuable profile data of the target audience.
