Think Direct Mail is a thing of the past? Think again! Despite the popularity of online marketing, people still remember and understand what they see and read on paper. Direct Mail Marketing campaigns offer great opportunities for SME’s to reach their target market in a cost-effective and efficient way and often have a healthy ROI.

However, creating good direct mail pieces that grab people’s attention isn’t easy –  it takes a lot of thought and creativity in order to be effective and memorable.

To give you some inspiration, here’s some cool direct mail ideas that are simple, yet so effective:

1. KitKat

A great example of a simple, yet very impactful direct mail piece is KitKats chunky campaign. The mailer was designed to look like a Royal Mail ‘Something for you’ card, and therefore immediately grabbed people’s attention. The card explained the KitKat could not be delivered because ‘it’s too chunky for your letterbox’, but offers a free KitKat to collect from the nearest store. A great and extremely effective campaign!

2. LavOnline

In Italy, there is very low penetration and awareness of online laundries. To change this, the Italian online laundry LavOnline needed to come up with something that would create awareness and engage the target audience, whilst also communicating the two main benefits of the service: speed and simplicity.

In their extremely clever direct mail piece, the company encouraged recipients to splash a fake tomato in a paper-cut t-shirt. At the bottom it says: ‘It’ll be a hard blow for stains. To get the idea behind our service, hit this T-shirt. If you really want to try it out, register now on www.lavonline.it.’

A great and extremely engaging idea, that clearly got the online laundry the results they wanted: within 4 weeks, 32 % of recipients registered on the site and 8% tried the service. The overall website traffic increased by 15%! A clever and effective campaign!

3. Ikea 

A direct mail piece that is thin enough to fit under the door, yet impactful enough to attract people’s attention? Ikea found a solution: a pop-up furniture DM! The mailer slides under the door effortlessly and once it’s open, an entire bedroom pops out! The marketing piece promotes Ikea’s most iconic products: flat pack furniture and has a clever message: 

We hope that these ideas will help you get your creative juices flowing and help you come up with a fantastic idea for your direct mailer.

If not, don’t panic – CuCo are here to help! Our experienced team of designers and marketers can help you come up with a creative idea that is just right for you! What are you waiting for? Our experts are here to help! Get in touch today.