BMW did a direct mail campaign a few years ago that took direct mail for a spin... literally. They wanted to 'show, not tell' the capabilities of the BMW M6 Coupe going 0-60 in 4.1 seconds. So they turned their luxury M6 Coupe into a printing press (check out the video!) Here's how they did it.
A system was created to spray the wheels with a thick, black ink when a lever was pushed. Matt Mullins, chief driving instructor of the BMW Performance Driving School, drove over long stretches of sheets of paper that were laid out at the Blackhawk Farms Raceway in Illinois (Fast Company).
From the video, you see how much planning went into this. The engineers expressed their shock when asked to make this project happen, but put their heads together and came up with a great result. You can also see a glimpse of the back of the mailer reading, "Can you smell the rubber?" Talk about a tease of the senses!
BWM sent out over 150,000 individually unique direct mail pieces to M6 fans across the nation (Canada Post). And though I'd be interested in knowing the data and ROI on this campaign, I can't help but imagine that it left quite an impression not only on those who recieved the mailer, but also on those who viewed the videos showing the process.
BMW showed us that direct mail can be personal, creative, and so much more than just a piece of paper. It also showed us that there's more ways to personalize and send out unique materials.
Personalization increases the likelihood of the item being read! So try out things like putting the customers' name on the piece, or sending them an offer that's specific to the customer or demographic.
Put your thinking caps on and think outside of the box for your next direct mail campaign!
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