Ggrp Sound: "CARDBOARD RECORD PLAYER" Direct marketing by Grey Canada

Type of entry: Use of Direct Marketing
Category: Dimensional Mailing
Advertiser: GGRP
Product/Service: SOUND DESIGN COMPANY
Agency: GREY VANCOUVER, CANADA
Associate Creative Director, Copywriter: Geoff Dawson (Grey Vancouver)
Art Director: Andrew McKinley (Grey Vancouver)
Production Manager: Dennis Isaacson (Grey Vancouver)
Account Director: Genevieve Louden (Grey Vancouver)
Sound Design, Recording Studio: Meg Griffiths (GGRP)
Production: Rick Selinger (Dyna Graphics)
President: David Read (Vinyl Guru)
Describe the brief from the client:
GGRP is a premier sound house, based in Vancouver, Canada. Despite a strong reputation, and a history of award winning work, GGRP was suffering from the perception that they’d gotten long in the tooth. Our objective: Prove that GGRP still stands for creativity in sound; that they remain current and relevant; and deliver on the promise that for those that truly love sound, both in its quality and creative expression, GGRP is the obvious choice. To meet this objective, our direct campaign targeted a combination of existing and potential new clients, across Canada and into the US.
Creative Execution:
Vinyl fits GGRP perfectly. Vinyl has a proud history; it’s the #1 choice for audiophiles; it’s the most creative and expressive medium for sound; and it’s enjoying a tremendous resurgence in popularity. In so many ways, vinyl parallels the GGRP brand. With the cardboard record player, we delivered an experience in sound creation. Made from a single piece of cardboard, our record player folds up into an envelope that includes a 45-vinyl. The record can be operated with a pencil. As the vibrations go through the needle, they are naturally amplified in the cardboard material.
Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.
In answering the brief, we hit on the idea of vinyl. It fit GGRP perfectly. To start, we redesigned the identity and created a new website. Next, we focused on getting the word out. Originally, we considered sending vinyl records, but there was a problem: nobody has a player anymore. After research and a number of failed prototypes, we found a way to make the album jacket operate as a player. The concept took life. There wasn’t a specific metric in place for response; instead, our DM was designed to spark conversations rooted in the idea of sound and creativity.
Describe the results in as much detail as possible.
Direct response was over 90%. Everyone who received one wanted to talk about it, or wanted more copies. But it’s the indirect responses that have generated the most traffic. It’s become an Internet phenomenon, on over 500 blogs such as Gizmodo and Wired. YouTube views for the promotional video have increased by over 20,000 in under a week. Traffic to the GGRP site grew exponentially, moving from 50 visits/week to more than 70,000. The viral nature of the record player’s success has created more conversations with the creative community than GGRP ever expected – but they aren’t complaining.