Blockbuster: "MISSING YOU LETTERS" Direct marketing by BBDO Guatemala

Category: Flat Mailing
Advertiser: BLOCKBUSTER DE GUATEMALA
Product/Service: BLOCKBUSTER
Agency: BBDO GUATEMALA
Date of First Appearance: Nov 1 2009 12:00AM
Entrant Company: BBDO GUATEMALA, Guatemala City, GUATEMALA
Vice President Creative: Victor Garcia (BBDO Guatemala)
Creative Director: Federico Ahunchain (BBDO Guatemala)
Producer: Raul Pineda (BBDO Guatemala)
Producer: Arturo Aguirre (BBDO Guatemala)
Producer: Teresa Cabrerar (BBDO Guatemala)
Art Director: Daniel Juárez (BBDO Guatemala)
Account Director: Jenny Noriega (BBDO Guatemala)
Media placement: Direct Mail (4 Via Air Mail Letters Replicas) - Postal Service - 1/11/2009

Describe the brief/objective of the direct campaign.
Many good clients stop renting movies due to late fees. They are still members of Blockbuster, but they turn into inactive clients. Our challenge was to reactivate the largest amount of late clients as possible trough a direct marketing action.

Explain why the creative execution was relevant to the product or service.
The action mixed fiction with reality in it's tone and form. We sent out letters via AIR MAIL in the mail. The arts and crafts quality and the level of personalisation with which the letters were produced made many of our inactive members receive them with curiosity. It made them appreciate and assimilate the totality of the message 'we miss you, come back and your debt will be forgiven'; to a point that many of them asked to keep the letters as a souvenir as they came back to Blockbuster.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective with reference to the projected response rates and desired outcome.
The solution was really romantic, and charmingly old fashioned . Our inactive clients received hand written Missing You Letters, VIA AIR MAIL replicas, in which the supposed senders were Hollywood celebrities that star in our movies for rent. They asked the reader why they had abandoned them. Finally, they were explained in the P.S. of the letter that if they had not gone to look for them at Blockbuster due to the late fees, then by showing up during that month, said debt would be erased leaving their balance back to zero. Their debt was forgiven.

Describe the results in as much detail as possible with particular reference to the RESPONSE of the target audience including deliverability statistics, response rates, click throughs, sales cost per response, relationships built and overall return on investment.
We sent a total of twelve thousand (12,000) letters that generated a reactivation of three thousand one hundred and twenty six (3,126) members. It leads to a 25% level of effectiveness.