A Christmas Card with Presence

Talk delighted clients and prospects alike with a Christmas card mailer that unexpectedly combined offline and online marketing strategies to position Talk as a communications firm with deep expertise in Internet marketing.

Talk launched an Internet Marketing department in early 2009 and wanted to use the Christmas card to communicate our strengths in this arena and drive recipients online to visit our newly redesigned website. We wanted to use one mailing to effectively promote Talk's three core services: Communications, Design and Internet Marketing We saw the card as an opportunity to demonstrate how an integrated marketing approach (one that employs various disciplines simultaneously) can have a big pay-off for clients. Talk researched innovative, three-dimensional card shapes to find one that would immediately capture attention upon receipt and encourage interaction when opened. We designed a 3-D card that used a rubber band spring to "pop" into a 4-sided Christmas tree. Three of the four sides promoted our core service areas of Communications, Design and Internet Marketing On the fourth side, copy promoted the importance of website "presence" and the joys of Christmas "presents." Recipients were encouraged to find their own present "under the tree." The underside of the tree contained a message prompting recipients to go online to www.talkinc.com/presence to find their presents. Recipients were then entertained with a brief flash presentation that contained three gifts: A funny limerick about Santa's elves (Talk staff) A "naughty or nice" website promotion encouraging recipients to sign up for a free website analysis and scorecard An animated snow shower and holiday greeting that concluded with a surprise visit by Camden popping out of the snowbank. We pitched the corporate holiday card as an effective marketing tool via a press release written and distributed in mid-November. We featured a "Naughty and Nice" banner and button on our home page to encourage website visitors to sign up for our free website analysis. We extended the impact beyond our holiday card list by distributing an eblast to our entire database with a link to the online flash presentation and Naughty or Nice campaign. Cape Fear Business e-newsletter and website picked up the Christmas card release Received numerous emails and calls about the creativity and appeal of the card Received approximately 20 Website Score Card requests that resulted in numerous new business inquiries Won a Silver ADDY from the American Advertising Federation of the Coastal Carolinas