What the elf? Where’s my Gilson holiday campaign?
T’was the month before Christmas, and all through the shop, no elf ink was printed, not even one drop! Gilson’s customers stood by their mailboxes with a glare, wondering when their elves would be there.
“Where’s my elf?” they demanded, “Where’s my reindeer? My tree? Gilson always gives me swag, it’s so clever! And free!”
But no elves would be printed in the Gilson workshop that year. Gilson was spreading a new type of cheer.
Santa’s Got a Brand New Bag… of Candy!
Ok – all rhyming aside, we know that many of you were asking the big question this year: where’s my ELF? Gilson is known for making a big splash with fun and festive holiday campaigns that deliver cardboard trees, dimensional reindeer, and personalized elves to good little businesses around the country. The goal of these campaigns is to generate awareness of Gilson’s services (including our creativity, production capabilities, and mailing/fulfillment services) – along with generating a bit of goodwill and attention along the way.
But as Gilson reflected upon their past campaigns, we
noticed the following:
- The campaigns took place during one of the busiest times of year for our production teams, who bore the brunt of the work in producing and fulfilling customer requests.
- Salespeople wanted a reason to stop in and see their customers during the holidays to thank them for their business but did not want to actively sell to them.
- The campaigns generated double-digit response rates, but the return on investment was more difficult to measure.
With these realizations in mind, Gilson decided to take a fresh approach to the 2018 holiday campaign. We would design and produce all of the campaign elements during the less busy summer months, and have them waiting in our fulfillment center for deployment during the campaign. In addition, we would offer our salespeople the opportunity to provide a separate no-pressure gift to their customers to thank them for their business. And, we would focus on a more targeted marketing campaign that could accurately and easily track our return on investment.
Doing so would not only advance our corporate sales goals but also streamline production flow through the shop and provide accurate inventory levels and shipment tracking, one of the biggest selling points and advantages to using the Mindwire® platform.
Learn more about the campaign here.
So what to do for all those customers who were used to getting something from Gilson, but would be left out in the cold? We came up with a ‘sweet idea’ that would last the whole year long. Gilson’s sales team were allowed to choose which of their customers they would like to deliver a high-end candy dispenser to, complete with ‘starter candy’ for the holiday and a card with an online form for reorders throughout the year. The response was overwhelming.
Meanwhile, our new Mindwire®-focused holiday campaign exceeded expectations. Sending less really can yield greater results. Read more about it in our recap post here.
While change is never easy, it’s important to ensure your efforts align with your corporate goals and are providing a solid return on investment. Learn more about how Gilson succeeded in implementing a new holiday campaign strategy, and how you can do the same in our latest blog post, “5 Reasons to Reinvent Your Marketing.”
