This skirmish seemed to overshadow the news that, following the merger with NTL:Telewest, Virgin had created one of the UK’s largest communications providers; offering what it calls a ‘quadplay’ package of digital TV, broadband, fixed-line telephone and mobile telephone services, with over 10 million customers.
To inform all NTL:Telewest, Virgin.net and Virgin Mobile customers of the rebranding of the enlarged group as Virgin Media, the company implemented an ambitious direct mail campaign; aiming to design, print and distribute a personalised mailshot to 7.5m subscribers within a two-week period.
The firm chosen to handle the job was Dartford-based Howard Hunt Group, which, along with design specialist Rapier, had previously worked with Telewest on print and direct mail projects.
Lucy Edwards, marketing director at Howard Hunt Group, describes the relationship between her company and Rapier as “highly collaborative.” She adds that “as this was the launch of a new brand we had to create a mailer that both complied with the new brand guidelines and would really make an impact on those who received it.”
Virgin Media had laid down some very strict requirements on when the mailing had to go out, and this did create some restrictions on what it was possible to produce but, according to Edwards, it also forced Howard Hunt Group and Rapier to think creatively within those restrictions.
Growing complexity
The resulting mailer is no slouch in the aesthetic or functional stakes: a 16-page brochure produced in six different versions, a little larger than DL size, with an embossed logo, black wire stitching and a hand-finished bellyband.
It was accompanied by an additional eight-page booklet – with two versions of the inner pages and five different covers – plus a four-page cover letter with variable data printing for the address. The letterhead itself came in three different versions, and there were eight versions of the text on the letter.
All of this was placed in a custom-sized window envelope with a red acetate window. The whole job was then automatically mailsorted prior to pick-up by Royal Mail.
Aside from the envelopes, which were obtained from an external supplier, all the print was handled
in-house at Howard Hunt Group on the company’s 16-page, six-colour Mitsubishi web presses. The variable data printing used to address and personalise the pack’s covering letter was handled using XMPie software.
Such a project might be considered a daunting prospect, but Edwards says the company was well able to cope. “We had to make a few tweaks here and there, but overall, it wasn’t a problem to handle this much data and get it right.”
For Edwards, the ability to produce a job like this in such a tight timescale is evidence of many positives: the in-house print capabilities of Howard Hunt Group; the scalable hand-finishing operation that the firm is able to pull together; and the strength of the relationships the firm has with external suppliers such as envelope manufacturers.
Alexandra Legg, brand PR manager at Virgin Media, is delighted at the response the mailer has received from customers. From her perspective, the mailer was never intended to bombard customers with information but to “energise and engage customers while managing their expectations of how quickly the new services would be implemented. For example, the new Virgin-branded on-screen programme guide has been rolled out gradually throughout our customer base.” She adds: “It was also key for us to get customers to visit a specially created website that housed in-depth information on products, FAQs and services plus a survey and competition.”
With the website visits being the key indicator of the success of the campaign, again, Legg is very satisfied with results. “Nearly 600,000 people visited the website, and around 40,000 customers completed the online survey. Over 85% of existing customers have an awareness of Virgin Media, just two months after launch,” she says.
FACTFILE
Printer Howard Hunt Group
Job Virgin Media merger and re-brand mailshot
Purpose of job Inform customers of merger and rebrand and service changes
Number printed 7.5m
Pagination Brochure: 16pp colour; additional leaflet: 12pp colour; letter: 4pp mono
