Title	HISTORY MAILER
Brand	THE TIMES - NEWS UK
Product/Service	THE TIMES AND THE SUNDAY TIMES
Category	E02. Art Direction / Design
Entrant	PULSE CREATIVE London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation	PULSE CREATIVE London, UNITED KINGDOM
Media Placement	PULSE CREATIVE London, UNITED KINGDOM
PR	PULSE CREATIVE London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production	PULSE CREATIVE London, UNITED KINGDOM

Name	Company	Position
Nigel Webb, Richard Kenyon, Stephanie Reeves	Wunderman UK	Creative Director, Creative Director, Designer

The Campaign

We needed build value so customers weren’t mourning the loss of their promotional period – but celebrating what membership gave them. And we found it in the archives. Since 1785 The Times journalism has been recording eye-witness accounts of some of the most memorable moments of the last 200 years. Making it much more than a daily newspaper. We wanted our DM to showcase extraordinary – and unique – nature of the history of both papers. An antique-looking outer said: “Your Times Membership has been backdated to 1 January 1785”.

Creative Execution

Our DM stressed the extraordinary – and unique – nature of the history of both papers. An antique-looking outer said: “Your Times Membership has been backdated to 1 January 1785”. Inside was a beautifully designed, limited edition history of The Times and The Sunday Times told through their iconic front pages and world exclusives. Short, compelling copy described the events in question and the role of the papers in them. Produced on newsprint (to bring out the importance of the newspaper), this supplement showcased the power of The Times and The Sunday Times to report on, and change, the world. The call-to-action directed reader to the archive – and further exclusive content – The Unquiet Film Series – a further opportunity to explore the past history of events that have shaped our world.

Results

Normal churn rates were around 89% when the (over-generous) promotions ended. After this DM went out, however, we found only 68% were dropping their membership. This meant an extra 2,108 people went on to pay the full subscription price (£7 a week for 12 months), leading to £767,312 incremental annual revenue. Corresponding visits to the archive rose by 284% – and hits to the Unquiet Film series went up by 360%. Finally, The Times started receiving requests from school teachers for extra copies to use in class history lessons – testament to the role the newspaper has played in recording the past.

A direct mail piece has the opportunity to be much more impressive than a simple email. This insight, along with The Times and Sunday Times’s trusted status as a provider of robust direct mail campaigns inspired us to take our idea to the next level. It’s undeniable that technology has changed the direct marketing industry, but we’re staunch believers that direct mail isn’t going anywhere soon. This campaign proves the theory.

We identified a segment of people who’d taken up the promotional offer – around 10,000 in total – who were in their 50s or older, lived outside the main metropolitan areas and who rarely looked at the papers online. Profiling these individuals, we discovered that they massively over-indexed for culture and history. We knew we had to reinforce the value of membership, rather than highlight the end of the promotional period. So we tapped into our audience’s passion for history and turned to the vast and fascinating archive that subscribers were entitled to access. The Times has been published since 1785, making it one of the oldest papers in the world, and its journalism includes eye-witness accounts of some of the most memorable events of the last 200 years. Because we had physical addresses for these people, but few email details, we decided to send a special piece of DM.