tw telecom wanted its direct mail campaign to stand out. Faction Media did them one better – by creating a piece that stands up.

By: Anne Stuart

When you’re crafting a B2B direct mail campaign, it’s important that your piece has the ability to stand out on the recipient’s desk. What better way to accomplish that than to have the piece literally pop up?

“We wanted to create a piece showing what makes Time Warner Telecom services different; how they can add a new dimension to your ability to communicate,” says Aaron Batte, principal of Faction Media, which developed the campaign for Time Warner Telecom. (The company recently changed its name to tw telecom.) “We started by adding a dimension.”

Based in Littleton, Colo., tw telecom provides voice, data and Internet services to business customers in 8,500 office buildings in 75 cities nationwide. Because those structures are “lit up” — that is, already connected to tw telecom’s fiber-optic network — the company’s spring 2008 campaign targeted other companies in the same buildings.

Specifically, Batte’s creative team designed a 6×9-inch card that, on the outside, invites recipients to “open up to a whole new world” at their specific business addresses.

When they open the card, a three-dimensional city scene — complete with buildings, streets, pedestrians and a traffic signal — pops up. A prominently placed billboard offers an incentive, such as a free video camera, for making an appointment to discuss telecom service.

In the background — visible whether the card is opened or closed — is a city skyline customized with local landmarks: the Gateway Arch for St. Louis residents, the Empire State Building for New Yorkers, the Space Needle for those in the Pacific Northwest.

The campaign’s response rate varies from city to city, but averages 8 percent to 10 percent, according to tw telecom. That’s far better than the typical direct mail response rate, which historically has been closer to 1 percent to 2 percent.

Why does the pop-up piece generate those kinds of returns? “It’s a little larger, a little more eye-catching, a little more fun” than many direct mail pieces, says Batte. “People know there’s a sales pitch in there, but this piece is saying, ‘We’re going to give you something back. When you engage with this piece, we’re going to give you a bit of entertainment.”