Stud's offer just too good to refuse

Matt Hampton (left), Mike Cunnington and Mark Chitty got $1.1 million in service fees by sending bullets through the mail.

Sex, money, bullets in the mail and the hint of a Mafia connection - this is a marketing tale with all the elements.

When stallion Don Eduardo arrived at South Auckland's Haunui Farm last year he came with a gleam in his eye and plans to shake up the world of thoroughbred breeding.

"The Don" has an immaculate pedigree: He is the son of legendary sire Zabeel and, therefore, an attractive match for the country's broodmares.

But with more than 160 other stallions available to local breeders, how could Haunui Farm make broodmare owners an offer they couldn't refuse?

Mark Chitty, Haunui's general manager, says Don Eduardo had to service 70 or 80 mares a season to cover costs, so the stud farm set a goal of signing 80 to 100 service contracts and launched a radical marketing strategy.

"We had recognised we needed to re-enter the stallion game but felt we needed to do it a little differently to how it had been done for the past 20 or 30 years," said Chitty.

"Don Eduardo was a horse that had already stood two seasons at stud so we felt we needed to do something a little different to re-introduce him to the market."

Haunui brought in marketing agency AIM Proximity to devise a strategy.

"The name Don Eduardo was a dream, really," said Aim art director Matt Hampton. "[The campaign] was certainly a lot of fun to work on."

AIM came up with the line "The Don doesn't fire blanks" and created a tightly-targeted direct mail campaign that involved sending selected breeders a pack containing a fake bullet over the message: "Take out a contract with The Don. He may even arrange a free hit."

The "free hit" referred to a draw to win back their $10,000 stud fee.

AIM's executive chairman, Bill Gianotti, himself a bit of a godfather within the thoroughbred community, said the campaign was a departure from the usual round of promotional stallion fliers.

"I'm only a hobby breeder with five broodmares. Every year I get swamped with these superb brochures. They are beautiful productions, no questions about it, but that's all I get," he said.

"I get no follow-up. I get no incentive in any shape or form to even read what comes through.

"What this campaign was doing was quite different. It was stepping out of that mould so it was going to get read."

Chitty said that while some breeders reacted negatively to the campaign's unusual approach, most were positive about it.

The strategy beat expectations. The campaign cost $25,000 and resulted in 110 contracts worth a total of $1.1 million.

Mike Cunnington, AIM's Auckland managing director, said the campaign worked because it combined a simple message with a strong business incentive.

Its success was recognised at this year's Direct Marketing Awards where the campaign picked up three gold RSVP awards.

Chitty said Haunui Farm was keen to build on that marketing success and had plans to sell the services of two or three stallions this coming season.

Hampton said AIM had yet to discuss the details of a new creative strategy with Haunui but the agency was eager to once again "get people talking [so] an element of controversy might be the order of the day".

It sounds like this agency and its client have some unfinished business to take care of.