Wow Rapp, Datamine win praise

By SIMON HENDERY marketing writer

Not all direct marketing begins in the letterbox and ends (two seconds later) in the rubbish bin.

According to the local industry's equivalent of the Oscars, the best examples of direct marketing were an email campaign which sold vodka and a supermarket shopping number-crunching exercise.

About 500 direct marketers gathered for the glitzy annual Direct Marketing Awards in Auckland last Friday.

The black-tie dinner brings together the New Zealand Post RSVP Awards ("acknowledging excellence in direct marketing campaigns") and the SkyCity Nexus Awards ("honouring those who have developed processes or techniques that make one-to-one communication more responsive, easier, better and more insightful").

A treasure chest of gold, silver and bronze awards were handed down, along with the top honours.

Vodka brand Smirnoff's "Half Day Off" campaign, created by marketing agency Wow Rapp Collins for New Zealand Wines and Spirits, picked up the night's most prestigious award - the RSVP Grand Prix.

Hip young drinkers and marketing judging panels have become intimately acquainted with the Half Day Off over the past two years.

The funky, irreverent campaign used marketing channels including texting, viral email and a website to get drinkers down to the pub on a Friday afternoon, and has won awards in previous forums.

As well as winning the Grand Prix, the campaign picked up four gold medals in the email, integrated campaign, internet and sales promotion categories.

The prize for the best product and service behind a campaign, the Supreme Nexus, went to data analysis company Datamine for its work with supermarket group Foodstuffs on a "counter-competitive" campaign against rival Progressive Enterprises' Onecard supermarket loyalty programme.

Details of exactly what Datamine did remain under wraps for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

But the award judges' notes - while a bit cryptic - give the lay person at least an idea of what went on.

"In anticipation of the [Onecard] launch, Datamine approached Foodstuffs regarding their intentions.

"Initially, Foodstuffs wanted to launch into counter-competitive activity - a traditional industry strategy.

"However, Datamine convinced management to do some impact analysis first, before margins were trimmed and everyone lost out."

So the number crunchers got down to their secretive work.

"The results highlight that although Onecard did have a negative effect on some aspects of Foodstuffs' business, it was minor in comparison to the perceived effect.

"This project certainly proved that an evolution in strategic thinking can be achieved even when tried and true practice says otherwise."

Direct Marketing Association chief executive Keith Norris said Datamine's "don't panic/target where it's hitting you" approach typified what the industry was about.

"That's what differentiates DM from brands - we should always be able to target our customers or target the risk and aim the communication specifically at that group," Norris said.

* A full list of award winners is on the Direct Marketing Association's website.