Random House - The Signal direct mail case study

As drastic sales tactics go, creating a computer virus and spreading it over the internet to promote a book easily makes it into the top 10. Random House Mondadori in Spain used this unorthodox method to generate a buzz for a book launch on a modest budget.

The target audience of The Signal, which is about a deadly computer virus that can destroy the world, is computer geeks. So the agency, CP Proximity, used the media of choice for this group – the internet – as a cost-effective way to publicise the book.

As well as the digital presence, the campaign made use of direct mail by sending influential bloggers packs inviting them to trick readers into downloading the virus.

And it certainly did the job: 120 bloggers responded, there were more than 20 stories on the campaign in mainstream media and around 875,000 computers were ‘infected’. It’s a fantastic example of how mail can form a valuable part of a digital campaign.