South African Post Office direct mail case study

Imagine if the order for Nelson Mandela’s prison release had never arrived? It could have altered the course of history in South Africa. This premise is at the heart of a powerful B2B mailer by the South African Post Office aimed at a target audience of legal professionals in particular.

Action Ambros sent each recipient a mailer containing an envelope marked with ‘Return to sender’. Inside were six documents of great interest to South Africans including the order for Mandela’s release and the final bid for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. A belly band on each document argued the case for the reliability of Docex, a courier subsidiary service of the South African Post Office.

Of the 1,800 packs that went out, Docex gained 372 appointments and 118 new accounts, representing a 21% response rate. In fact, two law firms were so impressed with the creative produced by Action Ambros that the agency went on to win them as clients.