The National Bank of New Zealand case study

A quiet word can be more effective than a shout from the rooftops. This was the premise behind a direct mail campaign by The National Bank of New Zealand to promote its new Platinum Visa credit card.

Created by Rapp Wellington, the 'Shhh' mailing went out to a target audience of 11,851 high-value customers well before public launch with the aim of flattering this select group with an exclusive offer to receive the card before everyone else.
 
The mailing enjoyed a 16.21% response rate, surpassing the bank’s target of 10%, and the projected ROI is an impressive 489% from year two onwards. A follow-up email led to a quarter of customers clicking through to the offer. The lesson here was that people want to enjoy the finer things in life – even in a downturn – and flattery really does work.