The Federal Council imposed the lockdown in March 2020, meaning lots of employees had to work from home. This was an extraordinary situation for everyone, including companies and advertisers. Suddenly, many customers could no longer be reached via the usual touchpoints. Creative minds don’t moan in such situations, they develop new ideas. Like the food producer Emmi, which – together with the team from Swiss Post’s 360° Cross Channel Solutions – created an ingenious, crossmedia sampling campaign. 15,000 people in seven Swiss-German cities received a goodie box from Emmi in the storage compartment of their private letter box. It contained cheese, yoghurt, iced coffee and other treats, and was a delicious remedy for the home-office blues.

To generate the 15,000 trials targeted, Emmi opted for a smart crossmedia advertising campaign. It used mobile ads, social ads, an e-mail newsletter and postcards. The recipients of the social ads were narrowed down by geotargeting the defined group.  Emmi’s customer data was verified by Swiss Post’s address services, helping it to achieve the optimal delivery rate for e-mail addresses and postcards,

The meticulous preparation reaped rewards, with over a third of recipients getting themselves a goodie box via the campaign website. People interested in the campaign, but who lived outside of the defined delivery area, took part in a competition. The goodie boxes were sent out in a coolbox. This was designed to fit into people’s mailboxes and was branded with the Emmi logo and the slogan “Your moment of pleasure”. Deliveries were made early in the morning with the Brot-Post service– where Swiss Post delivers products from local bakeries. An e-mail reminder was sent before delivery – so that the treats didn’t get forgotten in the mailbox.

This cross-channel advertising campaign – combined with the delivery of fresh products – was a pioneering venture for us,” says Amir Maslic. The Senior Product Manager at Emmi was delighted at the partnership with 360° Cross Channel Solutions. “Swiss Post did an outstanding job as our main partner, providing highly effective support with its vast expertise. Every step was precisely planned, orchestrated and implemented.” Amir Maslic was stunned by the success of the home-office campaign: “We achieved our goals. We won new customers, enhanced our image and received a fantastic response.”

Amir Maslic was also delighted by the level of feedback after over 1,000 customers responded. Feedback included responses like “Thank you for the wonderful surprises. You made our day.” Or: “What a great campaign. I’ll try all the products.” And also: “Finally advertising that’s not annoying. Congratulations to the advertising agency.” Amir Maslic explains that distribution campaigns at points of sale do not generate such direct and positive feedback. That’s why he believes direct mailing has huge potential: “Done cleverly, this kind of campaign clearly whets the appetite of our target groups.” In the case of Emmi, that’s true in both senses.