Scratch-off Mailer Brings 9.05% Response Rate For Gertrude Hawk Chocolates

Susan Pomeroy, Gertrude Hawk Chocolates' Vice President of Marketing, would have been pleased with a 3% response rate. But when results came back from the Easter 2001 campaign, the company was astounded by the figures that came back. Not only had the candy maker beat that goal, it tripled it with a response rate of 9.05%!

The Dunmore, PA-based candy maker achieved this response from a direct mail piece that was used to drive traffic to its growing chain of retail stores during the Easter 2001 season. The piece, a self-mailer containing a scratch-off gamepiece , was printed by Intell and mailed out to 100,000 customers all over the tri-state area. Every piece was a winner, revealing one of three possible prizes: a chocolate lollipop, candy bar, or the big prize a 14.5 oz. Smidgens® Pack. To claim their prizes, customers simply took the gamepieces to a local Gertrude Hawk store and exchanged them for their free gifts.

Ironically, the campaign started out in an entirely different direction. In fact, says Melanie Nardozzo, art director for Gertrude Hawk, "we were already far along in production with the original concept, which was a mailer shaped in the form of a candy box. But then a mock-up was sent to Intell's lettershop division and we got some bad news back—the piece didn't fit postal regulations.

"That's when our Intell rep, Bob Pickell, suggested we try a scratch-off piece. A couple months back, he'd shown me some samples that Intell did for Zany Brainy. We'd never done a scratch-off piece before, but I was definitely intrigued by the idea."

Production of the new piece went off without a hitch, and the Easter campaign went on to score big with customers. Intell's Commonwealth Mailing Services division also handled the mailing of the pieces, which Nardozzo points out, made the job "headache-free." All told, 9,050 chocolate-lovers took advantage of the special Easter promotion, resulting in the incredible 9.05% response rate.

Although this was the first time that Intell produced a direct mail piece for Gertrude Hawk, it certainly wasn't the first collaboration between the two. With Intell handling the printing of Gertrude Hawk's Christmas and Easter fundraising catalogs, the relationship between Gertrude Hawk and Intell has been going strong for the past five years.

"Bob has always been a great source of ideas for me and he goes to great lengths to keep me informed of creative trends," explains Nardozzo. "In fact, we talk almost every day and whenever there's an interesting piece that Intell has done for other clients, he'll send me a sample while it's still hot off the press."

"Basically, I'm an unpaid member of Gertrude Hawk's design staff," jokes Pickell. "Actually, it's important for me to be a consultant to my clients, because there are so many changes happening in print technology that it's difficult for clients to keep up. So it's up to the sales rep to fill in the gaps."

As for whether the Gertrude Hawk plans to do another scratch-off piece in the near future, Nardozzo reports that a second one is already in the works. Intell looks forward to printing that one as well.