A spectacular mailing triggering the sense of touch and leading to a personalised Moleskine notebook, proves the value of a printed mailing. This mailing is part of the Print Power TouchedByDM campaign to promote the sensory qualities of printed material.  

In a multi-channel world that offers marketers an array of choice on how best to interact with their customers, many brands are looking at how best to appeal to the five senses. While channels like television, radio and Internet have a different combination of sensory triggers and are often restricted in the number of senses they can reach, it is print media that uniquely offers a combination of triggering vision, touch and smell. Certain brands have also experimented with creating taste and hearing sensory experiences in print.

The Print Power mailing consists of four elements, the outside envelope, which is in fact a folded-up poster, holds a personalised letter, a chalked blackboard card, a reply card, and a reply envelope. The blackboard card contains a hidden message which becomes visible once the chalk is wiped away. Leaving a print of their chalk-covered hand on the reply card allows the recipient of the mailing to obtain a personalised Moleskine notebook as the handprint is then scanned and printed on the cover of the notebook.  The sense of touch is exploited to its extreme as even the hand print is printed in relief.

This mailing, addressing creative directors of advertising agencies, aims to inspire and to promote the use of sensory print. Says Ulbe Jelluma, Print Power’s Marketing Manager: “Triggering more than one sense already increases the effectiveness of the message by 30%. Mailings, and also advertisements can use smell and touch to increase the reader’s engagement and by doing so the effectiveness of the message”.

The TouchedByDM mailing, developed by Ogilvy’s Red Works office in Brussels, is printed with four different printing technologies (offset, screenprint, digital and UV printing) and is a proof of the unique creative potential of printed mailings. 

The campaign consists not only of a mailing, but also features cases and examples of sensory print on the Print Power website, a video on the production of the mailing, a presentation with inspiring cases and a reminder mailing using Augmented Reality.