2015 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

Boecker Pest Control wanted a low-cost way to reach consumers in apartment blocks in the UAE. This is particularly relevant as there are often problems with cockroaches in many blocks. The low-cost method used by most businesses in the UAE is the business card door drop. The problem was that door drops were increasingly less effective due to the sheer volume of business cards being pushed under doors.

Creative Execution

Boecker takes a scientific approach to pest control, so offering a diagnostic solution in the business card was a great way the benefit of the brand. It was also the first time this method had ever been used in direct mail, guaranteeing that it would get attention.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We decided to create a business card that was actually useful: it would identify if your apartment had a pest problem. We used edible ink on the card, so that cockroaches or ants would eat away the ink to reveal our message. The big challenge was finding the right substance for the ink – we needed something guaranteed to be tempting for pests. After much experimentation, we found that screen-printing Nutella was the most effective solution. We estimated that by using this creative approach, we would be able to at least double response rates for Boecker door drops.

Results

In blocks where the cards were distributed, we had an 11% response rate – 9% higher than with normal business cards.