Wusthof: THE KNIFE CUT - MAILING

Credits & Description:

Category: Dimensional Mailing

Advertiser: WÜSTHOF DREIZACKWERK

Product/Service: KNIFE

Agency: GRABARZ & PARTNER

Date of First Appearance: Apr 1 2011

Entrant Company: GRABARZ & PARTNER, Hamburg, GERMANY

Executive Creative Director: Ralf Heuel (Grabarz & Partner)

Creative Director: Tom Hauser/Holger Paasch (Grabarz & Partner)

Copywriter: Christian Moehler (Grabarz & Partner)

Art Director: Tim Hartwig (Grabarz & Partner)

Graphic Artist: Rebecca Leiner (Grabarz & Partner)

Illustration: Kirill Chudinskiy

Account Supervisor: Thomas Canzer (Grabarz & Partner)

Advertiser's Supervisor: Joerg Hehner (Wüsthof Dreizackwerk)

Media placement: Mailing - 120 - 31.01.2011



Describe the brief/objective of the direct campaign.

The task was to make the Wüsthof brand and its quality knives better known among German cooking schools and to inspire them to also take use of the knives in their classes. In order to achieve the goal, sharpness and precision of the Wüsthof knives were the key values to be communicated to the audience.



Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective with reference to the projected response rates and desired outcome.

The idea that solved the brief was a striking proof of the sharpness and precision of Wüsthof knives itself: The Knife Cut-Mailing. Its entire calligraphic copy has been cut out in an exceptionally filigree way. A notice with contact details invited its recipients to get a free consultation and to test a Wüsthof knife set for themselves. The knives were directly send out to German cooking schools to let them experience and feel the effect of Wüsthof knives. The desired response of this unusual idea and sharply targeted mailing was expected around 20% of the recipients to get a counsel and try the knives.



Explain why the creative execution was relevant to the product or service.

The creative execution in shape of the Knife Cut-Mailing is the direct and astonishing proof of how precisely and exact you can work with a Wüsthof knife. The demonstrated benefits, precision, high quality and sharpness pay off positively for the Wüsthof brand image as well. Recipients could see, feel and experience the effect of the product beforehand. Making them want to try the knives themselves and making the brand as well as the Wüsthof knives a topic of conversation in the cooking schools.



Describe the results in as much detail as possible with particular reference to the RESPONSE of the target audience including deliverability statistics, response rates, click throughs, sales cost per response, relationships built and overall return on investment.

The result was a big surprise. Almost 60% of the cooking schools that received the mailing contacted Wüsthof to test a knife set for a free two week trial. Almost half of the knife sets were purchased afterwards. Additional sets were ordered from 8% of the schools to equip their participants. The campaign had a fairly small budget, but through sharp targeting of a promising audience and an idea that you could physically experience, we achieved maximum effectiveness.