Member Showcase

Outline Brief

In May 2007, Manchester United commissioned a Serious CD Postcard to carry an exclusive video message from Sir Alex Ferguson and drive season ticket renewals for the 2007/08 football season via direct mail. 60,000 of these were mailed to existing season ticket holders.

The Brief
To create an actionable, interactive DM piece to stimulate online and phone renewals of season tickets during the off-season, (all fully trackable to learn about supporter behaviour). The interactive card was to be packaged in a tri-fold postcard format with an invitation feel. The club deemed this medium to have a perceived high value, that could also facilitate online renewals and increase exposure to its brand messaging, thus creating a more personal connection to supporters

Outline Work

The cards (Win/Mac) incorporated Man Utd’s traditional style and have a non-linear navigation. They carried; interactive seat views, explanation of ways to pay, seat transfer plans etc, and drove the user to manutd.com where they could renew securely online. They also gifted free downloadables and carried a personalised video introduction from Sir Alex Ferguson. There was also the added incentive that Season Ticket Holders who renewed by 31st May were automatically entered to win fantastic prizes; including a Man Utd OPUS, signed by Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Bobby Charlton, a match hospitality package and player autographed merchandise.

Manchester United was subsequently able to log into a custom micro site and monitor real time user behaviour from; card insertion, exact content visited, traffic statistics of click thrus to manutd.com, and even operating systems. Additionally the cards tracked geographical locations, essential for regional market analysis.

Unique Features

Upon opening the Postcard, the recipient was greeted with a thank you letter from Director of Venue, Karl Evans, an explanation of the prize incentives and a call to action to renew tickets.

The cards acted as multi-functional marketing tools by:

•Driving traffic to manutd.com
•Tracking non-invasive session data in real time that the club could then log into to monitor activity for post campaign analysis
•High engagement time (higher than other media forms eg. print, tv), increasing the user’s exposure to the brand
•Gifting collectable, limited edition merchandise

A 54% response rate was achieved with click thrus to various areas on manutd.com from ticket renewals, to sponsor sites and downloadables, with 43% of click thrus going to the ticket renewals area.

Click thrus from 28 different countries and 283 cities worldwide were tracked, and the average engagement (play) time per card was 10-15 minutes.

“With over 25,000 successful click thrus to the ticketing site, the programme has been responsible for a dramatic increase in efficiency, saving significantly in casual resources we would otherwise rely heavily on,” commented Steve Hall, General Manager - Ticketing and Membership. “This efficiency meant that tens of thousands of renewals took place way ahead of schedule, with over 60% being largely through automated techniques, stimulated by the cards.”