Personalised Direct Mail

The Brief

A national media network required a direct mail campaign to celebrate 100 rising UK brands. The brief demanded 101 personalised gift boxes (including one for the client’s office) containing multiple pieces of literature, each one personalised to the brand receiving it. With a fixed delivery window tied to a live campaign launch, the project had an immovable deadline, and 2 weeks from brief to dispatch.

Design & Build

By auditing the project files and materials early, we were able to flag and resolve production risks well before they reached the press.

Sourcing Alternatives: When the initial notebook selection became unavailable in the required colour, we promptly secured beautiful branded leather notebooks from Aspinal of London. We kept the original Aspinal gift packaging to complement the client’s literature inside their selected gift presentation and branded mailer, ensuring the unboxing experience remained unquestionably premium.

Material Knowledge: Anything we haven’t sourced ourselves gets meticulously checked before it goes into production, because the problems that cost a deadline are rarely the obvious ones. The stamp supplied for the wax seals was wood-mounted, but wax lifts cleanly only from cold, polished brass and will stick to wood, so we commissioned a custom brass die within 48 hours to protect the timeline.

Expedited Production: We produced every printed element, including personalised literature and branded mailer boxes, and leaned on supplier relationships to deliver faster than standard lead times.

Artwork Preparation: Every one of the 100 personalised artworks was crosschecked before it went to press. Where we found discrepancies we alerted the client and assisted with the corrections, so each one printed as designed.

Operations & Issue Resolution

Fulfilment required strict data management and fast-track assembly.

Data Check: Whilst processing the address data and reformatting it to suit the carrier, we flagged an address registered to a company formations office, giving the client the opportunity to replace it before dispatch.

Last Minute Adjustments: We accommodated 2 late artwork changes without pausing production on the remaining 99 units. We collected the prints from the press in person, to bypass delivery transit times.

Assembly: With the change to Aspinal of London, we had 2 days between receipt of all items and the fixed dispatch date. We hand-stamped 101 wax seals, correlated multiple pieces of personalised literature and hand-assembled the mailers to a high-end gift finish within the reduced timeframe.

The Outcome

Excellent client feedback from their own mailer: ‘Everyone loves it. Thanks so much. I think we did impossible in 2 weeks. Still can’t quite believe it.’ Recipient brands also posted their gifts publicly on social media, and the client forwarded their positive feedback unprompted.