Leather and Laces

A QUIRKY MAIL OFFER from software manufacturer Symix generated giggles, interest and more than six times the number of prequalified leads expected. The campaign introducing SyteLine Enterprise Resource Planning Software was built around the slogan “the software you can run with.” The initial mailing to 4,500 recipients included a 12-question survey, a case study/testimonial, and a pair of shoelaces, along with a teaser saying recipients had “got the strings, now get the shoes.” Respondents were sent a pair of Asics running shoes with a sales rep’s business card attached to another pair of laces.

The backbone of the campaign was the quality of the prospects. “We pre-called the list, verifying mailing addresses and titles,” says Symix senior manager of direct marketing Angie Reiker-Weiser. This cut the return rate to under 0.5%. The campaign yielded a 12% response rate, around 75% of whom received shoes from Indianapolis-based fulfillment house Total Response. Follow-up phone calls yielded 320 qualified leads.

Sales from the campaign, which garnered an Addy award in 1998, were $3.5 million. And buzz from the campaign was almost as good as the sales.

In one instance, reps from Symix were greeted by prospects, all of whom were wearing the sneakers. In another instance, an agitated comptroller called Symix complaining that he had received a pair of pink pumps. “It turned out,” says Reiker-Weiser, “his shipping department saw the box we sent, which said ‘Your Shoes Are Here’ on the outside, and swapped shoes on him.”