People's Postcode Lottery

Background

People’s Postcode Lottery is more than just another lottery. They are a charitable organisation with a high level of corporate social responsibility. To date, they have given over £950 million to charitable organisations, supporting over 9,000 local, national, and international projects.

Following the huge success of a gold foil polywrapped mail campaign in the Netherlands, People’s Postcode Lottery wanted to test the concept in the UK market; so, they approached their direct marketing partner Dragonfly to make it happen.

However, Dragonfly immediately spotted a big ‘shiny’ problem. People’s Postcode Lottery process for creating their very eye-catching gold foil polywrap was outdated, with a huge carbon footprint that did not fit with the value they placed on CSR, nor the values of the organisations their proceeds supported.

A sustainable solution for the gold envelope was needed – but the challenge was huge; how could People’s Postcode Lottery create a sustainable envelope that still had enough eye-catching gold shine to replicate the outstanding performance of the Dutch original?

Solution

Dragonfly’s first step was to identify a material (paper) to replace the polywrap. This was responsibly sourced through Forest Stewardship Council. Then, working with World Land Trust, the agency set out to fully carbon balance both the paper and production to create a totally sustainable solution.

Next, it was time to go for gold. After a lot of research Dragonfly identified a solution to the shiny gold pack that ticked all the boxes; a double hit of solid metallic water-based ink. But having a sustainably produced gold ink wasn’t enough: to fully get the most out of it, any excess ink from the print run was recycled back into the production of other colours, thus minimising waste and toxicity.

Through Eye-Tracking research on pack concepts, Dragonfly discovered that a secondary window above the address window was the first thing the recipient would view. However, using plastic for two windows was not the most sustainable option. Keen not to lose the second window (potentially compromising the performance of the campaign), Dragonfly introduced a Matte Polystyrene Window Film that complied with B.S.I PAS 2020 regarding recyclability. The window film was also produced using over 75% renewable energy.

Finally, to further enhance and elevate the look of the pack, a Royal Mail approved, environmentally friendly spot UV was introduced to the face of the outer. The spot UV was water based and complied with the sustainable admail restrictions that were in place at the time.

The outcome was a sustainable, recyclable alternative mailing pack to the gold polywrap original. It looked great and both People’s Postcode Lottery and Dragonfly were 100% confident in its sustainable credentials. But the ultimate measure of success would lie in the responses. To test this, the new eco-friendly gold pack went head-to-head against People’s Postcode Lottery’s best performing control pack to benchmark performance.

Results

From production to final output the shiny new, eco-friendly pack got a gold star for sustainability:

• Paper fully carbon balanced through World Land Trust
• Print production fully carbon balanced through World Land Trust
• All ink used is water based
• Waste ink is recycled in-house at printer
• 100% of the envelope fully recyclable through normal household recycling
• Produced using over 75% renewable energy

Not only that, the new pack produced winning results delivering a 57.2% increase in response rate when tested against People’s Postcode Lottery’s previous best performing control pack.

Source: SMP Awards 2022