Fact: Lumpy mail attracts the recipient’s attention. But will the product inside and its collateral materials ensure a response? There are no guarantees, but experts know the chances are better if the recipient opens a package that’s engaging. The utility company Conectiv, formed through the merger of Atlantic Energy and Delmarva Power and Light, planned a direct-mail campaign to launch its new identity. A secondary purpose was to gather names of company executives looking to expand or relocate their businesses to “Conectiv Country” – southern New Jersey to Virginia at the southernmost point of the Delmarva peninsula. "Both companies have been doing dimensional mail for years," says Marie Inferrera Holmdal, Conectiv’s economic development and marketing manager. “Previous enclosures have included luggage tags and an imprinted baseball. We discovered over the years that a gift item allows the package to stand out in the mail.” Conectiv chose a seafood/crab- oriented campaign because it reflected the region’s beaches and local cuisine. Inside the mailer was an imprinted wood crab mallet, a colorful insert and a response card. The firm sent out 350 boxes and 1,000 self-mailing brochures that carried the insert’s graphics. Names were drawn from a purchased list and from the company’s target industry study, done every three years by an outside firm to pinpoint 30 industries with the potential to grow in the territory. Targets were CEOs and CFOs of small- to mid-sized companies with 50 to 250 employees. The theme was fun to work with, Holmdal says, adding that the mallet was chosen because it was useful, fun and fit into the campaign’s budget. Glossy and spiral bound, the insert showed pictures of local seafood restaurant owners and workers, plus other representative images of the area’s “crab culture” (e.g., bushels of crabs, a sunset photo of Crabber’s Cove in Dewey Beach, DE). Recipes from featured restaurants printed on the back of the piece drew a very positive response, Holmdal says; in many cases it was the recipes that got the promo piece onto the decision-maker’s desk. The mailing elicited an 18% response rate from companies interested in meeting with Conectiv or receiving more information. “We were thrilled,” Holmdal says, noting that this was a far cry from the days when Atlantic Energy first began mailing promo pieces – in 1994 it pulled only a 1% response. The high response can also be attributed to other integrated advertising efforts, Holmdal says. Conectiv ran ads in business publications, made follow-up calls and sales visits and mailed a series of postcards tied into the theme. “The point is to keep our name, face and message in front of them,” she says.