As the marketing agency to American International Group (AIG), we had noticed that the scope of work they required had become staid and mundane. They had become comfortable in sticking with the simple, generic type of mailer that always works and as an agency we felt the need to push clients’ thinking, which was quite a task as they had become comfortable in wanting ‘what they knew best’. We felt it necessary to excite and motivate our client about the scope and possibilities that advertising can offer (specifically direct marketing). It was important for our relationship with our client to actively demonstrate how powerful this medium is, and how they could benefit.

True to his quest of exposing people to great ideas, our Chief Executive Officer bravely shot footage of some award winning international campaigns, using a camcorder under his jacket. He decided to expose one of our clients, AIG, by inviting them to view the footage showcasing the latest international trends on Direct Marketing. The invite was a smuggled letter from a French jail. We created a story on how our CEO was ”held in a French jail' for trying to smuggle this illegally obtained footage. His letter to staff, written on the back of an old movie poster was smuggled in a book. The client’s product, AIG Travel Policy, would assist him to return home. A clever idea of inviting people to an event, turned into a “…what happened?’ story.

A total of 26 hand-crafted ‘books’ were delivered to our AIG client, at a total cost of 58 Euros. The client was so taken by this unique concept that we had an unexpected 35 attendees from clients, which gave us an incredible 134.6% response. But the most important result is the fact that the client was exposed to world-wide ideas and changed their mindset as to what kind of creative they should expect. Within 6 months of the event, 3 AIG executed briefs won awards at our local Direct Marketing Awards in South Africa.