Royal Mail wanted to widen its reach beyond stamp collectors by capturing the attention of Bowie fans too.

The brief was to spark worldwide interest by revealing the iconic designs of the stamps through a central press release and extend the buzz by engaging Bowie fans with a second newsworthy push in March.

This required a disruptive campaign that would drive reappraisal of Royal Mail and stamps, create awareness around the stamp launch, generate sales and gather precious opted-in data to add to the Royal Mail database.

Revealing the iconic stamps through a press release two months before launch ignited worldwide interest.

Later when they were released in March, to extend the conversation there was really only one place to launch the David Bowie stamp collection – space.

A weather balloon was used to blast 52 stamp sets 34,100 metres into the stratosphere. To capture the incredible journey into space and back to Earth – the entire flight was recorded by an onboard camera.

To help Bowie fans guess where the Stamps Fell to Earth, 8 clues were posted on social channels in the form of short Bowie-themed videos. Release was staggered over a week to keep the dialogue going.

The 52 winners who correctly located the landing postcode received a personalised certificate alongside one of the 52 special stamp sets, made unique with an iconic Bowie thunderbolt postmark.