Article after article, research showed that the world was pondering the demise of email. Yet, over 50-years after its inception, it remains more relevant than ever. It's outlived prime ministers, presidents, countless technological trends, and fads. Remaining the most trusted and reliable source of communication throughout multiple decades, impacting not only our professional correspondences but also our personal lives and cultural norms.

From this insight, Email is Dead was born, an exhibition that went far beyond the topic of email marketing, exploring the cultural power of email, its origins, and continued relevance as an essential part of our everyday lives.

Every year writers, media and tech aficionados alike predict the death of email, using the phrase “Email is Dead.” This phrase has become a bit of a mantra among a certain segment of the tech world. So this year, to prove that Email is NOT Dead, we created an ironic exhibition entitled Email Is Dead.

Situation:

Culture at large was telling everyone that email is dead. “Gen Z is going to kill it” they’d say. From Business Insider to the Wall Street Journal, even thought-leaders were telling marketers that email marketing was dead. Our own research showed that email marketing is one of nearly two dozen tactics used by marketers to drive traffic to their websites and acquire or retain customers – making it an easy thing to drop in favor of more modern channels.

With pressure to divest in email, Mailchimp needed to take a stance.

Brief:

Create a public statement (our own creative idea) and take back the “email is dead” narrative.

Objectives:

Shift perception of email and Mailchimp with our B2B marketers and the public

Increase Mailchimp's brand awareness in the UK market with B2B marketers

Generate Earned PR and end the email is dead debate once and for all

Since culture at large was telling our B2B Marketing audience that email is dead, we decided to play into the idea and take back the “email is dead” narrative by throwing email a funeral, reshaping the conversation to celebrate the power, longevity and effectiveness of the medium.

The funeral came to life in the form of an Exhibition called "Email is Dead", at the Design Museum in London. Visitors experienced colorful, interactive displays, a wall of emotional and impactful emails sent, an email personality test, a typeface inspired by the first email ever sent, a custom music track made of synthesized compositions and actual email data, and even an Eau du Email scent we infused into the exhibition space. Email is Dead touched everyone's senses while laying out email’s past and showing how it will inevitably shape our future. Proving to our B2B marketers that it's more alive than ever.

Since culture at large was telling our B2B Marketing audience that email is dead, we sent invitations out to key marketing publications and news media outlets inviting them to our Email is Dead funeral at the Design Museum to come celebrate with us and to see if email was really dead for themselves.

Press was then treated to an exclusive walkthrough before the official opening of the exhibit, allowing them to experience the space before anyone else.

Outreach began 2 weeks prior to the event opening with invitations and a tease of what the exhibition was looking like.

The official press release launched on the 28th of September, 2023, the day the exhibition opened to the public.

Coverage ranged from the UK to other parts of EMEA and the US.

The patrons of the Design Museum in London? Well, they loved it. More than 25,000 people visited Email is Dead during our 30-day exhibition, leading to over 5.7 million social media impressions with news coverage garnering over 84 million in earned media in under 3 days. The experience even helped increase brand awareness by 92% in the UK market.

We received +50 pieces of dedicated coverage

2 print pieces in the Financial Times and The Times

1 broadcast spot on BBC’s TODAY program

And a plug on Radio 4, which almost never happens.

We also received digital features with outlets like:

Adweek, Londonist, Little Black Book, Hypebeast, FRAME Magazine, Wallpaper, Creative Review, It’s Nice That, Wired, The Financial Times, Creative Review and more.

So is Email is Dead? Not even close.