Direct mail targeted to cut through and turn interest into opportunity
A creative, personalised campaign that helped Toshiba Tec open conversations with prospective partners and build new pipeline.
Toshiba Tec wanted to reach a carefully selected group of prospective partners with a campaign that felt personal, relevant and commercially credible. The aim was to open conversations with the right businesses and build a stronger partner pipeline.
The brief was clear on what the campaign needed to say. It had to showcase the value of becoming a Toshiba partner, demonstrate a collaborative approach, and highlight the value that Toshiba Tec’s Business Partner Managers bring to a Partner relationship.
Solution
HUT 3 developed a direct mail concept that positioned Toshiba Tec’s Business Partner Managers as strategic sidekicks — people who had done their ‘homework’ and were ready to help partners grow. The creative used comic-style elements, bold visuals and a strong call to action to make the outreach feel distinctive without losing credibility.
The mail pack combined two simple but effective components: a personalised report card and a desktop calendar. The report card introduced each prospective partner to their potential Business Partner Manager in a memorable, human way, while highlighting the value Toshiba Tec brings as a partner. The calendar gave recipients something practical they could use every day — extending the life of the campaign while keeping Toshiba Tec front of mind for longer. Each Business Partner Manager was illustrated in a cartoon-style treatment based on their headshot, and this helped deliver the sense of a bespoke, considered campaign, while broadly staying within Toshiba Tec’s brand guidelines.
The campaign was tightly targeted from the start. Each Business Partner Manager researched and handpicked the businesses they wanted to approach, and every company was credit checked to confirm suitability. As the campaign expanded, the final audience reached 99 prospective partners across Barcode and MFP.
Timing and follow-up were built into the plan. The packs were delivered mid-January, with follow-up calls starting a week later. Joined-up sales involvement, strong targeting and prompt follow-up were central to turning the packs into real conversations.
"HUT 3 understood exactly what we were trying to achieve: a campaign that felt distinctive, personal and worth acting on. The final creative helped us cut through, support our sales conversations and generate an even stronger response than we originally expected."
Outcome
The campaign outperformed its original expectations. Across the full target list, it delivered an appointment rate of 12%. Around 7% of targets progressed into signed or in-process partner opportunities. The campaign also generated incremental commercial pipeline beyond partner recruitment itself.
For a short-run, tightly targeted campaign, that was a strong commercial result. It also reinforced an important lesson: direct mail can still create real cut-through when the audience is carefully chosen, the creative feels genuinely personal, and the sales follow-up is built in from the outset.
There were four clear reasons for the success: direct mail helped the brand stand out, close alignment with sales improved targeting and follow-up, research and credit checks removed guesswork, and the real recruitment work began once the packs had landed.
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