Background:

Gaining new members via direct mail has been a hard nut to crack for PBS stations across the country.  Since viewers typically pledge a contribution on air to stations after viewing a special or one of their favorite shows, Thirteen decided to see if pledging because of a specific show could work through the mail. One of PBS's most popular series, which is produced by Thirteen, is Nature.

The approach:

We created a three-way test, with a 4th package developed by another firm. 

Package 1:  Nature's producer was quoted as saying that the stars of Nature are the animals themselves, so we created a package that contained letters from three of the most compelling animals in the series' history -- a chimp who had been used in medical research, an elephant who had lived alone for over 20 years in a tiny zoo to be reunited late in life with an elephant she'd known as a infant, and Pale Male, the red-tailed hawk who mated along Central Park's most fashionable addresses.

Package 2 was a tried-and-true long-copy illustrated letter, specifying 11 reasons to support PBS channel Thirteen and the series Nature.  This package used the same envelopes and reply device as package 1 -- only the letter was different.

Package 3 placed the package components from package 2 in a colorful outer envelope.

Which package won?

The quickest response came from the Animal Letter package (package 1), however the illustrated letter (package 2) was the overall winner.  The illustrated letter in the plain outer envelop beat the glossy 4-color Tiger envelope (package 3).