In its first re-branding effort in nearly 70 years, Dunhill International List Co. will target specific industries this month with a series of postal and e-mail marketing information messages.
The theme of the campaign – “I did not know Dunhill did that” – is a tagline meant to broaden awareness of the company’s services.
“There’s a perception of Dunhill as only a compiler and for years we’ve been so much more than that,” said Candy Dunhill, vice president of Dunhill and granddaughter of the founder. “So what we’re trying to do is basically tell people what they’ve actually been experiencing with us.”
The media plan consists of print ads in trade publications such as On Wall Street and Registered Rep. Direct mail pieces and e-mails will be sent to customers and major mailers in industry sectors such as financial services, healthcare and travel. In addition, the company plans to focus more on the Web and will be shifting marketing dollars to search.
Company president Robert Dunhill is writing personalized letters to top executives in the travel business.
“We realized that if you go directly to the industries where people maybe aren’t picking up the marketing publications and speak directly to them with the message that says, ‘We’re here to help you,’ then we’re coming at them more in a consultative approach than in a selling approach,” said Carol Lustig, director of marketing and new business development at Dunhill.
Campaign creative, media planning and buying will all be done in-house.
Ms. Lustig said the company came up with the campaign because of the things customers were saying, “Wow, it’s fantastic, I didn’t know Dunhill did that.”
The company is trying to get out that it has major capabilities to service everything from small mailers to major Fortune 500 companies.
“We have the experience, we have the resources and we’re ready to help mailers of all sizes with full-service brokerage, creative and, of course, compiled and custom-compiled services,” Ms. Lustig said.
Dunhill is offering discounts for people who call to 1-800-Dunhill. The idea is to entice firms that, for example, don’t have postal licenses to do bulk mail. The company will also offer discounted letter shop services or target companies that have never used direct mail.
“Moving forward, we want to offer new services to our clients under one roof,” Ms. Dunhill said. “I think one of the great things about being family owned and operated is that customers can actually speak to a Dunhill.”
