The last couple of years we’ve brought you a roundup of some of the best Christmas direct mail campaigns around, and those posts have been really rather popular, so we thought we’d bring you some more!

Last month, we wrote about how to plan and execute your Christmas DM campaign, and the importance of knowing your goals and target audience, getting the timing right and creating an incentive to act. So, this month we’re going to look at some of those organisations who are doing it right, and why that is. If you’ve not sent out your Christmas DM campaign yet, have a look at the below and see if you can pick up some tips!

Toms and Target’s Together Sweater (2015)

Image credit: D & AD

Christmas jumpers have become a huge thing over the last few years, and in 2015, Mother New York, a marketing agency, came up with this award-winning campaign. Designed for a collaboration between US retailer target and shoe brand TOMS, its aim was to bring people, well… together. The together sweater is a festively-patterned jumper that fits multiple people. It was sent out to friends of both the brands, and even celebrities got in on the act, cosying up in their jumpers and sharing the photos on social media.

The partnership between TOMS and Target had a serious message too – for every piece purchased from the TOMS for Target collection, the shoe brand would give shoes, a blanket or a meal to someone in need.

This was a great campaign that played on people’s desire to share via social media, and a Google image search for “Together Sweater” shows just how many people got involved – it was even on the Ellen show!

Find out more about this campaign here.

Tenfold Creative’s Christmas Pie Chart (2013)

Image credit: Dieline

New Zealand-based creative agency Tenfold came up with a fun idea for their Christmas 2013 DM out to their clients. Based around the switch from work mode to holiday mode, it was a box with a pie chart on the outside showing how work activities could be switched for more enjoyable holiday ones. When opened, the box revealed a delicious chocolate version of the pie chart. The aim was to reflect Tenfold’s culture of being either at work or on holiday, and their brand value of “creating better results”.

We love this one, because, well, who doesn’t love chocolate? It’s also pretty clever, playing as it does to its target audience of hard-working professionals – after all sometimes we could all do with a little bit of a reminder to relax!

More about this campaign here.

Salvation Army “Brightly Shone the Moon that Night” (2018)

One from this year now, the Salvation Army’s latest Christmas DM piece is aimed at encouraging people to donate to their cause. It triggers a strong emotional response, with the pack containing a letter with a personal story about Ben, one of the homeless people that the charity has helped, and a note about how Christmas can be a difficult, lonely and dangerous time of year for those in need.

The DM also reflects one of the charity’s other aims of helping elderly people avoid loneliness by including a Christmas card painted by 94-year-old Eileen Godsave, a resident at one of their care homes. The card is intended to be included with your donation, and will then be given to a homeless or lonely person this Christmas, to help them feel less alone.

This one packs a hard, emotive punch, with its emphasis on real people helped by the charity and carefully chosen wording taken from the carol Good King Wenceslas. It brings home the hard work they do, and makes it hard to resist filling out the donation form and sending off that card.

Bray Leino’s Christmas Gingerbread Man

Image credit: Romax

This dimensional Christmas direct mail piece was sent out to clients of brand and creative agency Bray Leino. Instead of Christmas cards, the agency decided to donate to the No More Landmines Trust, so their DM was a tasty gingerbread-man cookie – suitably creative and festive, but missing a leg, and complete with a serious message: “This year, instead of Christmas cards, we’re donating money to the No More Landmines Trust. Best wishes from everyone at Bray Leino Bristol”. The campaign went on to win a Cream Award.

More about this campaign can be found here.

OgilvyOne’s Multichannel Christmas Card (2010)

Image credit: An Post

This piece was a classic example of mixing both direct and digital channels. The agency sent out a Christmas card to 500 clients, suppliers and prospects. The card contained a pair of 3D glasses and a link to a video to watch while wearing them. It was a neat way to combine marketing channels, and the video was getting views even months after the event.

We really liked this one because we’ve talked before about the importance of integrating your direct mail with your digital channels, and this piece does that nicely, in a very interactive way. Although this piece is now a few years old, the techniques used are still valid today – YouTube is bigger than ever and now a search engine in its own right, and direct mail continues to be a profitable and effective marketing channel, despite claims it’s on its way out.

You can still see OgilvyOne’s video here – make sure you’ve got a pair of 3D glasses to hand!

Find out more about this campaign here.

GS Design’s Mayan Advent Calendar (2012)

Image credit: Underconsideration

Remember when some people thought the world was going to end on December 21, 2012? In a feat of incredibly witty self-promotion, design agency GS Design put a humorous spin on the impending apocalypse with their “Mayan Advent Calendar” for that year.

Instead of the traditional 24-day advent calendar, this one had 20 doors counting down the days to the end of the world. The first 19 doors contained a piece of “advice” for the end of the world and door 20, a somewhat ominous white pill. From survival tips, to living in the moment, to just going a bit mad, each piece of advice was fun, witty and just a bit silly.

We love this Christmas DM piece, because it put a topical and funny spin on a traditional Christmas favourite, the advent calendar, and reminded clients and suppliers of the agency’s values (and to pay their invoices, in gold bullion, no less!).

More about this campaign here.

OgilvyOne’s Christmas Family (2014)

Images credit: The Drum

Another one from OgilvyOne, but we thought this one was too good not to mention. For their 2014 Christmas card sent out to clients, the agency commissioned John Afflickan an award-winning artist to paint a traditional-style Christmas scene of a modern family opening their presents. The clever part was that within the painting, they placed details and products referencing each of their clients, from the Land Rover in the drive to the Comfort advert being shown on the TV. The message inside read, “It wouldn’t be Christmas without you.”

This was a lovely and thoughtful way for the agency to thank their clients, whilst also showing a highly relatable scene of a family celebrating Christmas.

You can see more about this campaign here.

For more great examples of Christmas direct mail, take a look at our previous Christmas DM roundups here and here. And if you’re sending out your own campaign, take a look at our direct mailing services!