Rub Your Hands – It’s A Royal Wedding

Prince Charles getting down on one knee will have a rejuvenating effect on parts of the dm industry. Indeed, many dm people will have received the news as if they had found themselves at the end of a rainbow, won the lottery and received an all clear from the clinic all in one go. One of my oldest friends, Danny Phillips, was first off the mark when he showed me the artwork for his client The Westminster Collection. This was for a first day cover complete with Royal Mail Stamp, Wedding Day Postmark and Official Engagement Portrait for a princely (sorry) £3.50 plus p & p. Of course, each envelope will be individually numbered within its 29,500 worldwide edition limit.

Now, you may look down your nose at this activity or think that it is beneath you to find a Royal Wedding link for your own organisation. On both counts you would be wrong and I can only encourage you to get your nose in the royal trough as soon as you can, after all, time is limited! Let me tell you why. The Westminster Collection will almost certainly flog all their 29,500 limited edition envelopes and if they make any money doing so I will be agreeably surprised. But what they will have done is acquire 29,500 punters, or in marketing speak, recruited new prospects, and this can be a very difficult to achieve at a low cost per prospect. But Westminster will do this and then have a field day. For the next few years these prospects will receive many more offers to complete their wedding collection. I shouldn’t be at all surprised to see commemorative covers becoming available from every Commonwealth country and most small islands around the world. It could take years for a customer to complete their collection and every time they add to it the cash registers will be ringing in Watford (look Westminster is just a name). On a dm course they’ll call it ROI and retention activity, but I think you’d be quite justified to call it milking the punters.

Now of course, I’m not expecting you to do exactly same activity as outlined above. All I’m encouraging you to do is not to over estimate the great British public and appeal to the monarchists out there who love the Royal Family. Put your thinking caps on, brainstorm, get some ideas, rejuvenate your own dm and take advantage of the media fixation that we will all suffer or enjoy between now and 8th April and probably beyond.

I’ve just noticed that Asda will soon be selling a replica of the Royal Engagement Ring for £19. Good on you lads, fill your boots!



The real ring on Camilla Parker Bowles's finger, and the £19 fake from Asda