Development Of Direct Mail

Having already looked at existing direct mail ideas, I have started backwards designing my idea and I like the phrase how deep is yo love. I have come up with some rough visuals around this idea, but I wasn't really coming up with anything original so I  have now decided that the opening of my Barcelona restaurant will be on Valentines Day, as Barcelona is quite popular for couples or romantic getaways, it is the perfect destination for a few days break. Therefore I need a Valentines Day/Romantic theme to promote YO! Sushi. Here are a few of my ideas for direct mail and things that are related to Valentines Day or Barcelona/travelling, or objects you could take into the restaurant and get something free in return e.g. free meal or free bottle of wine:

• Valentines day cards/envelopes/colours-reds/pinks
• Chocolates/love hearts - heart shape soaps/cards/sweets/confetti/paper rose/ribbons/balloon
• Travel YO! Sushi money/plane ticket/baggage tag style/map of Barcelona/umbrella
• Key rings/teddy bear/t-shirt/magnets/wine glass/bowl/napkin/take away bag or box
• Postcard/drawing/artwork/photograph/photo frame/scratch card/apron/badges
• Candles/perfume/jewellery/watches/stamps/sushi cutters/mix tape/cherubs
• Cufflinks/travel adapter/bumbag/purse/pen/pen holder/fortune cookies/playing cards
• Games- O's & X's/lips & X's/lingerie/plants/football model/certain number of characters to collect

I have also considered ways in which YO! Sushi can target their customers or potential ones, such as how or where they attract your attention e.g. is the direct mail given to you when you receive your plane tickets at the check in desk at the airport, or is it handed to you as a flyer in the street, an email when you have booked your holiday tickets, in the hotel when you have checked in, on a billboard, or through the post.

After much consideration I have decided that a Valentines Day card gets the message across nicely to the customers, below is an idea for my direct mail.  I have also used part of my mural in my design which I think works well with the theme and colours of Valentines Day.

Front

Inside

I am still undecided whether or not to have something on the back of my Valentines Day card, but I think the back of this card fits in with all my development work as I always wanted to have the idea for my mural based on the fact that Barcelona is ever growing just like the mural in the restaurant is. I want customers to be able to add to the mural, so I think the idea of this competition works quite well. As I don't want random people to be able to come into the restaurant and potential ruin the artwork already on the walls.

Back

I have decided that my direct mail will target tourist couples who have come to visit the sites of Barcelona for a few days.  My direct mail will appear in hotel rooms 3* and above.  This way I have not just targeted one person and it is not just a typical piece that you just post through the letterbox.

Below is one of my other Valentines ideas that I had, but I don't think it works as well as the above.

I had originally designed the below design basing my idea just on the phrase how deep is yo love, with no opening date and just a 25% off voucher, I then started to change it to the opening date being Valentines Day but I still felt something was missing, including the layout.  This is when I brainstormed some different ideas and came up with designing a Valentines Card instead.

After receiving some feedback on my direct mail, I have decided that the idea of taking a Valentines Day card into the YO! Sushi restaurant and propping it up is a good idea but the design itself is lacking something.  To make my idea a bit different I will design a pop up card instead.  Here are a few existing pop up cards and some directed more towards Valentines Day itself, hopefully these will help give me some inspiration:

Direct Mail Research

Direct mail is a form of advertising and marketing. A lot of direct mail pieces get thrown straight in the bin. It is hard for companies to make theirs stand out in the right way to prevent this and improve response rate. Cost also is a big factor for companies when designing direct mail pieces, they need it to be worth their while. A few examples are; flyers, leaflets through the post, packages with items in, such as pens, CD's, or other free items, emails, pop ups, vouchers with money off, email sign ups including offers. I have looked at other companies ideas for direct mail, and different ways they try and promote their brand to entice their target markets and potential customers. YO! Sushi have done this in various ways for different seasonal occasions, here are a few examples:

These work well as they are simple, they are based around the YO! Sushi bowls and include various elements from the company.  They target various audiences, such as students, kids, and they also have special Christmas offers.  I would like my direct mail for YO! Sushi to be simple yet effective.

Having researched other possibilities for direct mail that other companies use, I have found that the most popular method is vouchers with a certain percentage off.  Although this is the most popular I don't think it is the best way to interest potential customers, it may interest existing customers but for people who have never visited a restaurant or a store I think there are better ways to promote and get people to spend money.  Next I will look into ideas I could design for my YO! Sushi restaurant in Barcelona but for now here are some existing ideas that I found along the way:

Beer/Wine Labels

Having done a draft for my menu, I will wait for feedback on my design before I continue.  In the meantime I will start to look at designing a beer or wine label.  Below are a few that caught my eye.

Beer and lager labels I think have there own unique style, whereas wine labels are fairly similar and are much more modern and up to date, so for this reason I am going to just design a wine label for Yo! Sushi. Although some of my illustrations in my wall mural stand out quite a lot, instead of using those on my labels, I may concentrate on the font that I have used through out my work instead, as I think it is quite bold and strong.  Below is an idea for my wine labels, keeping it simple but making sure it links in with my design work.

To be honest I don't like my above design, so have decided to create a different design using illustrator.  I prefer the style below much better, and it also includes part of my mural and the font that I have used throughout my work.