Target’s addictive DM for The Bead Addict

March 1, 2007 by Annette Bourdeau

It’s not everyday a syringe full of decorative beads lands in your mailbox. Or a mini liquor bottle full, for that matter.

Yet that’s what several hundred residents in artsy neighbourhoods around St. John’s, Nfld. found recently, as part of a DM effort for local retailer The Bead Addict. The executions are a play on the store’s name, and aim to raise awareness for the new shop and differentiate it from big-box competitors.

‘The words ‘visual demonstration of the product’ came to mind,’ says Tom Murphy, CD at St. John’s-based agency Target Marketing and Communications, explaining how they came up with the concept. ‘It was all about getting the word out…. We didn’t have a big, mainstream budget.’ In fact, the beads were hand-delivered by Bead Addict staffers, including owner Nycki Delisle.

The campaign, which Target did pro bono (simply because they saw it as an opportunity to do something fun), includes print and POP featuring images of the DM creative. Delisle also owns a local hemp store, which Target does work for as well.

client: Nycki Delisle, owner, The Bead Addict

agency: Target

CD: Tom Murphy

group creative head: Brian Sheppard

copywriter: Terri Roberts

ADs: James Jung, Dax Fullbrook

photographer: Ned Pratt