First Direct: Building a Recruitment Machine

Richard Warden

Describes Firstdirect's customer recruitment press campaign in 1991. The campaign used direct response advertising in national press and presented the Firstdirect cheque account proposition.
Agency: Chiat DayAuthor: Richard Warden

First Direct: Building a Recruitment Machine

INTRODUCTION

This paper is an account of the effectiveness of First Direct's customer recruitment press programme from May to November 1991.

By correctly presenting the First Direct cheque account proposition, and by optimising the principles of direct response advertising, we were able to generate customers in sufficient numbers, and with sufficient cost efficiency, to ensure a return on advertising after only 12 months.

Specifically, we can attribute the following to customers recruited by the advertising:

  • A return of 145% on total advertising investment...

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