Research shows especially millennials increasingly do not see any added value in real mail compared to digital mail. PostNL wanted therefore people to truly reconnect with real mail, which meant:

- Inspire people to send a postcard again

- Let people experience real mail is far more personal than digital mail.

Also PostNL wanted to boost its brand values as a result of the campaign.

Strategically it was decided to focus on Valentine's Day, already the most personal mail event. How could it become even more personal in a way digital media could never be?

PostNL, the Dutch postal company, wanted people to reconnect with real mail, which meant:

- Inspiring and activating people to send more postcards.

- By doing so making people experience that real mail is far more personal than digital mail can ever be.

There was no budget for an ATL campaign so people had to be activated through a newsworthy and inspiring promotional idea.

Strategy was to focus on Valentines Day, the most personal mail event. How to make it even more personal in a way digital mail could never match? The answer: WITH A KISS!

The day before Valentines Day all Dutch people could send their Valentine cards with a lipstick kiss instead of a stamp! Special software recognised the lipstick kisses.

We combined PostNL's own medium, mail, with the day everyone would like to receive a real postcard: Valentine's Day. Activating people to send more Valentines cards as well as engage them more with the product.

PostNL had to rewrite all its recognition software so all possible lipstick kisses would be identified.

A romantic online explanatory video was shot showing a girl buying, writing and sending a Valentine card, sealed with her kiss. All this was shot from POV postcard, hereby also capturing the emotion of the receiving boy. This video was included in the press release four days before Valentine's Day. It instantly exploded on social media and in PR.

Some extra presents: A famous radio DJ spontaneously called his female listeners to send him as many kissed cards as possible. In Dutch schools children were assigned to create Valentine cards and send them with their kisses.

The press release immediately caused an online tsunami; trending topic for days. All Dutch newspapers, major TV news shows and online news sites reported extensively. A famous radio DJ spontaneously asked his female listeners to send him as many kissed cards as possible. In Dutch schools children were assigned to create Valentine cards and send them with a kiss. BBC World News and German TV made reports from the PostNL distribution centre.

It all lead to a huge response:

- Almost three times as much Valentines mail was sent.

- Even an increase of 40% in paid Valentines mail (with stamp). Probably men!

- In tracking, the brand values of PostNL showed the highest increase ever.

PostNL’s Valentines kiss is a truly newsworthy idea that travelled solely on PR and social media and outperformed any other ATL campaign in the history of PostNL with media budgets of millions.

Hard times for postal companies: digital is taking over and the millennial generation hardly ever writes a postcard.

POSTNL, the Dutch postal company, wanted people to reconnect with real mail.

There was virtually no budget for a campaign. So the idea had to be almost self liquidating and media wise rely completely on PR and going viral on social media.

So the idea had to be truly newsworthy and inspire people to act.