A CHRISTMAS HAMPER THAT CAN MAKE YOU HEALTHY.

With so much alcohol, food and indulgence, traditionally Christmas is considered an unhealthy time of the year. We set out to prove the opposite with a deliciously unhealthy, but surprisingly healthy Christmas Hamper. To do this our idea was to find the health facts and wrap the story we wanted to tell. We wanted to prove through a high quality hamper that we can research health facts, have a unique and topical idea, craft with art direction and copy and emotionally connect with our target market.. something we do every day at McCann Health.

A special delivery at Christmas is even more special, when you can indulge without the guilt. Especially when it proves our mantra to our clients, even at Christmas "we never stop thinking about your health."

We wanted to give everything a top quality feel so we went for high quality items. Quality was continued in the design - everything basic white with black. This colour scheme was chosen to stand out from Christmas reds greens gold and silver. We hand-wrapped each piece in quality white stock, then packed into a quality white whicker basket. Each item featured an icon with our mantra "we never stop thinking about your health" in a shape that gave a clue to what was wrapped inside. We wrote labels to persuade people to enjoy. The copy was written in tongue-in-check humourous style, complete with references (found on file, online and on Wikipedia). Address labels were calligraphy written and the hampers were hand delivered.

The 25 healthy hampers (packed full of deliciously unhealthy items) were a big hit with all our clients.

We delivered 25 hampers to our key clients. All within a 50km radius of Sydney. Our clients are still talking about it now. We got comments such as "reminded me why we have a creative agency." "Everything you do is pure style" "The most intelligent hamper i have ever eaten." "What are you doing next year?" "Very smart. The design. The copy. And the quality of every item." We got recommended to other product managers in one company. We were promised a new project form another client. All in all it was a very successful initiative, at a relatively low cost investment (each basket cost approx $250 to pack.) Our business target was to get noticed, get talked about and retain loyalty. We have done all three.

Christmas is a time for many deliveries. This work wanted to capitalize on this in a surprising way. We used the time and the delivery method of dimensional hand delivered gift to remind our clients of our creative thinking and quality product. It was a piece of work that promoted us, but through a quality piece at the one time of the year it is okay to give our clients gifts. so it was both tactical in nature and relevant, and importantly this channel allowed them to interact and enjoy all the skills of different parts of our agency.

We set about collecting information from our clients of what they treated themselves to Christmas. Not surprisingly it was quality goods - expensive and naughty - their once a year treat.

Our strategy was to find high quality goods and find facts that prove the things you love to indulge in at Christmas, can actually be healthy. This strategy, though tongue in cheek with facts gathered from spurious places we would never look e.g. Wikepdia, was in the spirit of Christmas fun, where "a little bit of what you fancy can do you good". The strategy was also to remind our clients that we get health, we get them and what makes them happy and we get that Christmas is the time where you can really have some fun with health. Above all we wanted to give them permission to enjoy Christmas indulgence, without the guilt.

Christmas is a time where clients are inundated with gifts from their suppliers. Our brief to ourselves was to create a gift that emotionally connected with our clients at this busy time of the year, a gift that would stand out and be remembered fondly, and a gift that would reinforce our credentials as the health agency that not only delivers the unexpected, but always show quality is key.

We wanted to prove our medical writers can find the relevant health facts, our strategy stands out in a crowded market place, but remains true to our brand, our craft of art direction copy and typography always delivers on brief and on quality, and above all, that we care about the health of our clients.