Royal Mail unveils commercial Matter box

Royal Mail has unveiled the first commercial Matter box, containing free brand representations from a range of international household names.

The box will be delivered to more than 30,000 UK consumers in its opening weekend.

Royal Mail rolled out Matter - a new advertising and communications channel - as a trial earlier this year.

The latest box - which will be delivered to anyone who subscribed before 5 September - is the first commercial mailing, with brands paying for their place in the Matterbox including Diageo, Original Source, O2, Lovefilm, Harpercollins and BBC Audio Books.

Royal Mail, which developed the channel in an exclusive partnership with Matter Media, is now talking to advertisers keen to be involved in subsequent boxes in 2009.

Matter is a box that fits the standard dimensions of a UK household letterbox, containing a range of physical brand representations.

It enables advertisers to get their products and services into the homes of their target customers.

The first test mailing proved the power of Matter as an engagement tool as research conducted six weeks after the box was received revealed that the average recall rate for each brand representation was 85 per cent.

Other findings revealed that 41 per cent of recipients used the items; 21 per cent gave an item to a friend or family member and 20 per cent spoke with a friend or family member about the brand.

Antony Miller, head of media business development at Royal Mail, said: 'Advertisers are no longer able to rely only on consumers seeing or hearing their messages to boost sales - they now have to really engage people to create standout.

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