The Black Repertory Group of Berkley, California has been the “keepers of the culture” since its founding in 1964 as a church drama club. Today, it is a non-profit highly acclaimed for one act plays produced by local playwrights and iconic musical events. When they turned to A Foot In The Door Entertainment to promote an upcoming all-star tribute concert in the Group’s 250-seat theater, they needed an invite to the event that was as unique and exciting as the event itself.
The answer? A Foot In The Door created a shaped shirt-and-tie invitation to the 2013 Father’s Day musical celebration, with Ray Charles, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, The Spinners and Lou Rawls impersonators. Pamela Spikes, development coordinator for A Foot In The Door Entertainment, said the piece has so far exceeded her expectations.
“The results from our shaped tickets are already better than I imaged,” said Spikes. “It’s definitely a conversation piece and a nice handout. It’s different.”
Tampa-based ThinkShapes Mail has seen such distinctive shaped invitations perform very well historically. Old Spanish Missions, Inc., is a non-profit in San Antonio, Texas dedicated to the preservation of The Alamo and three other 300-year-old Spanish missions. When they turned to shaped mail for their annual fundraising gala in 2011, they more than tripled their expected 10 to 20 percent response rate. Eighty out of every 100 people invited responded to their shaped invite.
“There’s so much visual clutter in our day-to-day world, in our inbox, on TV, and in our mailbox,” said Karen O’Brien, co-owner of Tampa-based ThinkShapes Mail. “Having a message that’s shaped breaks through the sameness of everything else we’re bombarded with. People tend to take a moment to absorb it, hang onto it, and often even pass it on. Most importantly, they act on it.”
