Royal Mail targets Facebook users with calendar

Royal Mail is launching an application on Facebook which allows users to create a smile calendar with “feel good” dates, in a bid to lead people to its online personalised stamps store.

Royal Mail is launching an application on Facebook which allows users to create a smile calendar with “feel good” dates, in a bid to lead people to its online personalised stamps store.

The application, created by digital agency Reading Room, allows Facebook users to create and customise a calendar with “feel good” dates such as birthdays, anniversaries or parties rather than work meetings. These dates can then be shared with friends.

The campaign is designed to drive traffic to the Royal Mail online shop, where users can buy personalised Smilers stamp sheets, which allow them to add a photo of their choice to Royal Mail stamps.

Reading Room has built the application to grow in line with user feedback and has designed it to be flexible enough to be re-developed based upon comments received.

Sue Edmond, digital brand manager at Royal Mail, said: “This Facebook application is a step for us to evolve the Royal Mail brand and reach our customers who have embraced social networks as a way of life.

“We hope that through our work with Reading Room, we can begin an unobtrusive communication with our customers and drive traffic to the Royal Mail site.”

Margaret Manning, CEO at Reading Room, said: “The campaign we have created demonstrates Royal Mail’s plan of using social networks in a creative way to build a communication with potential customers by adding value rather than selling directly to consumers.”