You’re given a task: Entice a group of home builders through paper.

At first glance, it’s clear this is no easy feat. But fortunately for CBUSA, a group of custom and independent builders, and their marketing partner, Irving Park Marketing, LLC, they were up for the challenge. According to Brian Pavlick, chief operating officer at CBUSA, the initial purpose of this particular marketing campaign was to “introduce the primary value proposition of our services to both cold and warm leads”. This would be done primarily through direct mail, but also as handout at tradeshows and conventions.

But it had to do more than that.

“The secondary purpose [was] to brand CBUSA in a professional and relevant manner,” said John Mitchell, president at Irving Park Marketing, in an email. “Connecting with builders using this [pop up] house works because builders likely handle this house, turn it upside down and lift panels to understand how it was engineered. We play on their curiosity. All of the time spent with this house is time spent with the CBUSA brand.” Mitchell, who said he first heard about Red Paper Plane while working on another account, ordered a sample pack which he kept as inspiration for future projects. The Pop Up House seemed like the perfect fit for CBUSA and their objectives.

So they got to work and began customizing the piece on RedPaperPlane.com.

“The templates are easy to work with and [the Red Paper Plane] customer service squad is quick to respond and are very helpful,” Mitchell said. “The house design is complex and not getting it right could result in expensive mistakes. Fortunately, [the] team didn’t allow any mistakes to happen.”

Though Pavlick said the ROI on this piece is difficult to track, many people who visit CBUSA at tradeshows and respond to follow-up emails reference receiving the Pop Up House and “how cool it is”.

“We get more feedback on that piece than anything else that we mailed out,” Pavlick said. “People love it, always ask who did it and where did we get it. I don’t want them to copy us, but I don’t hesitate to put a plug in for our marketing company and for Red Paper Plane.”

To Mitchell, too, this piece was a success. “I’ve been working with mailers for over 20 years and this house is, bar none, the best performing mailer I’ve seen,” he said. People feel something chunky in the envelope so they open it. When they remove it from the envelope, it surprises them as it pops open. They play around with it and get to know the messaging. They share it with co-workers as a fun toy, but the messaging ultimately wins the day. And the quality of the piece keeps it around on desks, on shelves, etc. it’s not something that is immediately thrown into recycling like other mailers. It sticks around and our messaging and contact information is at their fingertips.”