The Power of The Letter campaign

The website Cable360 reports, "A marketing campaign touting two patriotic letter writers would seem a no-brainer for the U.S. Post Office, but it was not so at the outset."

In an article,HBO Campaigns for The Power of the Letter , reporter Seth Arenstein explains how the concept of letter writing to promote the HBO mini-series John Adams arose.

Apparently the appeal of The Power of the Letter campaign was not immediately apparent to the USPS. HBO's proposal was just one of many the USPS receives.

Joyce Carrier, the Postal Service's manager of channel advertising is quoted as saying, "We're approached all the time by everything from movie studios to any consumer product you can imagine."

After much discussion and concessions, the whole thing got worked out to the satisfaction of both parties.

The Power of The Letter campaign marked the first time in USPS history that post office receipts carried a promotional message; it directed consumers to poweroftheletter.com.

The John Adams quote — "Let us dare to read, think, speak and write" — was printed on 3.75 million post office receipts. The quote, and the Power of the Letter URL, also appeared as a postmark, known as a postal cancellation, on 3 billion pieces of mail during the period.

To read the entire article, click here.