To better target its audience of affluent seniors, Charlottesville, VA-based Gold Violin has partnered with 12 companies, including Procter & Gamble, Quaker Oats, and L’Oréal, to create welcome kits for residents in senior communities. The cataloger/online marketer sells upscale gifts and gadgets for seniors. But while the welcome kit idea sounds novel, it’s not: It is based on the promotional packets sent by marketers to new homeowners or new parents.
About 25,000 kits, which include product samples and coupons, as well as a copy of the Gold Violin spring catalog, were mailed in March to senior residences in 42 states. “The kits went to gated communities, independent-living facilities, and assisted-living complexes,” says Lee Caudill, Gold Violin’s director of marketing. The sample kits were delivered to the communities’ directors and then distributed among the complexes’ new residents.
While Caudill says it is too early to tell how successful the program is, the company is planning to distribute a second kit later this year. “We’re just sitting down now with potential partners, and we plan on targeting the next kit for late in the third quarter of this year.”
Caudill says, “It’s good to include the catalog in the kits, because so many seniors are still not online. This gives us a way to reach them.” Nonetheless, the second round of kits may not include copies of the catalog. “We may just put a coupon or product flyer in the next kit,” she says, “but we will definitely include something to promote our brand.”