Media Release
15 September 2005
Greens Use ‘Permission Email’ to Campaign – A First in New Zealand
The Green Party has become the first political party in New Zealand to use ‘Permission Email Marketing’ to carry their
message. About 60,000 New Zealanders enrolled with SmileCity have received a campaign message from the Greens
encouraging them to give the Greens their Party vote on Election Day.
Green Party Campaign Manager Russel Norman says: “The Greens are continuing to push the “communication” boundaries in
this election and we were keen to develop a 1-1 communication with voters through the inbox. It’s a unique marketing
technology that has generated thousands of clickthroughs to our website, enabling people to access the richness of
information there. It’s also very valuable to us being able to measure responses to our messages which we can’t do so
easily through leafleting or other print ads.”
Tony Bozzard, spokesperson for eAtlantis – the agency that managed the campaign for the Green Party - says: “Permission
email marketing is widely used overseas, including for political campaigns. So naturally we were delighted to be
involved in this pioneering use of email marketing by a New Zealand political party.”
The Greens campaign can be viewed here: http://corporate.smilecity.co.nz/emailsample5.htm
This election has also seen other ‘firsts’ in New Zealand, involving SmileCity:
- In July 2005, the Electoral Enrolment Centre used permission email for the first time to target over 75,000 SmileCity
members, in an effort to drive thousands of voting-age New Zealanders to their website to update or confirm their
enrolment details. This campaign was also managed by eAtlantis;
- In the same month, TV3’s Campbell Live started using SmileCity members to conduct online election surveys throughout
their Election ’05 coverage. This marked the first time that a New Zealand television channel used a website’s
membership to canvass political opinion.
eAtlantis (www.eAtlantis.co.nz) is the interactive division of Atlantis Marketing Group. Its ‘Permission Email’ offering
provides the facility for advertisers like political parties to communicate directly with thousands of New Zealanders
who have given explicit permission to receive commercial offers by email.
SmileCity (www.SmileCity.co.nz) is New Zealand’s leading online loyalty program, with 105,000 enrolled members. Its
members sign up for free and agree to receive email marketing offers (such as this communication) and surveys. They can
also shop with over 65 online reward partners. The relationship is incentivised with reward points that are redeemable
for cash, charity donations or bidding on the site’s auctions. Members are free to ‘opt out’ or unsubscribe at any time.
Authorised by Russel Norman, 16 Cambridge Terrace, Wellington.
ENDS