If you ever want to test the strength of a team, forget trust falls and escape rooms. Just ask everyone to design a flyer together.
This month, Oakville Maids launched our first-ever direct mail campaign with 25,000 flyers headed to mailboxes across Oakville. Yes, we went old school. Paper. Ink. Real mailboxes. The whole thing. But like every great adventure, ours began with chaos, creativity, and a Canada Post strike.
The Idea
We wanted to try something new to introduce ourselves to more neighbors, especially since we had recently hired a couple of amazing cleaners, one who’s clean actually seemed magical… but that’s another story. Anyway, a physical flyer feels personal, something cheerful in between credit card offers and political mailers, and a way to hopefully fill the schedule of our newly hired, talented cleaners.
So we said, “Let’s design some flyers!”
Easy, right?
Ha!
The Great Flyer Design Battle (WhatsApp Edition)
We created a WhatsApp group (aptly named, “Direct Mail Design – Oakville Maid”) for the team to collaborate. This is where things got interesting.
Very quickly, we realized:
- Fonts are emotional
- Everyone has very strong opinions about color tones
- And choosing a photo of a mop is apparently a deeply philosophical experience
We ended up with five flyer designs. Yes, FIVE.
Why five?
Because no one could agree and because democracy is beautiful.
Each one had its own personality:
| Flyer Designer | Vibe | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|
| Jill | Friendly, clean, warm | Apparently magic, see below ⬇️ |
| Alex | “More modern” | Then less modern… then modern again… then… |
| Mary | “Let’s try something bold!” | The fonts were yelling. |
| Greg | Very classy | Possibly too classy for dust bunnies |
| Val | Cute, colorful, “trust us we clean” | We fell in love. It happens. |
We decided to let the people of Oakville decide which one wins.
No arguments. No debates.
Just pure flyer battle royale.
And Then… Canada Post Happened
Just when we were ready to send them out, Canada Post paused deliveries.
Nothing like a postal strike to humble your marketing timeline.
So we waited.
And waited.
And tried not to refresh the Canada Post news feed every 10 minutes.
One thing we learned: Canada Post workers are very polite, even while on strike.
This Week: The Flyers Finally Went Out
25,000 flyers.
5,000 copies of each design.
All over Oakville.
And I was excited to finally receive one of our flyers at my very own home (right).
Ok, now for the moment of truth: Which flyer would bring in the first new customer?
Ladies and gentlemen…
Jill is in the lead.
By a mile. With the very first (and currently only) job from the campaign. Her flyer is pictured below, entitled, “Your Neighbors Love Us… You Will Too!”. The rest of us are clapping and pretending not to be competitive.
There is absolutely no scoreboard taped to the office wall.
None. At all.
Don’t ask…
What We Learned (So Far)
1. Designing as a team is definately fun and slightly chaotic
2. Canada Post has excellent comedic timing
3. Testing multiple versions is smart (and way more exciting)
We’ll update you as more results come in. The competition is still very much alive. And we love that this project became something we did together. Because why shouldn’t marketing be a little competitive and a lot fun?
~ The Oakville Maids Team