Case Study: Marmalade Trust postal packaging reaches 15% more people

Marmalade Trust, a UK loneliness charity, worked with GWP Packaging to create bespoke postal packaging for its “Christmas Cheer” initiative. The charity requested the packaging due to excessive postage costs, the inability to leave packs safely if hand-delivered, and the desire for an improved opening experience for recipients compared to their existing solution.

Following rapid design and manufacturing processes, GWP donated hundreds of bespoke postal boxes that adhered to Royal Mail sizing guidelines, fit through recipients’ letterboxes when they weren’t home, and enabled the charity to reach even more people experiencing loneliness over the festive period.

Marmalade Trust’s “Christmas Cheer” is an annual campaign that connects volunteers with people experiencing loneliness to ensure no one spends Christmas Day unintentionally alone.

The program offers free festive lunches at local venues or doorstep visits from volunteers to eligible individuals who would otherwise be isolated. It provides companionship and festive celebration, matching individuals with volunteers, and includes both pre-Christmas gift box deliveries and the on-the-day events.

As part of this, the charity typically issues invitations in mid-November for the Christmas meals or doorstep visits it organises. Alongside the invite, the charity also includes a festive gift, such as chocolate, along with messages from local primary school children.

The challenge the charity faced was successfully delivering these invites.

Whilst most pre-Christmas visits are successfully received in-person, on some occasions the intended recipient is not home or unable to answer the door.  What Marmalade Trust needed, was a packaging solution that would allow their volunteers to hand-post a pre-packaged gift token, invite and message through a standard letterbox – without damaging the contents.

Ultimately, without a suitable solution, the charity found it more challenging to reach everyone involved in the initiative.

Marmalade Trust had already been working with GWP for several years, with GWP donating hundreds of boxes for use as hampers. As such, they approached us to see if we could help provide the smaller packaging they needed.

On receipt of the brief, Design Manager Mike Poynter and Senior Designer Clirenda Deedie quickly drew up a 0427-style box. Similar to eCommerce packaging with a hinged, integral lid, the design team felt this pack style would provide the best experience for recipients.

Crucially, the team designed the pack so it would fit through the letterboxes of recipients who were not at home or unable to answer. The dimensions, at 235 x 165 x 20mm, also meant that any boxes that the charity needed to send via post would qualify for Royal Mail large letter pricing (as part of their Pricing in proportion (PIP) box pricing guidelines).

Upon approval of the size and style, GWP manufactured a short run of around 300 boxes at our manufacturing site in Cricklade, Wiltshire. Produced by die-cutting and using white corrugated material, the finished result was a postal box that exactly matched the charity’s needs.

The new letterbox boxes provided two crucial benefits for Marmalade Trust.

Firstly, they helped the charity to connect with 250 people experiencing loneliness in Bristol and the surrounding areas – a 15% increase from 2024. The improved box design meant that, on the visit day, more of those signed up to the Christmas Cheer project were able to benefit from receiving a pre-Christmas token and all-important message from local school children.  Volunteers also benefited from a reduced delivery burden, making the delivery experience run more smoothly.

Secondly, the charity reduced postage costs. The savings were partly due to volunteers being able to successfully post the invites directly through letterboxes when recipients were not at home, rather than having to take the parcels back to their office to post them via Royal Mail.

Georgie Harding, Event Coordinator for the Christmas Cheer Project at the Marmalade Trust, commented on the project:

GWP have provided our larger gift boxes for several years now, so when we needed smaller packs for our invites and gifts, it made sense to reach out to them. The boxes they made and donated are the perfect size, great quality, and have made a big difference to our charity. Volunteers find the packs much easier to manage and feedback from recipients has been positive. As a charity, the letterbox design has really helped us keep postal costs down.

Sometimes, a simple solution to a problem is the most effective. So although the brief from the Marmalade Trust was relatively straightforward, the benefits they saw – including lower postage costs, ease of reaching those in need and a memorable unboxing experience – proved incredibly valuable.

So if you would like our expert design team to help you improve the performance of your postal packaging, please get in touch.