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How Postcards (And A Little Faith) Helped One Man Find His Lost Pet

Imagine this:

You’re moving from Maryland to Florida — a solid 11-hour drive across 6 states — to start your brand new life in the sunshine state.

You’re driving a U-Haul jam-packed with all your stuff, including your pet bird:

A green-feathered, sweet lovebird named Little Tony.

Here’s what one looks like:

green feathered lovebird

 

When stopped at a rest area off Exit 81 in upstate South Carolina, your bird escapes his cage and bolts upward into the air outside.

At first, you’re actually excited to see your sweet bird loving the fresh air and getting some exercise…

But soon reality sets in.

How on EARTH are you going to get your bird down from the sky??!

You start to panic as you realize there’s a real possibility of actually losing your pet, right here at this rest stop…

Plus:

You need to get back on the road — NOW!

This story is exactly what happened to one of my clients, Mark Briggs, back in 2016.

After spending almost an hour at the rest stop desperately calling for his lovebird, Little Tony, Mark had no choice but to get back on the road to Florida even though he had just lost his pet.

He reluctantly drove the remainder of South Carolina and crossed Georgia, but as soon as he hit the Florida state line, he decided to turn around and drive 3 hours straight back to the South Carolina rest stop…

He just HAD to find Little Tony.

But no luck.

His lovebird was officially GONE.

Mark couldn’t stay at the rest stop any longer. It was time to trudge back to Florida and officially settle into his new home, sans Little Tony.

Like any animal lover, Mark refused to give up hope that he would somehow find his pet despite being 2 states away.

So for almost 2 years straight, Mark spread the word about his lost lovebird to friends, family, and even shared it on social media.

Honestly, if this were me, I probably would have lost hope! Two years is a LONG time to keep the hope alive when your pet disappears — especially considering Little Tony was fully domesticated and he couldn’t survive alone outside.

Not to mention that hungry hawks hunted constantly for food exactly where Little Tony had disappeared…

flying hawk

 

But Mark simply refused to give up.

“I always maintained that NOTHING is impossible for those who believe.”

A PostcardMania client already, Mark had used postcards to market his business, so he thought as a last-ditch effort:

“I’ll MARKET to find Little Tony!”

That’s when he contacted us to start a postcard campaign to help find Little Tony.

Since Little Tony was such a friendly little guy, we figured if anyone actually caught him, they’d probably bring him in to a place that could professionally care for unique birds.

So we set up a postcard campaign to target every vet and pet shop in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.

Here’s what his postcard looked like:

tony postcard fronttony postcard back

 

Mark mailed 3,806 of these postcards, even offering $100 to anyone who could give him any clues to Little Tony’s whereabouts.

Plus, Mark’s postcard campaign included a dedicated landing page online to make it SUPER simple for anyone to contact him.

tony landing page

 

Realize this:

For almost 2 straight years, Mark told every person he met who lived in the Southeast U.S. about his lost bird: friends, family, strangers. He even would physically drive back up to that rest stop to search the sky and whistle for Little Tony, hoping for the best.

But nothing worked.

However…

Less than one week after his postcards hit every vet and pet shop owner’s mailbox in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina…

Mark received “the call.”

Little Tony had miraculously been found!!

Turns out, Little Tony randomly warmed up to some lady who visited that South Carolina rest stop and made friends with her. She briefly adopted him but ended up bringing him in to a local vet for proper care…

AND —

That vet had received Mark’s postcard!

Naturally, Mark jumped in his car and booked it up to that South Carolina vet’s facility to make sure it was, in fact, Little Tony.

Of course — IT WAS.

Needless to say, Mark was thrilled and amazed that he’d finally found Little Tony after 2 YEARS of searching.

After all, Little Tony was a wee little domesticated bird — who couldn’t defend himself in the wild — who disappeared into the sky, in a heavily-wooded area off an interstate 2 states (and several hours) away. He could easily have been killed (as some animal’s dinner) or simply just could’ve starved to death.

And although Mark diligently searched for his lovebird, it wasn’t until he mailed just ONE postcard campaign that he finally got “the call” that Little Tony was safe and sound.

mark and tony at postcardmania

 

CRAZY story, right?

The odds of Mark EVER finding Little Tony again were seriously against him…

Take a look at these numbers:

In South Carolina alone, there are 32,020 square miles and 4.9 million people!

Combined with both Georgia and Florida, you’ve got:

  • 157,200 square miles
  • 82 MILLION people

But just 3,806 postcards mailed from ONE campaign generated that one phone call which finally brought Little Tony back to Mark. It was that campaign and the faith Mark kept that he would be reunited with Tony!

Naturally, Mark and Little Tony’s story instantly generated excitement and attention from the media. Everyone loves a happy animal rescue story!

Mark drove into PostcardMania with Little Tony in tow and was interviewed and filmed by not one but 3 television news stations wanting to broadcast the happy reunion story, making headlines on ABC Action News and Fox Carolina and more. Little Tony was famous!

little tony on the news

 

Mark raved about how his prayers had been answered in finding his lost pet:

“If that lady who found Tony didn’t bring him into the vet — that vet who received my postcard — I might never have received that call. It was nothing short of a miracle!”

Watch Mark and Little Tony here!

Here at PostcardMania, our customer service and design team celebrated with Mark. See Little Tony hamming it up on his left shoulder?

tony's postcardmania marketing team

 

Mark’s Customer Service Rep, Samantha — who helped organize his entire campaign —struck a pose with the man of the hour.

samantha and tony

 

And the gal — my niece actually! — who designed Mark’s landing page, Jennifer, was the one Mark emailed as soon as he found Tony! And she had way too much fun playing with the feathered celebrity:

jennifer and tony

 

Even better than beating the odds and finding Little Tony with postcards, was Mark’s personal conviction in the miracle of how everything worked out. He said in his interview that he was convinced his prayers were answered, and he wanted everyone to know how grateful he was.

I love stories like this, and I’m a HUGE animal lover. One of my favorite things about PostcardMania is not only how much we help our clients but how much we can give back to the community.

In light of Mark and Little Tony’s touching story, we wanted to do even more.

So we donated $2,500 to a local no-kill animal shelter, Pet Pal Animal Shelter, which rescues dogs and cats from shelters that may otherwise euthanize these little guys due to time limitations, illness, injuries, or lack of socialization and training. They’re almost like a last resort!

Pet Pal Animal Shelter has a 93-97% success rate at re-homing these dogs and cats, which is why we chose them — so we could make a difference.

Now remember this:

If ONE postcard campaign — of just 3,806 postcards mailed across 3 states — can help one man find a pet lovebird…

They can definitely help YOU find leads and new customers for your business! 

No matter if the odds are against you, if your revenue is sunken and all hope seems lost to grow your business, with a little faith and some determined effort in your marketing, you can definitely change your business this year.

I really hope you enjoyed reading this story today. It was a certainly a huge win for us here!

Remember, we’re here to help you with growing your business. If you want to discuss which postcard campaign or marketing solution is best for your business, just call one of my marketing consultants at 800-628-1804 — remember, their advice is always FREE!

Or, you can email me directly at joy.gendusa@postcardmania.com.

Best,

Joy

P.S. Want to see ready-made postcard designs you can use for your next marketing campaign? We have an entire gallery — just find your industry!

FREE REPORT DOWNLOAD: How to Choose the Right Targeted Mailing List

 

6 Comments

  • What an amazing story! So happy for Mark and Little Tony. I’m a huge animal lover as well, and totally salute you for the generous donation to Pet Pal Animal Shelter. As a small business owner who literally *just* started my first campaign with PCM two days ago (we’re still in the process of setting it up), it’s nice to know we’re working with a company that gives back – and gets results! 🙂

  • I’m so sorry to hear that, Jessica. I’m so glad this story brought you happiness! Thank you for your comment.

  • Anastasia, I truly appreciate your kind comment! I can’t wait to see the results you get from your campaign! Thank you so much for your business.

  • “All things are possible if you believe.” Indeed . The people who were suppose to share the event didn’t. I’m standing alone. But I am inspired hearing about Tony. I can pull this off witth Postcardmania!

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