Today’s knitters are not all grannies in rocking chairs. Knitting is enjoying a surge of popularity among the young and hip. Julia Roberts, Sarah Jessica Parker, and many other celebrities are avid knitters. There is a very active knitting blog community, and many yarn stores are as much a social scene as they are commodity shops. A holiday knitting event has the potential to draw a lot of interesting people and media interest.
The “Knit One. Mail, Too” Promotion is designed to promote the Holiday Knits stamps and the convenience of flat-rate packaging. It also is an opportunity to continue to reinforce the TODAY’S MAIL® branding effort.
This promotion mirrors the popular knit-in-public events taking the country by storm and is an opportunity to share knitting tips and craftwork as well as to reach out to the active knitting community. Participating Post Offices™ also can designate recipients of the employees’ handiwork, including but not limited to nursing homes, veterans’ hospitals, or homeless shelters. A list of organizations accepting donations should be created for any knitting event hosted by the Postal Service™.
Public Affairs and Communications (PAC) Headquarters and field staff are responsible for planning and promoting this event with the goal of securing media coverage. Local knitting demonstrations in Post Office lobbies or facilities or at appropriate offsite locations such as yarn stores or craft shops should be considered for demonstration sites. When possible, schedule events during holiday business hours. This is one more way to draw attention to extended holiday hours. This event could be held in conjunction with a tour of a processing plant as well.
This promotion is set for Dec. 4, but also can be executed during the week of Dec. 3–8. PAC field staff will work with customer relations coordinators (CRCs) and postmasters to decide the locations, dates, and times for the events. All events must be cleared with the postmaster or plant facilities manager.
PAC Headquarters Public Relations (PR) will provide all written materials, to include a media advisory, news release, talking and message points, and fact sheets on the Holiday Knits stamps and flat-rate packaging.
