A raft of material was produced as part of the drive including direct mail, door drops, window stickers, posters and balloons. The campaign aims to raise 3m and the DM and door-drops have a print run of 12m.

The mail pack contains a letter, reply envelope, leaflet and a v-shaped "victory flag", which allows recipients to send back a message of remembrance and thanks. The returned flags will be strung into bunting and used to decorate Trafalgar Square for the official Second World War commemoration day on 10 July.

The Royal British Legion is anticipating that around 150,000 flags will be sent back. The campaign began earlier this month, with 50,000 responses already.

According to TDP client service manager Barney Hosey, 17 print suppliers were used, for screen, digital and litho printing.

"We used a range of our approved suppliers and one of the reasons why the Legion appointed us was that we had specialist direct mail knowledge," he said. "Overall, this campaign really did test our full range of procurement skills."

"Target is not a supplier to us but a partner to our own small team," said Royal British Legion head of direct marketing Andrew Jones. "They have an extremely clear understanding of our business and who we are trying to reach."

The Legion linked up with TDP last year for its campaign to commemorate the 60th anniversary of D-Day. Recipients of mail packs could send personalised messages of thanks on the back of a flag. Over 35,000 were then planted on Sword Beach in Normandy.

Story by Philip Chadwick