Boston, MA (May 27,
2003) -- It’s a rule of thumb in direct marketing – particularly in
business-to-business communications – mailing during the holiday
season is a fool’s bet. It’s all but certain to get lost in the
crush of seasonal correspondence.
For media replicator
Sonopress LLC and its partner Ditan Corporation, it turns out the
holidays were the ideal time to get the attention of their customers
– i.e., publishers of home movies and electronic entertainment. It’s
the time of year when they’re scurrying to get their titles onto
retail shelves in time for holiday shoppers. The SonoPress/Ditan
team wanted to contact their prospects specifically during the
holiday sales period -- when the pain of missed deadlines would be
most acute.
“If you don’t make that deadline, your year is
pretty much shot,” says Per T. Save, vice president, national sales
and marketing at Sonopress. “We wanted them to know – while they
were really feeling the pressure – that we could help them get
product produced and shipped quickly. But we needed something to
really grab their attention."
A 3-wave program, conceived and
produced by Cole & Company of Boston, dropped over December,
January and February Wave 1 was a 13” x 18” poster depicting, a
film-noir genre movie and electronic game, respectively -- each
called “The Deadline.”
The copy for every poster cites the
individual recipients by name as the “star” of the program. It’s
also customized to reflect their profession – CFO, sales and
marketing directors, or production/logistics manager. On the flip
side is the “story treatment” -- additional customized messaging
stressing the value of the Sonopress/Ditan team to the respective
financial, sales and production needs of the reader. Waves 2 & 3
-- oversized postcards sent to the same list -- were also
personalized to the recipient in both copy and graphics.
“We
knew that our creative had to fly above the holiday noise,” says
John Cole, president and creative director of Cole & Co., “But
it also needed to generate near instant response to meet the
client's financial objectives. Our only real option was to touch
recipients with a relevant, individualized message -- and in an
oversize format to really grab their attention. And only one option
- Variable Data Printing - offered the tools and technology allowing
us to meet those goals.”
So how’d it work? “We love this
campaign,” says Per Save. “We couldn't be happier with it. It paid
for itself within the four months, generating $2 million from just
one new client. It’s also helped add new businesses to our roster
representing $5-8 million in incremental annual
revenue.”
Among the very largest prospects on the mail list,
the poster yielded a 15% increase in the company’s customer base;
among the next largest prospects, the mailing generated a 10%
increase. “The Deadline” has proven to have real legs – its run has
been extended into 2003 with more waves of customized direct mail,
trade show graphics, and thematic giveaways.
All pieces in
the “Deadline” campaign were printed by LaVigne Inc., of Worcester,
MA, on the leading digital printers in the US. LaVigne used an HP
(Stock Price Web
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Flow workflow management software to produce the customized
pieces.
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