Print Solutions Magazine, August 2004 -- Grand Slam Ideas, Page 4

Several years ago, a company encouraging people to join clubs for golfers, hunters, gardeners and other hobbyists lured would-be members with 30 mil cards. Bob Lashbrook, a sales representative with Roberts Business Forms, St. Paul, Minn., provided the company with hundreds of thousands of embossed cards attached to letters that were placed in window envelopes. "The cards showed through the envelopes, and people perceived they were getting something of value," Lashbrook says.

But there were two problems with the cards. The first was cost. "A 30 mil card is expensive to produce," Lashbrook says. The cost was particularly hard to justify because the cards were temporary. If recipients opted to join the clubs, they received permanent cards later. Second, the company experienced some matching problems when the personalized plastic cards were affixed to the enrollment letters.

Lashbrook suggested the client try clean-release cards. The thin-gauge cards and letters to which they're attached are personalized with a laser printer simultaneously. "They give the same idea as a thick card, are one-third of the cost and eliminate the matching problem," Lashbrook says.

Roberts Business Forms handled approximately six projects weekly, providing mailings promoting various clubs. Order sizes varied, and popular clubs such as the fishing club sent up to 400,000 letters. The distributorship supplied 8 1/2 x 11-inch letters on 28# ledger stock with thin plastic cards attached in the upper-right corner. The letters and cards were preprinted in 4-color with each club's name, and the backs of the letters included disclaimer information in black. The client laser-printed the mailings with the letter text and recipients' personal information.

Thanks to manufacturer Brandt Affixing, Carrollton, Texas, for assistance.

8 Tips on Selling Plastic Cards

1. Attach more than a card. Most mailings can incorporate multiple attachments for added value. A customer of St. Paul, Minn.-based Roberts Business Forms includes two integrated cards and an integrated magnet in its mailing. This application is ideal for many industries: Health insurance companies might include insurance cards for a husband and wife and a magnet featuring its hotline number. A pizza parlor could include membership cards for its frequency program and a pizza-shaped magnet with its delivery phone number.

2. Pitch ideas about how plastic cards can promote and increase business. Encourage clients to start frequent-customer programs in which their buyers present cards each time they make purchases. After a certain number of purchases, their customers can be rewarded with discounts or other incentives.

3. Use plastic products in your own business. Give out plastic business cards or Rolodex® cards, as well as cards describing your company's capabilities. Also, consider providing prospects with complementary calendars and tip-rate cards bearing your company's name. Analyze the program's effects on customer retention, foot traffic and repeat sales.

4. Sell plastic products that aren't cards. Plastic cards may be the bread and butter of plastics sales for most distributors, but look for opportunities to sell plastic parking tags, key fobs, cling signs and overlays.

5. Sell complementary printing. In addition to plastic cards, your company could provide envelopes, welcome letters, fulfillment and distribution for a client's marketing campaign. You could offer to image phone cards, develop brochures and choose ad specialties for your customer's promotional events. Look for other opportunities for package deals, such as overdue notices and cards for your local library, or member cards, direct mail packages and coupons for a retailer's frequent customer program. Also, keep in mind that clients using plastic cards often need database management.

6. Prevent snares at the client's end. If a client designs cards in house, double check that the design meets the manufacturer's specifications. You'll save time you would have spent reconfiguring and reproofing. Work with the designer and make sure projects are completed to specifications. Also, some distributors warn clients that ink printed on plastics can sometimes run slightly or have slight variations in tone compared with the consistency of ink on paper.

7. Seek technical help. A card affixed to a carrier and personalized on a client's equipment might be an easy sell, but it's useless if it doesn't work well with the customer's printer. Call printer manufacturers or seek out technical reps skilled in a specific printer line. Because some printers can't handle plastic cards and others get jammed when the cards are too thick, always test samples. Also, remember to clean the printer and make sure it's operating properly before running any cards.

8. Know your laminates. Laminates are applied to plastic cards after printing to make them more durable. The laminate can have a high-gloss or a matte finish, but investigate options because laminating can be expensive. Although liquid lamination is cheaper than plastic lamination, it's also less attractive. Some distributors choose not to laminate at all; it depends on how concerned a customer is with durability.

Last summer, Dave Vener supplied 130,000 trifold schedules to a professional, AAA-league baseball team. The 4-color schedules, which folded to a 2 1/4-inch square, included a list of the team's home and away games, information about its stadium, photos of key players and more. Retailers, convenience stores and gas stations placed the schedules on their counters for customers to pick up.

The schedules looked great, but there was a problem. "Stores were just placing them on the counter, sometimes in rubber bands," says Vener, owner of Impress Printing & Graphics, a distributorship in Albany, N.Y. "It didn't look professional, and people weren't taking them." Vener suggested a solution--a mini-box to hold the schedules.

The graphic artist at Impress Printing & Graphics designed a 2 3/4-inch square box on 120# C2S stock. The
4-color boxes were imprinted with the baseball team's name and logo and photos of players and the mascot. Stores placed the schedules inside the boxes, and set the boxes on their counters. The boxes were open at the top and die cut in an arrow shape partway down the front, making it easy for people to take a schedule. They also featured 1 1/2-inch flaps sticking up from the top back that read, "Free: Take One."

The boxes were a hit last summer--for the baseball team and Impress Printing & Graphics. The distributorship included "Printed by Impress Printing & Graphics" and its web site address and phone number on the bottom of the boxes. "We've had other teams pick them up and call us," Vener says. The distributorship since has provided schedules and mini-boxes for three other baseball teams and a hockey team.

6 Tips on Selling Packaging

1. Show, don't tell. 3-D items such as packaging products often are hard to describe to prospects. "If I know there's an application for one of these, I bring one along to show people," says Dave Vener, owner of Impress Printing & Graphics, a distributorship in Albany, N.Y.

2. Act as a coordinator. Like direct mail projects, packaging and point-of-sale products often require several vendors. You might work with a graphic designer, printer and die cutter to complete a project such as the schedule box, Vener says. You must serve as the liaison between the vendors, coordinating all parts of the project so it comes together correctly and on time. For instance, the die cutter will have score requirements, which you must relay properly to the designer so artwork falls in the right places.

3. Big isn't always better. One current packaging trend is responsible packaging. Environmentally concerned companies might not want excessive packaging, such as an oversized cardboard box with a plastic blister pack inside. While it might stand out on the store shelf, such packaging eventually ends up in a landfill. Instead, steer clients toward eye-catching designs and streamlined packages.

4. Getting the product there is half the battle. Imagine you design a 4-color corrugated display case for a supermarket. The 5-foot-high case will stand at the end of the snack aisle and hold jars of salsa and tortilla chips. The real challenge may be packing and shipping the display. How will it break down and fit into a box? Will it require bubble wrap or other protective materials? How much will packing and shipping cost? Don't forget these post-production factors when designing a packaging or point-of-purchase product.

5. Money talks. Packaging can be expensive, especially when special printing plates or custom dies are involved. Always get an idea of a customer's budget up front so you don't waste time developing a project that won't see the light of day--or the inside of a store.

6. Recognize design trends. Pick up a design annual from any major graphic-design magazine, and you easily can spot trends within the packaging category. Annuals are good indicators of what designers and manufacturers are doing right because the judges for these competitions typically gravitate toward designs that they know will have success in the marketplace. Check out Communication Arts' November issues (www.commarts.com), HOW magazine's April issues (www.howdesign.com) and I.D. magazine's August issues (www.idonline.com) for inspiration. Other good trend indicators are fashion and product design (think iMac).

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