As Beethoven's Ninth Symphony progresses, the orchestra modifies the theme. Familiar melodies are repeated, then altered ever-so-slightly. The result is one of classical music's masterpieces.
The three distributors featured in this article also are composers. They start with simple concepts, such as promotional brochures, direct-mail drivers and sales receipts, and use digital technology to modify these and produce customized printed products.
Client: Huntington University, Huntington, Ind.
Distributor: Scope 1, a division of Kalamazoo,
Mich.-based distributorship Superior Business Solutions.
Product: Brochures
Variations: Salutation, name, address and customized text depending on a student's interest in academic programs and extracurricular activities
After only a few conference calls and an on-site
committee meeting with Huntington University officials, Superior Business Solutions' Vice President of Sales and Chief Knowledge Officer Jim Richardson and Sales Representative Kevin Marquardt successfully pitched a promotional program relying on variable imaging. To increase the effectiveness of its marketing efforts, "the college needed to deliver relevant content to each student," Richardson says. "They needed to, but they never knew they needed to, until we showed them they could do it."
The process begins online. A prospective student visits Huntington University's web site (www.huntington.edu) and creates a brochure tailored to his or her academic and extracurricular interests. The brochure includes information about majors, courses and faculty, and a welcome letter from the student's admissions counselor. The counselor is assigned according to the ZIP code the student enters in the request form.
Once a student submits a request for a brochure, he or she receives an email with a PDF file of the brochure, which the college mails. "Within five minutes, they have an electronic brochure in their hands," Richardson says.
Launched in 2000, Scope 1 provides service and consultation in e-commerce applications such as electronic print on demand, customized marketing and electronic delivery services. It automates the requests into a single file, then sends the file on a server to Wise Business Forms' NextWave Digital Color Printing Division, Alpharetta, Ga. NextWave prints the brochure on a 12 x 18-inch page, trims to 11 x 17 inches, then folds it to a size of 8 1/2 x 11 inches, then folds it again to a size of 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches, seals it with a tab seal and mails it to the student.
The application didn't sell as quickly to other educational institutions, but it's catching on, Richardson says. He says the effectiveness of personalized marketing outweighs the added costs--a factor that affects the institution's decision-making. When schools like Huntington charge $15,000 to $30,000 tuition per year, "they're making very big sales," Richardson says. "That more than justifies paying $2 to $2.50 a piece for these brochures." Stock brochures may cost less, but they have to be inventoried and eventually become obsolete.
Client: Hunter Engineering Co., St. Louis
Distributor: FRI Resources Inc., St. Louis
Product: Direct-mail drivers
Variations: Salutations, addresses, sales representatives' photographs and equipment photographs
Hunter Engineering Co., St. Louis, claims leadership in the design and manufacture of passenger car and truck service equipment. The 58-year-old company also has launched a sophisticated marketing campaign with the help of distributorship FRI Resources Inc., St. Louis.
"They're way ahead of the game," says Tom Kalish, vice president of FRI Resources. Many companies use variable imaging to change salutations and addresses on direct mail pieces, but Hunter Engineering includes photographs and contact information for its 300-plus sales representatives in the country. Campaigns include multiple pieces and require full mail house services. "The print, the price--all that's taken for granted nowadays," Kalish says. "It's all about the solution."
FRI Resources provides Hunter Engineering mailings that consist of drivers, posters and brochures. The driver is an 8 1/2 x 11-inch, 80# matte cover sheet that includes two reps' photos and contact information, company information and promotions, and a perfed business reply card. MAR Graphics, Valmeyer, Ill., prints company information on a UV web press and the variable information in black and white on a digital press.
MAR Graphics then ships the driver to the letter house, where it's married to the poster and brochure in a 9 x 12-inch envelope with a full-view window. Kalish estimates that Hunter Engineering orders 1 million pieces a year. Each campaign targets about 150,000 recipients in the United States and 35,000 in Canada.
The program has been so successful that FRI Resources also offers Hunter Engineering what Kalish calls the "Direct Mail on Demand" program. Hunter Engineering sales reps visit the company's web site and design a self-mailer with their color photos and contact information, equipment information and text tailored to recipients.
Client: Pharmaceutical company
Distributor: The Stewart Co., Gaithersburg, Md.
Product: Sales receipts
Variations: Sales reps' names and IDs, territory IDs, and invoice numbers
Approximately 167 sales representatives at a pharmaceutical company frequently turned in purchase orders with missing or incorrect information. They used forms with blank spaces for reps' names and IDs, territory IDs, and receipt numbers. The reps would sometimes forget their IDs or fill in receipt numbers incorrectly, which required the company's processing staff to look for the information.
Russell Waring, consultant at The Stewart Co., Gaithersburg, Md., offered the company a way to reduce errors and maintain a consistent database using variable image printing. The information previously filled in by each rep is now preprinted and personalized on a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2-inch, 3-part form by manufacturer Dispatch, Erie, Pa. "All they have to do is have the doctor sign it, put down how many of what, and that's it," Waring says. One sheet remains with the doctor, one with the rep, and one goes to pharmaceutical company.
The Stewart Co. adds value to the application by allowing reps to reorder the forms online. They simply log onto a web site and enter information. Instead of faxing a proof, they save time and money by viewing it online. The online ordering system also allows the pharmaceutical company to track receipt numbers, making it easy to retrieve data and merge it with another database so office staff "doesn't have to take it by the hand and say, 'This piece matches this printout,'" Waring says.
Andrew Brown is assistant editor of Print Solutions. Email
him your comments at abrown@PSDA.org.
