PERSONAL bests

Imitation Breeds Success

Variable data has won many converts in the design and marketing communities, but the selling cycle for prospects typically still involves an education process. The easiest way to sell this marketing approach is to show a potential user how a competitor is exploiting the technique to its advantage.

If there is a prospect for which variable data should be a “no brainer” it is the company that sells through a decentralized network of sales reps, dealers or agents who will benefit from being able to order smaller quantities of marketing materials that they can customize and personalize for their prospects. Even in this case, the decision makers will better relate to a sample from their own market segment.

[ The Proposition ]

Access America, a division of World Access Service Corp., is a leading seller of travel insurance that wanted to improve the effectiveness of its sales literature. Its brochures were too bulky and full of legal language to be good marketing pieces.

This sales literature is used by travel agencies that sell Access America’s insurance. The company wanted to make it easier for agencies to order brochures and cut down on fulfillment errors. Implementing a Web-to-print solution seemed to be the answer.

One of its suppliers is Lewis Creative Technologies (LCT), a Richmond, VA-based printed and electronic communications services provider. The printer’s account manager looked at the client’s existing literature and thought that some changes were needed. After reviewing the company’s marketing efforts in general, she felt that Access America would be open to taking things to a new level.

The account manager approached the client’s print buyer and marketing director with a few suggestions about how digital printing and variable data could be useful. They were interested in the ideas that LCT presented.

Before proceeding, though, Access America decided to talk with a few other printing companies in the area to explore getting competitive bids. No other local company was able to offer the entire package of creative, programming, planning, coordinating and execution, so LCT was awarded the project.

[ The Solution ]

To give the marketing department an idea of what could be accomplished, the printer’s account manager prepared a sample brochure printed on its Xerox iGen3 digital color press.

One of LCT’s designers had taken copy from an existing Access America brochure to create the mock-up. This helped the client understand the possibilities and the actual printed brochure ended up resembling the mock-up in many aspects.

During an eight-month development process, staff from the two companies worked out a Web-to-print process that allows agencies to order 14 different brochures online. While LCT was able to use off-the-shelf software for the composition part of the job, its IT staff had to develop a custom Website and shipping automation software.

The printer’s programmers and Access America’s IT department worked together on the ordering functionality of the Website. Many details had to be settled, including what information to gather, order quantity controls, how to handle exceptions and a detailed billing page. The insurance company’s marketing staff wanted to be able to view an order history for any time period, as well as get a report of how many pending orders are waiting and any exceptions waiting for approval.

At the same time, the companies worked on the printing and order fulfillment details of the program. This involved choosing the best paper and most efficient format, deciding on the details of the variable data strategy and determining the best shipping methods.

The brochures have variable data elements such as logos, agency names and contact information, but they also have common design elements. Therefore, automated features were built into the production process to guard against errors and to ensure consistency. LCT uses a combination of XMPie’s uPlan, uCreate and uProduce variable software to create the pieces.

To order brochures, an agency staffer logs into the Website and first chooses the type of brochure based on the product being sold or a theme, such as a cruise or honeymoon. The user then can upload the agency’s logo and insert its phone number and Web address.

The system automatically adds an agency identification number used for sales tracking. This number helps ensure that sales are credited to the correct travel agency.

Orders are processed, printed and shipped daily. LCT receives as many as 35 orders per day, each ranging from 50 to 400 brochures. Its total print volume per month exceeds 150,000 brochures.

[ The Results ]

The Website was made available to all 22,000 travel agencies in the United States serviced by Access America and is being used by more than 6,000 of them. The company’s marketing team is pleased with the adoption rate, and is also happy that its internal fulfillment workload has been reduced.

Previously, Access America’s staff had to fill all brochure orders in-house, and there were frequent errors. With the new system and automated tracking and shipping, fulfillment errors have almost disappeared.

The initial program worked so well, the insurance company very soon began planning on expanding it to include other brochures and developing more brochures with specific themes and more variable data elements. LCT has also done some additional print jobs for projects related to the sales brochures without having to go through a formal bid process.

According to LCT’s account manager, one of the most difficult tasks was getting Access America’s print buyer to step outside the normal print buying mentality for these types of projects. In the end, though, the print buyer became the manager of the project and could not have been more supportive, nor worked harder to make it happen and be successful. PI

This case study was derived from PODi’s annual Best Practices in Digital Print Report, the largest collection ever assembled of successful digital printing projects. Now in its sixth edition, the report has been enhanced with more in-depth coverage of select case studies. PODi is an industry initiative with hundreds of member companies including executive board members EFI, HP, IBM, Kodak, Pitney Bowes, Quark and Xerox. Membership in PODi is open to most organizations involved in digital printing. For more information on joining PODi or submitting your own case study, visit www.mypodi.org/pi1.